Trends in Energy Innovation
30 Posts tagged with the renewables tagWhat do Smart Cities, Economic Development and Wealth Creation Have in Common?
Posted by Matt Laherty Feb 14, 2012
Bison at Custer State Park, South Dakota, July 2011
The history of the American Bison and the people who relied on them stands as an example of what can happen to societies when resources are poorly managed or depleted intentionally.
Good Plans Start with a Powerful Vision
The world’s current debt problems coupled with the depletion of cheap and plentiful carbon based fuels marks the end of the second industrial revolution. Cheap energy powered global growth for nearly 200 years. As energy prices rise to satisfy growing demand, it is becoming apparent to those watching, that the economic, political and climatic bill cannot be repaid. More debt cannot solve a debt problem. A new path forward is required.
Jeremy Rifkin’s latest book explores the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). In his usual thought provoking way, Rifkin provides a positive narrative that describes a prescriptive blueprint for powering an equitable and sustainable global TIR. Rifkin does not mince words when describing the extreme challenges we face. Not only is our quality of life at stake, but also our survival as a species. Inaction is not an option.
In addition to the changes required to reach a sustainable economy, Rifkin shares real-world examples and lessons learned from pilot projects. Over the years, Rifkin has actively facilitated meetings between world and business leaders who join efforts on TIR pilot projects to test and enhance his blueprints. As a first hand participant in the TIR communities’ process, I can attest to its value. Fortunately, the changes required are evolutionary. Though in sum, they will lead to revolutionary social, economic and political change.
The Five Pillars
Success of the TIR requires implementation of 5 supporting pillars. Though some are still incomplete, they can be implemented separately and integrated over time as the processes, technologies and policies evolve. The 5 pillars include:
1. Shifting to renewable energy technologies;
2. Transforming buildings by adding micro-power plants;
3. Adding Hydrogen and other storage to every building in order to store intermittent energy;
4. Using information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform the grid into a bi-directional energy-sharing “intergrid”;
5. Transitioning vehicles to electric and fuel-cell power plants.
Pillar 4 Unifies All 5 Pillars; It’s Key to TIR Success
Pillar 4, the energy-intergrid, is critical to enable the other 4 pillars to work together. The future intergrid will have full knowledge of energy generation on and off the traditional grid. With the intergrid, users and producers will have real-time insight into electricity transmission and distribution conditions, and know consumers’ preference for energy demand, reliability, emissions and quality at any point in time, and at any price. Real-time energy monitoring (of both consumption and generation) is required to ensure balance between energy supply and demand.
The developing smart grid will enable realization of Rifkin’s vision because it includes smart loads. These smart loads are comprised of all the energy consuming devices, micro-generation, storage and electric transportation contained in a facility. By using ICT to connect disparate systems, buildings will have an energy central nervous system. These innervated buildings will enable users to set real-time conservation and consumption policies that match their needs and preferences.
Without interoperable intelligent building systems, it would be impossible to optimize energy generation and consumption. The innervated facility enables users to know how much energy they produce and consume at any point in time. The intelligent intergrid will also allow consumers to sell energy to others. Finally, innervated buildings will not only act as isolated autonomous energy islands, but also as nodes on an interconnected web linking distributed micro generation capacity with other consumers. This is a key development for the 4th pillar. Intergrids will accelerate the role of lateral power.
Pillar 4 and Lateral Power Will Transform Society
According to Rifkin, The Third Industrial Revolution “will lay the foundational infrastructure for an emerging collaborative age.” Later he notes “we are in the midst of a profound shift in the very way that society is structured, away from hierarchical power and toward lateral power.” I agree. The marriage of ICT and energy empowers consumers and makes it possible for them to benefit financially even without producing excess energy. The intergrid enables consumers to time shift energy use to low cost periods. On the other hand, consumers who continue to use energy at anytime will probably see their bills rise. But the cost reflects real-time supply-demand constraints.
Lateral power balances the interests of consumers with large producers. Anyone can be a producer. This shift is dramatic when considered in the context of our existing model where energy is extracted from remote regions around the globe by large corporations. Oil exploration, extraction, refining, and transportation require massive amounts of capital and long complex supply chains. Several years ago, after a discussion about energy supply chains, a friend concluded “we’ve perfected fragility.”
Every system in our economy is connected and all of them rely on the energy network. The TIR creates a roadmap to reduce complexity and dependence on long oil supply chains. The TIR and lateral power puts more control in the hands of individuals so they can use it effectively. Because energy is economic oxygen it’s important to keep it simple and closely connected to people who use it.
