Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

SCC Approves Conservation Pilots. Big Whoop

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

The State Corporation Commission has given Dominion approval to proceed with pilot projects to test the viability of nine different conservation programs. The power company is billing the projects, some of which should begin as early as this quarter, as “consistent with the new Virginia Energy Plan” and potentially helpful in advancing the General Assembly’s target of reducing electrical consumption 10 percent by 2022 compared to what it otherwise would have been.

According to Dominion, pilot projects include:

  • Cycling central heating and air conditioning units during peak-demand times (1,000 customers)

  • Informing consumers about their real-time energy consumption patterns (1,000 customers)

  • Promoting programmable thermostats that allow customers to control their use of electricity (1,000 customers)
  • Educating customers about the value of reducing energy use during peak-use times (1,000 customers)
  • Free energy audits and energy efficiency kits to 150 residential customers, 100 ENERGY STAR new homes and 50 small commercial customers. Plus, 250 new homes will receive energy efficiency welcome kits that include compact fluorescent light bulbs.
  • Incentives for commercial customers to reduce load during periods of peak demand by running their generators to produce up to 100 megawatts of electricity — enough electricity to power as many as 25,000 residences at peak.

Bacon’s bottom line

: These are all positive steps, but they barely scratch the surface of what’s possible. In “Conservation Capitalism,” I described a private-sector initiative (with support from Virginia Tech) to pump $500 million into retrofitting office buildings in the Washington metro area. Meanwhile, the potential exists to achieve massive reductions in electricity consumption in Northern Virginia’s ubiquitous, energy-hogging server farms and data centers.

While I insist that investments in energy conservation should be market driven, not government mandated on the basis of arbitrary goals, I do believe that regulatory policy — especially the structuring of electric rates — should be overhauled to reward conservation. Jim Kibler, with AGL Resources, described recently in “Cleaner, Cheaper, Better,” how a “decoupling” rate strategy could encourage natural gas companies to promote conservation. We should explore something similar for electric power. I suspect that we’ll find it ludicrously easy to achieve the state’s 10 percent conservation goal over the next 14-15 years. We should not use these pilot programs, as helpful as they are, as an excuse not to push for more ambitious, market-driven changes.

(Photo cutline: The Wattson, a unit the measures household electric consumption in real time. Photo credit: Conservation Consultants Inc.)

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  1. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I’d like to issue a challenge to the folks who read BR.

    Reply back and tell us:

    1. – how many average KWH you use per day

    2. – how many average KWH you use per square foot

    3. – what hour of the day is your peak KWH use?

    4. – what is the highest and lowest KWH use and what hour did it occur at.

    Bonus Question: If you want to adopt conservation strategies on your own – how would you know which ones to focus on before you ever get to the point of ROI?

    But I’m serious about the questions above.. for those who actually can answer them.

    My usage averages about 50 KWH hours per day for a 1500 square foot house.

    My daily high was 52. My low was 34.

    absolute peak hr usage = 6 at 7pm
    absolute lowest use = .75 at 11am on Jan 2.

    The usual propaganda:

    If you had a smart meter – you could answer all of the above questions.

    Currently Smart Meters can be installed at a cost of about $5 per month.

    $64 question.

    Why can’t our esteemed elected AT LEAST require Dominion to OFFER this option to those that wanted it – at least when they can take time from their relentless pursuit of “illegals” and “truck nuts” and other nefarious threats to the citizens of the Commonwealth?

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    If your electric bill is $150 a month and the smart meter costs $5 a month it breaks even if it saves you three percent.

    Can’t hardly argue with that.

    RH

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It’s still all about relative costs and benefits.

    See the energy roundup in the Wall Street Journal today:

    http://blogs.wsj.com/energy/2008/01/11/carbon-caps-devil-in-the-details/

    “First, there’s an inevitable tradeoff between environmental aspiration and economic and political reality.”

    “Second, trying to mandate a cleaner energy future requires mandating technology development almost by fiat.”

    “Finally, global warming is just that. Country-specific policies, even in the world’s biggest GHG emitter, barely move the emissions needle from the business-as-usual path…”

    “So a U.S. global-warming constraint might not whallop GDP. But that largely misses the point. Its effects would be felt disproportionately across the economy — and those likely to be hit hardest want relief now.”

    And, there is a curious note in one of the responses, which I had also thought of previously. By mandateing flue gas scrubbers we allow the switch to high sulfur coal. But high sulfur coal has higher BTU’s, so this switch might lower GHG emissions.

