Background on Basic Energy Topics |
|
Welcome to the second installment of Sterling Ranch's crash course on energy! In this email, we'll be going over some basics about the infrastructure that gets our energy to us, why the volume and timing of energy demand loads are important, and how energy characteristics are measured. |
|
How does our Energy System work? |
|
|
|
|
Typically, energy travels a long way through the grid before it gets to your home! Outlined in this short video by Xcel Energy, the major steps that energy moves through to be there when you flip a switch are Generation, Transmission, and Distribution.
You may not always see it, but there's a vast network of interconnected electrical infrastructure to secure reliable and safe access to energy for your home.
|
|
|
Energy Demand Loads and Infrastructure Strain |
You've probably noticed on your utility bills that your energy usage can vary quite a bit throughout the year. This is because the amount of energy that you use is partially affected by factors that are out of your hands, such as weather, temperature, and humidity. |
|
|
But are you also aware of how your energy use varies throughout the day? Weekday household energy use tends to be the lowest at night when people are asleep, and then rises around 6:00am as people wake up, get ready for the day, and turn up the heating or air conditioning in their home. There's another spike around 5:00pm as people get home from work and turn on lights and appliances. The above graph1 displays trends on how energy use varies throughout the day in Xcel Energy's territory. Xcel Energy notes peak energy demand hours as between 3:00-7:00pm on non-holiday weekdays.
It's important to think about how much demand for energy varies in the context of how our energy infrastructure operates. Though there is some storage capacity on our grid where excess energy can be stored to meet sudden surges in demand, for the most part the energy demand and energy generation on the grid at any given point must be in a near-perfect balance. Energy generators and utilities are able to accommodate a certain level of flexibility in their operations to meet changing demand, but it can strain our energy infrastructure even just to meet the energy demand present on our hottest summer days when everyone has their AC on full blast at once.
|
|
What can happen
when energy demand exceeds supply?
|
|
Peaker Plant Activation
Peaker plants are energy generating facilities that are activated only during times of peak energy demand to add extra energy to the grid. These plants are costly to operate, generally inefficient, and are largely powered by fossil fuel mixes that produce heavy pollution.
|
Blackouts or Brownouts
If the grid becomes completely overwhelmed, power in the affected area can become severely reduced or cut out completely, and grid infrastructure can suffer damages. In extreme weather conditions, brownouts and blackouts can also be dangerous for vulnerable populations.
|
|
|
What You Can Do to Help: Demand Response
When utilities can see that a high demand period is coming, they may encourage their customers to take certain energy saving actions to conserve energy and soften the demand peak. At Sterling Ranch, Xcel Energy sends out demand response information through push notifications in your Copper app - make sure you have notifications enabled and take action next time you get a demand response request to your mobile device!
|
|
|
A key part of making progress towards Sterling Ranch's energy goals is understanding what metrics are important to look at and carefully tracking them. The following are common measurements used to examine energy use and its associated environmental impact. |
|
kWh
You might see the kilowatt-hour unit on your utility bill next to your electricity consumption. It represents the amount of energy associated with running a 1000 watt (or 1 kilowatt) appliance for 1 hour. This amount of energy is used to quantify your consumption.
|
|
Therms
You might see the therm unit on your utility bill next to your natural gas consumption. One therm is approximately the energy equivalent of burning 100 cubic feet (ccf) of natural gas. One therm is also equal to 100,000 British Thermal Units (Btu), which is a measure of the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit
|
|
CO2e
CO2e, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a metric used to standardize the emissions impacts from polluting activities in terms of CO2 emissions to simplify emissions reporting. Not all greenhouse gases (GHG) have the same level of global warming potential, through energy generation can involve the production of many different GHG besides CO2. For example, CH4 is a common GHG that has 25 times the global warming potential of CO2. CO2e is commonly used to track emissions for entities that have carbon reduction or neutrality goals, such as Sterling Ranch.
|
|
There's been a lot of information in this email that we hope provides some background on how to better understand your energy use and place in the energy grid, but this information comes with some actionable takeaways too!
- Think about when you're using energy throughout the day and whether there are any energy loads that you could habitually move out of peak hours (3:00-7:00pm) to support the grid.
- If your home is empty during the day, program your thermostat to keep your AC or heating on low power while you're at work and turn up to make your space comfortable as you commute home.
- Instead of running your dishwasher or laundry machines right after dinner, consider running them overnight.
- On hot days, consider keeping your home just a few degrees higher than you normally would to soften peak energy demand.
- If you own an Electric Vehicle, consider plugging it in before you go to sleep instead of right when you get home from work.
- Enable push notifications in your Copper app and take action to reduce your energy use when you see demand response events.
- Share information about demand loads with your neighbors and encourage them to reflect on their 3:00-7:00pm usage habits as well!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