Implementing The 5 Pillars
The TIR is underway. Though not all the necessary solutions are developed, numerous projects will drive change while saving money and transitioning users to a new economic/energy model. In practical terms projects can start without the full roll-out or integration with the intergrid. While distributed renewable energy, buildings as power plants (micro grids), hydrogen creation and storage, rollout of ICT, and plug-in vehicles can all be implemented as independent initiatives, their combined value grows when each part of the puzzle is connected to the others.
Conclusion
The Third Industrial Revolution presents a solid blue print that leads to sound economic development. It represents tremendous opportunity for individual citizens, organizations, businesses and political leaders. Though I’m optimistic, I don’t think we have much time to react. The last large scale energy transformation project ended with the 1970s—over 30 years ago. Our existing economic structure won’t survive without another round of plentiful cheap oil and credit—but those days are over.
Rifkin's book is available now from Amazon.com
Cisco EnergyWise partners attending Cisco Live 2011, demonstrated that ICT based energy solutions are ready for installation. Over the next year we'll start to document these solutions in more detail. Before we do, I want to share some highlights from Cisco Live and thank everyone for making our collaboration a success.
I want to say “THANK YOU” to all of our Cisco Live 2011 partners. Our overwhelming success and “buzz” is a testament to your efforts (and I hope you enjoyed the "Train" performance at the customer appreciation event).
Many months before Cisco Live the extended EnergyWise team set a number of ambitious goals—and because of our partners, we exceeded all of them.
We set out to build a complete working EnergyWise solution that enabled customers to pull three phase meter data from the building entrance facility as well as innervate all of the IT subloads and project relevant load profile information to the building lobby digital signage (as a result of a lot partner effort—we had many paths to achieve this). We did this to show what is possible with EnergyWise and to help create a solution that could be used by the Cisco field and our distribution partners to start a dialogue with customers about energy reduction programs. Though this is only the start, it provides customers with a meaningful stand alone solution.
The purpose of our social media activities was to educate our joint customers that it is time to consider EnergyWise solutions. It also had a side benefit of helping the whole extended team figure out what works well and what does not. On balance, these efforts were also a huge success. The #EnergyWise Flash Mob Kazoo Orchestra conducted by #CL11 host, Carlos Dominguez was a hit. It’s the lead image on the CL11 highlights reel (by the way, if you didn’t know how # is used, hopefully you learned something—I didn’t know either). http://www.ciscolive.com/us/exhibitors/index.php
Results by the numbers.
- There were countless interactions among customers, partners, press and analysts.
- 500+ Kazoos circulated at the show. 1 was delivered to John Chambers.
- 2 Partners had their logo printed on their kazoos (nice job!)
- 1 EnergyWise Flash Mob Kazoo Orchestra (with a hundred smiling partners and customers)
- 2 Booth sponsors for the EnergyWise Flash Mob Kazoo Orchestra conducted by Carlos Dominguez: Schneider-Electric and CA
- 4 Sponsors for the customer meeting with William Shatner: Cyber Switching; Industry Weapon, JouleX, WTI
- 4 Sponsors for the EnergyWise geo location game daily prize drawing: CA; Eaton; Schneider-Electric; 1e
- 1 EnergyWise demo for John Chambers hosted by the Schneider-Electric team. They built a demo that connects EnergyWise and BMS systems in a single view. The demo leveraged real products to recreate the “vision” demo built for John Chambers when he launched EnergyWise at Cisco Live in Barcelona, Spain in Feb, 2009.
- 1 small demo EnergyWise demo during Padmasree Warrior’s key note (Thank you Scott Neumann)
- 6 EnergyWise technology sessions (speakers included: John Parello, Luis Suau, Brock Miller, Emmanuel Tychon, and Matt Laherty)
- 8 EnergyWise partner booths: 1e; CA; Cyber Switching; Eaton; Raritan; WTI; Schneider-Electric; Verdiem
- 1 EnergyWise reseller booth: Graybar
- 68 Digital displays powered by 1 EnergyWise partner: Industry Weapon
- 1 EnergyWise demo pod in the Cisco Booth
- 5 EnergyWise partners supported the EnergyWise team in the Technical Solutions Clinic: Enth Energy; Commscope; Ayehu; CA; (and a big thank you goes to FieldServer for standing up a team to staff the booth the entire time the WOS was open)
- 10 partner interviews on the Smart Connected Communities Collaboration Page http://www.smartconnectedcommunities.org/groups/cisco-energywise?view=video
- 200+ Tweets!
