Up until writing this blog I had absolutely no idea what demand response was and now that I do know I would like to make as many people aware of it as possible. The world’s energy use, sources of energy, sustainable energy, and all sorts of energy talk are always a serious discussion because to put it simply the world will not be able to function if we run out of ways of harassing and using energy.

Right now when we use electricity, we turn on a switch and boom there it is right in front of us. But few know the process energy had to go through to reach us.  Electricity is first generated at a power plant and then it is transmitted to a local substation where it is turned into usable voltage by a transformer.  From the transformer it is then distributed to our home through the grid which is comprised of high voltage transmission lines. When we turn on our light switch or our coffemaker we are demanding energy.  But what happens around 5 in the evening when everyone is getting home from work and turning on lights and televisions and all other types of appliances? That increases the demand load on the grids, and its rising more and more. But demand response helps to store energy for use during those prime times when the demand load is high. According to technologyreview.com “Demand response helps meet that climbing need for energy during the day through reductions, such as adjusting thermostat settings, dimming lights, or changing when hot water heaters run.”

Looking over it, the concept makes so much sense.  We are able to trim our usage of electricity throughout the day so we are able to have enough during those peak hours or in the bigger picture, in times of emergency like a blackout.  Demand response can help reduce overload and it also is incredibly beneficial due to the relief it is providing “to relieve the increased stress on the aging grid.” Programs like demand response can also help both the provider and the consumer save money, which with the rising cost of electricity (I’m shocked every month I get my bill) is always a plus. With help from demand response providers could avoid having to build new power plants or fix an overloaded grid and lower energy costs.

A new piece of technology that is being used for demand response is a smart grid, which unlike current grids, provide a 2 way communication between the consumer and the provider.  The smart grid would automate the flow of electricity is needed.  I, for one, am very excited at the prospect of demand response and look forward to learning more about it and seeing it develop further!

Sources:

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/513356/turning-off-the-power-to-run-the-grid/

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/category/demand-response

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/demand-response.htm

When I first found out I was captain for one of the teams for our final science project I was a bit hesitant.  But once I reviewed the requirements for the assignment, met with my team, and went to the Museum of Science I began to not only feel more comfortable in my responsibilities as captain but much more excited for the overall project.

I am captain of Team 1, my fellow teammates are: Victoria Azar, Matthew Byrne, Lo-Ammi Donascimento, Phillip Garceau, and Isabelle.  At our first team meeting only Victoria, Isabelle, and Lo-Ammi were present but even then we came up with some great ideas, many of which I then discussed with Phillip at our field trip to the Museum of Science.  Our first goal at our team meeting was to get to know each other and then begin to come up with ideas for a potential project.  I had class with Isabelle before so it was great to see a familiar face and Lo-Ammi and Victoria were great and very eager to come with an idea that would not only be beneficial for the rest of the class but that would also be fun to do.  The first thing we did was to exchange email addresses and phone numbers so contacting each other would never be an issue.  Our next step was to visit the suggested websites provided to us by the professor.  We knew that we did not want to pick our project idea completely off of that though because we wanted to make it our own, we only wanted to find inspiration at the websites.  After viewing many topic ideas we kept finding that the ones that interested us the most had to do with solar energy.  Everyone in the group thought this was a very interesting topic because none of us had actual experience with it or a lot of knowledge about it.  We knew some basic stuff from our previous blog posts but we wanted to know more.  So we typed ‘Solar Energy Experiments’ into google and quite a few of them had to do with testing a solar energy car.  We had never heard of this and started to wonder out loud to each other things like “I wonder how you make it?” or “I wonder if it actually works” and right then we all knew we had found our topic for the experiment.  We would like to build and test a solar energy car.  Not only would we be learning (and thus able to teach fellow students about the topic) but it seems like it will also be really fun, which is always a plus for projects.

When we went to the Science Museum my first priority was to learn more about solar energy and I most certainly did! I decided to photo blog my experience at the Museum of Science to show what I learned and how it relates directly to my project about solar energy.

The above picture illustrates a type of solar collector that is used to, you guessed it, collect energy from the sun’s rays.  This is a parabolic dish.

The picture above illustrates the overall potential energy of solar power.  I was shocked when I learned that the sun provides about a thousand times more energy than the world actually needs.  There is no doubt that solar energy would be a great substitute, it is just a mater of overcoming the challenges of harnessing the power.

The above picture illustrates how due to these challenges only 8% of our energy is solar energy.

The above picture is a beautiful description of what I believe should be everyone’s attitude about sustainable energy.

The above picture tells us about the photovoltaics (which we learned about in science class) that the Museum of Science actually uses.