Contains Solar!

Photovoltaic systems, more commonly known as solar panels, are a great way to hedge against future increases in fuel costs that ultimately drive up utility rates.  They’ve also been known to both increase the life of roofs, as well as property value.  In fact, the State of California wants all new homes to be net-zero energy (i.e. they generate as much energy as they consume) by 2020.  But what happens when all those solar arrays come online and start winding meters backwards?

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has actually thought about this question, and provided a chart with how they expect the future to look:

Source: CAISO.com

As you can see from the chart, beginning at 8am the net load (actual minus distributed generation like rooftop solar) drops.  While everyone is at work, our solar panels are beginning to generate electricity.  Since most of us aren’t at home, this energy goes straight to where it’s being used and you get a credit on your bill.  The “duck belly” indicates just that, and it only gets bigger as solar becomes increasingly commonplace.  This is fantastic, because when solar distributed generation supplies an abundant amount of electricity, more polluting power plants can be shut down or ramped down.  However, as the workday comes to an end and we all drive home, the sun goes down, we kick on our heaters and air conditioners, resulting in a big load that solar panels can’t support.  That sudden jump in demand around 6pm requires an orchestrated effort on CAISO’s side to ramp up massive plants to meet the state’s need.  But ideally, the demand curve should be flat, making the need to purchase energy very stable and thus reliable and cheaper. 

There’s been a lot of interesting ideas floating around on how to store the energy generated during the day, which would either smooth out or flatten the “duck’s head”.  Smoothing or flattening out the demand curve would presumably make purchasing energy a lot easier and thus cheaper, because electricity has to be consumed (or stored) when generated—if you purchase too much, then you must consume or store it; if you purchase too little, you have rolling blackouts.  Currently PG&E has a reservoir plant that pumps water from a lower reservoir to one higher when energy is in low demand (thus low costs) and feeds it through turbines when prices and demand are higher.  Other ideas include sending excess power to electric water heaters (storing in the sense that you won’t have to heat water as much when hot water is in demand), storing the energy in concrete in the form of heat, forming huge ice blocks that cool large buildings, and of course large-scale batteries.  With battery technology becoming more popular due to hybrid-electric, plug-in electric and all-electric vehicles, we could very well have our grid supported solely by renewables and stored energy technologies in the coming years. 

Homebrew your way to an energy-efficient, neo-noir, sci-fi pad

When I first remember watching Blade Runner, it wasn’t the computer you could talk to and have it turn 2D pictures into 3D, or the cars that could drive and fly, or the humanoid robots that didn’t know they were robots, but rather the apartment lighting. Call me weird. As Harrison Ford was walking around his apartment, each room he entered dimmed up its fluorescent lighting, and dimmed to off as he moved away. This motion-sensing awesomeness was probably most engrained in my memory because I was often reminded by my parents to turn the lights off when I left the room. A good lesson and a constant annoyance to me, but I’m sure I was to them too. I probably still am.

Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard hunts down humanoid-like robots, and better ways to conserve energy.

This past weekend I read about this company called Ubiquiti Networks. Like their name suggests, they make networking equipment, like wireless internet antennas for long distances. But they also create energy managing devices, like power strips, power outlets and dimmers and switches.  The cool thing about these devices is that they wireless connect to the network, creating an Internet of Things.  And they can be programmed.  This is where the fun begins.

I might never have to flip a switch ever again.

By connecting motion sensors to your network, and replacing your light switches, you can now program the lights in any room to ramp up or down depending on the activity on the room.  And with time already a part of the system, you can have the lights dim up to a lower level at 4:15 in the morning so you don’t have to shield your eyes from the fury of instant-on brightness.  Another benefit is that each device monitors the energy usage of what is connected to it.

Now I can let prank callers know if my fridge is running anytime I’m away from the house.

You can know easily track energy usage of your lights and even plug loads, which can be pretty difficult.  If you have your electrical outlets replaced with theirs, you can also use a motion sensor in the kitchen to not only dim up your lights, but also to turn on your devices that have phantom loads!  I hope to one day purchase these when I buy a home so I have a much better picture of how much energy my home uses and, well, not have to worry about forgetting to turn off the lights.

My parents would be so happy.