- 3 Guest blog posts (I’m willing to upload more) http://www.smartconnectedcommunities.org/groups/cisco-energywise?view=overview
- 5 blog posts that describe EnergyWise in the “Innervated Building Lab”.
- Dozen+ new documents, press releases and solution guides posted on the collaboration site
- 1 Karaoke performance by the Cisco EnergyWise team (hopefully the video will never surface)
- 3 hours—the average amount of sleep the EW team received each night (excluding John P.)
- 1 partner danced at the Wednesday night party and wound up on the highlights video prior to the discussion with William Shatner
Getting serious for a moment, John Parello, Tirth Ghose, Brock Miller and the rest of the EnergyWise engineering team have put in countless nights and weekends to make the EnergyWise vision a reality. There have been many other team members working behind the scenes to keep us on course.
I’d like to thank Don Schriner for keeping us focused on important things when we were often distracted by new bright shiny objects (okay—maybe that was just me).
Thank you Amir Raz for taking the lead and helping 100 partners navigate the CDN and Cisco partnering process. You keep the innovation pipeline flowing.
Thank you Jill Hundley for helping me understand the power and growing importance of social media. I must also thank you and the Learning@Cisco team for ensuring that our partners had a place to collaborate with other partners and customers. Jill was our social media air traffic controller during Cisco Live—and she helped us shape the plan for several months prior to the event.
Kathleen Mudge—Thank you for supporting our efforts. You made sure we kept the bling.
None of us would have had a successful week without all of these contributions and more from other Cisco team members. But as nearly all the partners know, there’s another individual who stands out in his relentless commitment: Luis Suau. For every hour that engineering put into improving the code, I think Luis spent two trying to use it, connect with it, bend it and break it, so that all of us would know how to build an EnergyWise network with a 1000 diverse end points. There was nothing Luis couldn’t do in “two weeks!”
Guest Expert Series: Make Sustainability a Discipline Not an Event
Posted by Matt Laherty Jul 18, 2011Guide to Cisco EnergyWise Activities @ Cisco Live Las Vegas, July 10-14th
Posted by Matt Laherty Jul 7, 2011Since you’re reading step 2, I’ll assume you have implemented step 1 or at least have a basic understanding of how to collect and report real-time whole building power profile information.
The point of step 2 is to describe how to submeter building systems with a heavy emphasis on IT and carpeted space plug loads. The goal is to gain insight closer to the device and eventually to capture information directly from the device. This will provide granular insight into power use of IT and other office loads. It will also enable network engineers to gain knowledge about energy submetering. This knowledge can be applied to other building loads including HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) and lighting systems. Though historically these systems have been managed by the building facility department, in many cases they are not actively monitored. Over time, these systems tend to creep out of spec and waste a lot of energy. The skills network engineers develop in the IT domain can be used to assist facilities as they start to upgrade their monitoring and management capabilities. I’m not suggesting that IT will take over policy administration of facilities. I expect IT to partner with facilities in order to develop sound monitoring practices for all building subsystems.
Let’s now examine what’s required to submeter IT systems.
I’ll assume you’ve already updated the IOS in your switches and routers to an EnergyWise enabled image. This means that you can see how much energy your network and PoE attached devices are consuming. It also means that the network can auto detect devices by their type (phone, access point, meter etc). Moreover, you can indicate and identify the importance of a device and tag it with keywords that allow you to classify energy consumption based on organization specific metrics. These classification metrics might include department (marketing, sales, accounting, development engineering etc). The domain feature also provides a good way to group loads. The monitoring and control features supported by EnergyWise deserve a stand alone in depth review. So I’ll leave that to a future post. This post is intended to highlight the way in which IT can gather power information by using Cisco EnergyWise partner products. These products either contain the EnergyWise client or they extend the EnergyWise framework to non-EnergyWise enabled network attached devices.
Starting first with the EnergyWise enabled power distribution units, these are smart power strips that support EnergyWise attributes on each power plug. These units provide a fast way to “innervate” a mixed device server rack or office space. And they’re a great tool that allows us to experiment with other submetering strategies.
My colleague, Luis Suau, has worked with one PDU manufacturer to submeter every device in a 10 cubicle area within our own office. Luis also uses a variety of EnergyWise enabled PDU’s throughout the Innervated Building lab. Vendor partners include: Cyber Switching, Eaton, Raritan, and WTI. One partner is also using a measurement device to capture data at the circuit breaker panel.