    RH

  4. batticdoor Avatar
    batticdoor

    How To Reduce Your Heating Bills This Winter / Energy Conservation Begins at Home

    Imagine leaving a window open all winter long — the heat loss, cold drafts and wasted energy! If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan or AC Return, a fireplace or a clothes dryer, that may be just what is occurring in your home every day.

    These often overlooked sources of heat loss and air leakage can cause heat to pour out and the cold outside air to rush in — costing you higher heating bills.

    Air leaks are the largest source of heating and cooling loss in the home. Air leaks occur through the small cracks around doors, windows, pipes, etc. Most homeowners are well aware of the benefits caulk and weatherstripping provide to minimize heat loss and cold drafts.

    But what can you do about the four largest “holes” in your home — the folding attic stair, the whole house fan or AC return, the fireplace, and the clothes dryer? Here are some tips and techniques that can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

    Attic Stairs

    When attic stairs are installed, a large hole (approximately 10 square feet) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only a thin, unsealed, sheet of plywood.

    Your attic space is ventilated directly to the outdoors. In the winter, the attic space can be very cold, and in the summer it can be very hot. And what is separating your conditioned house from your unconditioned attic? That thin sheet of plywood.

    Often a gap can be observed around the perimeter of the door. Try this yourself: at night, turn on the attic light and shut the attic stairway door — do you see any light coming through? These are gaps add up to a large opening where your heated/cooled air leaks out 24 hours a day. This is like leaving a window open all year round.

    An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add an attic stair cover. An attic stair cover provides an air seal, reducing the air leaks. Add the desired amount of insulation over the cover to restore the insulation removed from the ceiling.

    Whole House Fans and AC Returns

    Much like attic stairs above, when whole house fans are installed, a large hole (up to 16 square feet or larger) is created in your ceiling. The ceiling and insulation that were there have to be removed, leaving only leaky ceiling shutter between the house and the outdoors.

    An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a whole house fan cover. Installed from the attic side, the whole house fan cover is invisible. Cover the fan to reduce heating and air-conditioning loss, remove it when use of the fan is desired.

    If attic access is inconvenient, or for AC returns, a ceiling shutter cover is another option for reducing heat loss through the ceiling shutter and AC return. Made from R-8, textured, thin, white flexible insulation, and installed from the house side over the ceiling shutter with Velcro, a whole house fan shutter cover is easily installed and removed.

    Fireplaces

    Sixty-five percent, or approximately 100 million homes, in North America are constructed with wood or gas burning fireplaces. Unfortunately there are negative side effects that the fireplace brings to a home especially during the winter home-heating season. Fireplaces are energy losers.

    Researchers have studied this to determine the amount of heat loss through a fireplace, and the results are amazing. One research study showed that an open damper on an unused fireplace in a well-insulated house can raise overall heating-energy consumption by 30 percent.

    A recent study showed that for many consumers, their heating bills may be more than $500 higher per winter due to the air leakage and wasted energy caused by fireplaces.

    Why does a home with a fireplace have higher heating bills? Hot air rises. Your heated air leaks out any exit it can find, and when warm heated air is drawn out of your home, cold outside air is drawn in to make up for it. The fireplace is like a giant straw sucking the heated air from your house.

    An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a fireplace draftstopper. Available from Battic Door, a company known for their energy conservation products, a fireplace draftstopper is an inflatable pillow that seals the damper, eliminating any air leaks. The pillow is removed whenever the fireplace is used, then reinserted after.

    Clothes Dryer Exhaust Ducts

    In many homes, the room with the clothes dryer is the coldest room in the house. Your clothes dryer is connected to an exhaust duct that is open to the outdoors. In the winter, cold air leaks in through the duct, through your dryer and into your house.

    Dryer vents use a sheet-metal flapper to try to reduce this air leakage. This is very primitive technology that does not provide a positive seal to stop the air leakage. Compounding the problem is that over time, lint clogs the flapper valve causing it to stay open.

    An easy, low-cost solution to this problem is to add a dryer vent seal. This will reduce unwanted air infiltration, and keep out pests, bees and rodents as well. The vent will remain closed unless the dryer is in use. When the dryer is in use, a floating shuttle rises to allow warm air, lint and moisture to escape.

    If your home has a folding attic stair, a whole house fan, an AC return, a fireplace, and/or a clothes dryer, you can easily, quickly and inexpensively seal and insulate these holes.

    Mark D. Tyrol is a Professional Engineer specializing in cause and origin of construction defects. He developed several residential energy conservation products including an attic stair cover, an attic access door, and is the U.S. distributor of the fireplace draftstopper. To learn more visit http://www.batticdoor.com

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