So when I saw that we had to blog about Demand Response I was a little worries because I had no idea what it was, after I started researching, I felt stupid for not knowing about it sooner. Of course I know about sustainability, energy efficiency, and this long green road ahead of us, but I had never head of load control switches for smart grids, of the enerNOC, or other companies that have started to get a hold on how we can start conserving energy.
This is what I was able to get out of it….
All electrical appliances, lights, plugs for phones and computers, need electricity to run. That electricity comes from a transformer outside your home on a pole on your street. That transformer gets its power from a local substation in your city or town, and a large power plant gives those substations its power, all forming a large grid. This grid gives off a predicted amount of power, based on when people use the most electricity, during the afternoons and early evening. This predicted amount is the baseload and your grid needs to be able to handle it, especially during the summertime when people are running high energy appliances like air conditioners.
Energy consumption is going up and up especially with all the high tech electrical devices that we have today, so we need to be able to cut back on the demand for this energy consumption and get it under control.
In residential areas, cities and towns are offering consumers a cheaper rate (kWh) if they decide to do a load of laundry say at 7 in the morning, or 9-10 at night rather than 2pm on a sunday afternoon, when everyone else is doing laundry and dishes. When I was first looking up demand response I saw this picture of a residentail dryer with a load response switch on it
I looked up how to get one of these, thinking it would be good investment if I wanted to save money and energy, but I couldn’t find where to get one. I assume that your city or town must be part of a demand response program in order to read a device like this, but I could be wrong so if anyone knows the answer let me know.
So its apparent how homeowners can cut back on their energy use, but how can large commercial businesses, factories, and plants cut back on their energy cost? We all know the CEO doesn’t have time to be running around shutting off lights behind others and unplugging unnecessary devices. Watching this video was most helpful for me to understand how demand response can start making a real difference in our future.
http://youtu.be/xgFSUwwZdpo
After learning the small things that we can do in order to help protect our energy consumption in the future, I have changed the way I do all my chores around the house. I have even suggested my boss to look into demand response on what he can do for the large restaurant I work at. I look forward to getting my electric bill next month to see if it makes a difference in the price and my energy consumption.