From this cubicle screen shot, can you determine the best time to get a hot cup of coffee?
Other vendor partners that have products with the EnergyWise device client include 1e (for server power management) and Lenovo for PCs. As I discussed in the previous post, it’s possible to obtain other building subsystem energy consumption data by using an EnergyWise enabled building controls gateway. We have one in the lab made by FieldServer. I expect more companies to have offerings soon (and we might see one more at Cisco Live in Las Vegas).
EnergyWise enabled devices are all visible to EnergyWise enabled management tools. So EnergyWise submeter capabilities are only limited by the capabilities of the management tools used to monitor and report energy consumption by the network and subtended devices.
The following EnergyWise partners have products that we’ve used to gain visibility into subtended devices. These include PDU products and software that sits directly on a server and PC. Many of these will attend EnergyWise next week. They can provide a lot more details about their products and how they work with Cisco EnergyWise:
Cyber Switching: www.cyberswitching.com/
Eaton: http://powerquality.eaton.com/Products-services/Power-Distribution/ePDU/Default.asp?cx=3
Raritan: www.raritan.com/
WTI: www.wti.com/
1e: www.1e.com
Lenovo: http://news.lenovo.com/article_print.cfm?article_id=1460
There is much more to say about this topic. I’ll have to save it for later because I’m pressed for time preparing to host energy solutions at Cisco Live next week.
In the past several years, electricity consumers across the US have learned to expect regular large price increases. Many of these can be attributed to rising input costs of coal, plant maintenance and construction costs. In the near term, consumers can expect the rate of cost increases to grow more rapidly due to new emissions requirements on coal generation stations. After examining the impact that new US EPA requirements will have on their operations, American Electric Power (AEP) recently announced that they expect electricity prices to rise 40~60% over the next several years. Despite the price increases of the recent past, I think consumers still expect low and stable energy bills. That said, I think the near term massive price increases will have a profound impact on future consumption.
New incremental price increases will come from large capital improvement projects needed to reduce emissions. These new fixed costs will be passed on to energy consumers. Regardless of the amount of electricity demanded, these costs will be recovered. I haven’t studied the capital vs operating expense models in detail, but I expect these new emission mandates to have a large impact on electric bills. Even though electricity demand is elastic and follows the basic economic rules of supply and demand (as the price of electricity rises, demand will fall), these added expenses will probably increase faster than consumers can reduce demand (time will tell). On balance, I expect that consumers will see a net increase in electric bills.
In short, consumers will pay more for less. As a result, both businesses and home owners will become more aware of their energy use and they will seek conservation and alternative energy supply solutions.
For more information, visit:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/276644-coal-generators-and-the-epa-power-struggle-will-consumers-foot-the-electric-bills or http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-11/business/ct-biz-0612-rates-20110611_1_generators-electricity-illinois-power-agency
As businesses and consumers seek solutions to reduce their energy spend, they will explore active technologies to improve utilization. Fortunately, the building controls and Information, Communication Technology vendors are beginning to build products that will interoperate effectively to give customers a way to convert their existing building stock into “Buildings as Power Plants” (see Jeremy Rifkin’s essay on the Third Industrial Revolution http://www.foet.org/lectures/lecture-hydrogen-economy.html ). More importantly, these technologies and operating techniques will enable customers to run “net-zero” buildings as a standard operating practice. This requires active energy management of electricity consuming and generating systems.
Put another way, this means that all building sub systems must work together to ensure energy demand is balanced with available energy supply. Available energy can be electric, thermal, potential or kinetic. To know what mix is required, a building’s energy management supervisor (for the sake of this piece, I assume the building energy supervisor is a computer program) must know current weather conditions, building envelope thermal performance, energy demand, and energy available at a given price and volume.
From a building energy supervisor’s perspective, it needs to know how much sun light hits the building and what impact solar loading will have. The supervisor must know all the available onsite generation, storage and their costs, capacities and operating state.
Possible onsite energy options include:
- wind-electric
- solar-electric
- solar-electric hydrogen generator
- solar-thermal
- micro-hydro
- geo-thermal
- ice-storage
- motor-generator
- battery storage
- wood/biomass boiler
- propane/gas/diesel/hydrogen/biomass generator
- air-source heat-pump
- fuel cell
- electric vehicle with an IC motor or battery
- electric vehicle with a hydrogen powered fuel cell electric generator (can this be used for the building’s energy needs?)
