So, we all know coal is bad, from an environmental standpoint. It contributes to global warming, and it kills fish. This so-called "clean coal" is more or less non-existent; you've all see the commercials. So why do we still use it?
Well, the obvious answer is "the oil companies are run by people who care more about money than the environment," and that would be true. But as it turns out, the story is more complicated than that.
As much as we don't like coal, it has one major advantage over renewable energy: it's consistent. If you burn one ton of coal, you're going to get the same number of megawatt-hours from it every time. With solar and wind, we're at the mercy of weather. If it's a cloudy day, a solar panel array could operate at 75% or 50% or 25% of its capacity, and we'd be left in the dark (literally). If we rely too heavily on wind power, what happens when it's just not a windy day in Kansas? Believe it or not, that actually happens sometimes.
The problem is that the supply of energy changes over time. Luckily, there are companies like EnerNOC, dealing in demand response. Offically, we call our service Demand Response, but it could be Supply Response as well. When a power plant goes down, we call an event, just like we would any other time (see earlier posts for an explanation of what EnerNOC does).
So, another reason I like EnerNOC? They're making a grid that relies more and more on unstable sources of energy like wind and solar a possibility. We couldn't just build solar panels and hope things work out, but by coupling solar/wind and demand response, we have a solution that's truly sustainable.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the views of the company (EnerNOC, Inc). If you thought otherwise, I'm totally putting coal in your stocking this Christmas.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Transmission Lines
Man, I don't know how people update these things every day. Welcome back to my blog, after two weeks of me having too much fun to pay attention.
I recently learned some things about transmission lines. Transmission lines, for the uninitiated, are high-voltage power lines used to transmit electricity across long distances. These are not the power lines that you would see out on the street in your neighborhood; those are called distribution lines. They're lower voltage (though still dangerous) and are used to distribute electricity to homes.
Transmission lines have everything to do with why we haven't stepped up renewable energy as much as we could. I came into this job thinking "so, if we just build a crapload of wind turbines and solar panels, all our problems will be solved, right?" Well, not really. It turns out that solar panels work best in the middle of the Southwest in the desert, miles and miles from large cities. And wind turbines work best in the great plains, miles and miles from large cities. But this power is truly needed in places like New York City, LA, Chicago, etc. So what do we do? We can't just build a power source, we have to connect it to the folks who need power.
The problem we face is that it's not worth it for the grid operator to build hundreds of miles of high-capacity transmission lines to pick up a few measly megawatts here or there. In order to make it worth their while, a grid operator needs to get a significant pile of power from this very, very costly investment. When small groups say "Hey, we built twelve turbines in the middle of South Dakota! Hook us up to the grid!" the grid operator laughs in their face, as well they should. And if the grid operator isn't going to hook up the turbines, it's not worth it to build them in the first place.
One possible solution to kick-start the process is for one very bank of wind turbines or solar panels to all be built at once. The grid operator will build out to the middle of nowhere, giving way for smaller setups to be built nearby.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the views of the company (EnerNOC, Inc). If you thought otherwise, you're probably the sort of person who thinks wind turbines are "totally lame."
I recently learned some things about transmission lines. Transmission lines, for the uninitiated, are high-voltage power lines used to transmit electricity across long distances. These are not the power lines that you would see out on the street in your neighborhood; those are called distribution lines. They're lower voltage (though still dangerous) and are used to distribute electricity to homes.
Transmission lines have everything to do with why we haven't stepped up renewable energy as much as we could. I came into this job thinking "so, if we just build a crapload of wind turbines and solar panels, all our problems will be solved, right?" Well, not really. It turns out that solar panels work best in the middle of the Southwest in the desert, miles and miles from large cities. And wind turbines work best in the great plains, miles and miles from large cities. But this power is truly needed in places like New York City, LA, Chicago, etc. So what do we do? We can't just build a power source, we have to connect it to the folks who need power.
The problem we face is that it's not worth it for the grid operator to build hundreds of miles of high-capacity transmission lines to pick up a few measly megawatts here or there. In order to make it worth their while, a grid operator needs to get a significant pile of power from this very, very costly investment. When small groups say "Hey, we built twelve turbines in the middle of South Dakota! Hook us up to the grid!" the grid operator laughs in their face, as well they should. And if the grid operator isn't going to hook up the turbines, it's not worth it to build them in the first place.
One possible solution to kick-start the process is for one very bank of wind turbines or solar panels to all be built at once. The grid operator will build out to the middle of nowhere, giving way for smaller setups to be built nearby.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the views of the company (EnerNOC, Inc). If you thought otherwise, you're probably the sort of person who thinks wind turbines are "totally lame."