- grid connected transformer
- etc…
As you can see, there are a lot of onsite energy generation options. They must be understood by the site energy management supervisor. When they’re understood, it’s possible to build automated policies.
The building energy management supervisor must also have deep insight into the energy demands of the facility. It must know who and what uses electricity, when it is used, how important it is and other attributes that the customer might want to assign to a device.
Automated control policies work better with granular energy consumption insight.
The point to all of this is to help customers understand when and where energy is used to ensure it’s all used effectively at the least cost to the business or homeowner. As energy prices rise, the return on investment for automated control solutions and onsite renewable energy generators will improve making them more accessible to customers. In a future post, I’ll discuss the way in which Cisco EnergyWise and nearly 100 technology partners are developing solutions that provide granular insight.
How to Innervate a Building (to Monitor and Manage Energy): Step 1
Posted by Matt Laherty Jun 22, 2011If you’re reading this I assume you want to know what’s required to “Innervate” a building (and you’re on a tight budget—if you weren’t, you’d simply call a major consulting firm and they’d send a team of high paid experts to customize a large scale program for you). An Innervation project requires interaction among facilities, energy, network engineering and possibly a half dozen other groups including IT, sustainability, finance, HR (think leader board), security and marketing. Moreover, an executive sponsor should be in the picture to facilitate cooperation among these disparate groups.
There are a few step required before turning up a real-time energy dashboard on your lobby signage.
Step 0: Build the Team and Define the Project
In short, for most projects, three organizational tasks must be completed prior to work on an innervated building. The project leader (and that can be anyone), must:
1. 1. Imagine the final outcome (ideation). Explore emerging trends in sustainability and reporting and create a blueprint that leverages those changes in order to develop an effective sustainability reporting process.
2. 2. Assemble the team required to execute the project—gain agreement on the outcome.
3. 3. Set milestones
Again, since you’re reading this and you’re on a budget, I will assume you have decided to start small and simple. If you’ve never innervated a building before, it’s useful to take it one chunk at a time. Set achievable goals and show solid results before layering additional complexity. In our Innervated Building lab, we connect devices, collect data and then determine what information is useful and valuable and published the information to a digital sign in the lobby of our lab. We called this project “Measurement and Visibility”. This project is about getting the infrastructure in place to create energy literacy for all building users and save money. The project also establishes a baseline from which to launch additional energy monitoring and control enhancements (such as energy consumption leader boards and tracking to reduction goals).
For the sake of this discussion, let’s assume that you’ve decided to collect and report all the energy consumed in the building in real-time. This means that you’ve decided to capture and report the building’s “energy profile”. Furthermore, I assume you want to project the relevant information to your Cisco Digital Media Signage.
Step 1. Connect to the Whole Building Power Infrastructure
To get the data you need to help users see the building power profile, you will first need to connect and collect power consumption information from a whole building 3 phase power meter.
In our lab, there are three ways to connect and collect energy consumption data. To date, Luis Suau has only configured this two ways.
1. 1. Luis attached an ENthEnergy MITS unit to the power entrance facility. This requires an electrician to connect a CT to each phase the power cables. The ENthEnergy unit is connected to a Cisco EnergyWise enabled switch that collects the power information via EnergyWise.
2. 2. Luis attached a FieldServer gateway to our existing Schneider Electric Power Logic 3 phase meter (CT cables were deployed previously). This meter sends energy use information to the FieldServer gateway via an RS485 cable and Modbus communication protocol. The FieldServer gateway translates the information into the Cisco EnergyWise protocol. This information can be collected by the Cisco Switch to which the FieldServer gateway is connected via an Ethernet cable.
3. 3. The third way to collect energy use information is to use a WattNode or similar 3 phase meter and then extract and convert the energy use information into the EnergyWise protocol using a Field Server gateway.
4. 4. There are several 3 phase meter manufacturers actively working to enable Cisco EnergyWise as a native protocol. I expect to see several of these products soon.
Step 2. Select an Energy Monitoring Application That Can Collect the Data
Now that your Cisco EnergyWise enabled network can query power consumption for the whole building, deploy a software package that can give you a simple graphical interface to configure, collect and report energy use information.
There are several packages available today and more are in the works.
At this point we have a variety of product specific management tools deployed, but to date we have only one that can manage and monitor a complete Cisco EnergyWise deployment. This application is from JouleX.
Step 3. Display Energy Use Information in Your Building Lobby
In this phase, you’ll need to deploy digital signs, kiosks and other display devices capable of supporting digital media. Some customers have deployed dedicated energy dashboards. We think a better way to do this is leverage digital media equipment for multiple information uses. Why have multiple screens when one might be enough? Our approach was to leverage as many preexisting assets as possible so that the benefit is maximized while enabling the lowest cost for solution development.
1. 1. Luis installed a Cisco Digital Media System. This includes a DMS controller and a digital display sign. This system enables us to push energy use information from our JouleX management software to the lobby signage.
2. 2. In order to render multiple content streams we’ve also deployed CommandCenterHD from Industry Weapon. This system enables our “content administrator” to push multiple streams of information throughout displays, kiosks, IP phones, and iPhones, in our building or campus.
Like the previous steps, this third one required us to work closely with the vendors involved. Though we will have a working prototype for Cisco Live, I expect some additional time and testing is required before a product is commercialized. By the time you’re ready to place an order, check with the vendors. We will also work with them and post updates on their product status.
For more information about this process, visit my webinar entitled “Laying the Foundation for an Effective Sustainability Program” http://www.smartconnectedcommunities.org/blogs/webinars/2011/02/15/webinar-matt-laherty-1-25-11-laying-the-foundation-for-an-effective-sustainability-program
ENthEnergy MITS appliance: www.enthenergy.com
FieldServer Gateway: www.fieldserver.com
Schneider Electric Power Meters: http://www.powerlogic.com/index.cfm
WattNode from Continental Control Systems: http://www.ccontrolsys.com/w/Home
Cisco EnergyWise: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10195/index.html
Cisco Digital Media Suite: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9339/Products_Sub_Category_Home.html
JouleX energy management application: www.joulex.net
Industry Weapon CommandCenterHD: www.industryweapon.com
How to Innervate a Building with ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
Posted by Matt Laherty Jun 20, 2011Several weeks ago I purchased an iPhone. I delayed the purchase until a must-have app was created (besides, I already had a phone and I always carry a laptop—so despite the convenient size, an iPhone was a redundant appliance). For me, the must have app is a new energy measurement and control application built by JouleX. http://www.joulex.net/joulex-in-the-news/bid/48629/JouleX-network-power-manager-gets-facelift-smartphone-link
I ordered an iPhone so that I could control energy consumption of my office devices in San Jose, CA, from anywhere at anytime. This application complements the full scale JouleX Energy Manager Enterprise automated energy management solution deployed in our lab.
Using Cisco EnergyWise, my devices are labeled with keywords (like “MattLaherty”). These keywords are associated with my iPhone. When I activate the JouleX Mobile app, all I have to do is push the “off” button. This technology combination illustrates what’s possible with ICT for energy management. Keep in mind, this technology can be used to control any set of Cisco EnergyWise enabled devices, from those that belong to an individual to everthing on the campus. So that single “off” switch could shut down as much as 50 MegaWatts.
We’ll share more as we test new applications and products in preparation for demos at CiscoLive in Las Vegas the week of July 11th. http://www.ciscolive.com/us/
To learn more about JouleX and their energy app, visit: http://www.joulex.net/Green_IT_Blog/bid/50663/JouleX-Mobile-Hits-iTunes-App-Store
The mill at Spring Mill State Park, Indiana. Click on the image for the full shot.
The EIA Announcement
I was surprised by recent news from the US Energy Information Agency. On April 28th, 2011 the EIA announced that it would terminate a number of important projects due to funding cuts. Specifically, the press release states the EIA will:
- “Suspend work on EIA's 2011 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), the Nation's only source of statistical data for energy consumption and related characteristics of commercial buildings.
- Terminate updates to EIA's International Energy Statistics.”
http://www.eia.gov/pressroom/releases/press362.cfm
This news is significant. These reports (and many others) provide important information about how our facilities are functioning. More importantly, the international energy statistics provide an early warning of impending energy challenges. The first metaphor that enters my mind to explain this action is that it’s a bit like disconnecting the temperature sensor from your radiator while your car is overheating. But that’s really just linear thinking. The trouble ahead can’t be solved by calling AAA road side assistance.
This announcement means that we’re discontinuing data collection and reporting about some of our economy’s most important metrics. Right now US energy consumers need more information—not less. Energy is economic oxygen: renewed awareness of the intersection of energy and economics will drive dramatic change. I’ll explain.