Saturday, June 6, 2009
More Thoughts
It turns out, actually living life gets in the way of writing a blog sometimes. I can't update the blog from work (I'm supposed to be... y'know... working) and when I get home, I like hanging out with my brother, Michael (who I'm living with) and just relaxing. I have lots to say, but I've consistently lacked the willpower to put it into words. I imagine this will only get more difficult when I go to Denmark in the fall.
One of my favorite things about EnerNOC so far has been the lateral nature of the company. Everyone is an expert in their own area, and has the collective trust of the company in that area. It's cooperative. While everyone technically has a boss, requests from the boss don't necessarily mean more than requests from a member of another group. When anyone makes a request, you're expected to do what you can. There's none of this "you're not my boss" that you might find at another company.
This setup is also evidenced by the fact that interns are trusted and given real work to do. I've only done one typical office intern job (I went on a coffee run before our first big event). Everything else I've done has been critical to the overall performance of the team. I've been making changes to the system since day 1. In most cases, every correct change I make is one more business that can participate in our demand response program, and every mistake I make is one company that gets left out. I know what's at stake, and I take their trust seriously.
That said, it's really a fun place to work. First of all, the NOC looks like the future.
I mean, look at that. The first three rows in the NOC have these huge three-screen monitors. I want one so bad.
Then there's the giant wall screen up front. It has eight sections, each of which has some piece of information about event readiness and likelihood. There's usually a weather report (events are much more likely on hot days). There's also an event likelihood calculator (next to the weather). As you can tell from all the green, event likelihood was low across the board that day. Which probably explains how someone had time to wander around taking pictures :-)
By contrast, us interns are in our own room in the corner of the NOC (it's just to the left of where the picture ends). Last summer, it was affectionately dubbed "the ICU," or "Intern Containment Unit." We lack triple-monitors, but we do get our own little space, which has been fun. We're all in our early-to-mid 20's, and we've got at least office-level friendship going. Everyone I work with is good-natured and dedicated, which isn't surprising given the nature of the company.
That's all I can think of to share. I'm toeing the line between giving lots of detail at the risk of boring/confusing everyone, and giving little detail at the risk of leaving you all wondering what the heck it is I'm actually talking about. The best way I can make this blog interesting, I think, is to answer your questions. Otherwise, I'm just going to ramble, and that seems like a waste. So ask me something about EnerNOC, or about demand response, or anything else. I'll try to answer in a somewhat entertaining way.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the views of the company (EnerNOC, Inc). If you thought otherwise, you're probably an overzealous lawyer.
One of my favorite things about EnerNOC so far has been the lateral nature of the company. Everyone is an expert in their own area, and has the collective trust of the company in that area. It's cooperative. While everyone technically has a boss, requests from the boss don't necessarily mean more than requests from a member of another group. When anyone makes a request, you're expected to do what you can. There's none of this "you're not my boss" that you might find at another company.
This setup is also evidenced by the fact that interns are trusted and given real work to do. I've only done one typical office intern job (I went on a coffee run before our first big event). Everything else I've done has been critical to the overall performance of the team. I've been making changes to the system since day 1. In most cases, every correct change I make is one more business that can participate in our demand response program, and every mistake I make is one company that gets left out. I know what's at stake, and I take their trust seriously.
That said, it's really a fun place to work. First of all, the NOC looks like the future.I mean, look at that. The first three rows in the NOC have these huge three-screen monitors. I want one so bad.
Then there's the giant wall screen up front. It has eight sections, each of which has some piece of information about event readiness and likelihood. There's usually a weather report (events are much more likely on hot days). There's also an event likelihood calculator (next to the weather). As you can tell from all the green, event likelihood was low across the board that day. Which probably explains how someone had time to wander around taking pictures :-)
By contrast, us interns are in our own room in the corner of the NOC (it's just to the left of where the picture ends). Last summer, it was affectionately dubbed "the ICU," or "Intern Containment Unit." We lack triple-monitors, but we do get our own little space, which has been fun. We're all in our early-to-mid 20's, and we've got at least office-level friendship going. Everyone I work with is good-natured and dedicated, which isn't surprising given the nature of the company.
That's all I can think of to share. I'm toeing the line between giving lots of detail at the risk of boring/confusing everyone, and giving little detail at the risk of leaving you all wondering what the heck it is I'm actually talking about. The best way I can make this blog interesting, I think, is to answer your questions. Otherwise, I'm just going to ramble, and that seems like a waste. So ask me something about EnerNOC, or about demand response, or anything else. I'll try to answer in a somewhat entertaining way.
The views expressed here are my own and not necessarily the views of the company (EnerNOC, Inc). If you thought otherwise, you're probably an overzealous lawyer.
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