Catabolic-Collapse
The world has been undergoing catabolic-collapse since the start of the Industrial Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution). Catabolic-collapse describes the process of using stored excess energy for current output or consumption. From Webster’s online, catabolism is a “degradative metabolism” where the body consumes tissue to produce energy while breaking down proteins and lipids.
The energy we’ve consumed over the past 200 years represents millions of year’s worth of solar energy trapped in the earth’s crust. Catabolic-collapse of the world’s Carbon based fuels is not a bad thing as long as we have an energy transition plan and can mitigate pollution bi-products. The catabolic-collapse has had a profound and positive impact on humans. It has enabled the development and ongoing support for our food production, education, entertainment, medicine, travel and the internet to list a few examples. But when that energy is gone (or too expensive or difficult to reach) we must find a substitute or our economy will shrink dramatically. (As a side note it’s not clear to me what the most important climate change driver might be, but it would be a stretch to dismiss our annual consumption of a cubic mile of crude oil as a factor. I think climate change is a byproduct of a complex multi-variable feedback loop.)
We must develop a sustainable energy-econony plan. Success requires us to know where we are and figure out where we need to go. We need to know what sustainable looks like. Most of us don’t know how large our own carbon foot print is (me included).
History Lessons
Reviewing history to find a model path forward is only somewhat instructive because there aren’t any models for what we face today. Well in truth, there aren’t any with a happy ending. That said, I’m optimistic that we have the time, wealth, energy and intelligence to unlock another “Industrial Revolution” powered by renewable energy and technology that combine to raise our standard of living to a new high Getting this wrong leads us to a very dark future. Looking at our current energy policy and the recent invasion of light-sweet-crude-rich- Libya, I think we are still on the wrong path. A positive future outcome is still possible but great care is required. Even if elected governments officials fail to imagine an alternative path, distributed energy solutions only require distributed participation. So I have reason for hope.
Looking back to the early 1800’s at the start of the Industrial Revolution takes us to Western England. At that time the Midlands was home to numerous textile mills and small iron foundries. They were located there to transform low value raw materials into high value finished goods. This is the point in history where coal was extracted and used to transform manual labor into large scale mechanized production. After the water and agricultural innovations introduced several thousand years previously, the industrial revolution represents the greatest period of energy and technology coupling to drive innovation; it materially improved human life.
Numerous technologies were invented and adapted to solve problems for local businesses. The area saw the first wide scale use of canals to move coal from mine to industrial consumer. Coal fired steam engines were developed to pump water out of flooded coal mines—thus dramatically increasing constrained supplies. The steam engine was soon adapted for locomotion on metal rails. It was easier, faster and cheaper to build a railroad on the side of a hill and across valleys than to build a canal.
Interesting to note, the region was home to the first sunk post windmill erected in 1185 (Weedley, Yorkshire, England). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_mill) So the region that kicked off the current energy innovation super-cycle based on carbon energy actually evolved from solar based renewables. The transition to carbon fuels simply explains that someone with a problem found a good solution based on a nearby resource--they took advantage of what was available. This transition marked the beginning of the current carbon fuel catabolic-collapse cycle.
Where We Are Today
Fast forward to 2011 and we see that we’re still extracting coal and crude oil from the ground in order to harvest raw materials, transform them and transport them to market for consumption. “Green” is something marketing and PR people talk about and net zero buildings are one-off science projects. Despite gasoline at $4.50 USD per gallon, carbon based energy is still oxygen for our food production, education, entertainment, medicine, travel and the internet.
At what price do we shut off devices, processes and activities? We have yet to decide what is most important. We will also witness the widespread awareness of the nexus between energy and economics. We have reached the moment in time when the “Ozzie and Harriet” American suburban lifestyle adapts peacefully or is forced to change. Without distributed, local, renewable consumer owned energy sources, it’s no longer cost effective for consumers to live in carbon fuel intensive automobile based suburban tract homes. Maybe electric or Hydrogen vehicles are the answer—or maybe not. Right now the technology evolution roadmap has more axle breaking potholes than super highways to sustainable prosperity. Before we explore the economics of distributed renewable energy, we need to dig into economics.
During the 1990’s, in the US, the price of energy remained relatively stable. A gallon of gasoline was about $1-1.25. For the past 10 years, the price of gas has steadily risen from $1.50-4.50 per gallon. This has caused the price of everything to rise—in dollar terms (the dollar is the numerare). Regardless of whether the price of crude oil is rising due to shortages, increased demand or through central banker’s currency debasement, the impact is the same (I think all three play a role).
So now energy consumers have three new and bigger reasons to start exploring the use of renewable energy to power their operations and lives. To restate, energy prices will continue to rise due to three mega trends: 1. Inexpensive easy to reach supplies have diminished; 2. Demand from the world’s emerging middle class is rising; 3. Central bankers will continue to debase fiat currencies. These trends will conspire to improve the ROI of conservation and renewable energy projects years into the future. If a project doesn’t meet your organization’s hurdle rate today, reexamine it in 12 months…
The Nexus of Energy and Economics
Energy is the foundation of wealth; energy is currency. JP Morgan is claimed to have remarked that “gold and silver are money, everything else is credit”. I won’t argue much with that, but gold and silver require energy to extract, process and transport (from ore bodies to bullion). Energy is often a necessary condition in the formula for wealth creation. Though energy is not well suited as money, it is a valuable commodity. While a tank of propane might be valuable, it’s not convenient… Similarly, paper fiat currency is convenient but is a poor store of value. Paper money is how employees and employers save their energy—or the effort of their labor.
Businesses use currency to purchase employee labor, energy, raw materials and other capital stock or services. Both end consumers and employees use their earned currency to purchase food, education, entertainment, medicine, travel and internet access. Currency is used to purchase energy intensive goods and services.
Some of these purchases include goods that contain a tremendous amount of embodied energy. A personal automobile requires large scale mining to extract the basic ingredients. The manufacturing plant requires large amounts of electricity to transform steel, aluminum and plastics throughout the assembly process. Paper currency has become the modern way to store energy.
If we look back 200 years, we see that the currency of America’s agrarian settlers included livestock, apples, wheat, whiskey, blankets, firewood, and Spanish silver and many other trade goods. Only one of those examples is sound money, the rest are hard assets, although some of these fare better than others when measured against the 5 attributes of money. 1. A store of value; 2. Durable; 3. Divisible; 4. Consistent (around the globe); 5. Convenient.
Sound money and hard assets provide a good way to save. Fiat currency does not. Many people save the output of their labor (human energy) in the form of Federal Reserve notes or US Treasury bonds. I know many people believe these notes can store value—in the same way a battery stores electrons. Aside from being a useful metaphor, the comparison is very poor. Assuming you have the perfect battery, it will efficiently store every electron that you put in it.
Unfortunately for money savers, money is not wealth. It’s a commodity used as a medium of exchange and the US Federal Reserve has been openly monetizing treasury bonds for over a year. This means that the Federal Reserve is printing more money. Since the number of things we need hasn’t changed, but the money supply has grown, it now takes significantly more money to buy the things we use—including energy. Since central banks have recently redoubled their efforts to debase their currencies, we will witness recognition of this fact by many more people. As people watch the purchasing power of their money erode they will seek ways to preserve their existing quality of life. We will see resurgence in gardening and hobby farming because food is energy and energy is currency. But this is a small scale, individual response. The world still needs a massive large scale “human project”.
To understand where we are and to know when we arrive at the destination, we need to create large scale comprehensive energy monitoring and control solutions to ensure consumers, businesses, utilities and governments have solutions that can meet their needs. These projects all require system instrumentation, meaningful dashboards and a complete reengineering of our economy to run on sustainable energy. That means we need to develop an energy plan that maximizes the capture, conversion and storage of solar energy. Solar is primary energy. It’s what hits the Earth first. Some long wave solar radiation is converted to heat on the ground. The heat warms the air and creates wind. We need a new set of metrics for measuring this energy-economic revolution.
Existing Economic Metrics Offer a Cautionary Tale
As we consider new metrics and tools for energy, we must ensure they’re meaningful. If we examine existing economic data for a moment, you’ll see that, though interesting, it isn’t always useful. Today’s media tends to examine global health through the lens of national GDP (Gross Domestic Product). GDP is a measure of a country’s flow of spending. It is not a measure of prosperity, efficiency or capital stock. It’s simply a count. It’s a count of all consumer, business and government spending plus net of exports (exports-imports). So if government spends more, it’s GDP positive. If companies accumulate excess inventory, it’s also GDP positive. Other common Tier I economic indicators include the labor participation rate, unemployment, new home starts, existing home sales, and hours worked to list a few, these metrics are not very meaningful as a measure of prosperity or sustainability. For that perspective, many experts point to the CPI (Consumer Price Index). They use it as a barometer of consumer health and spending power. But this too is a mistake. The measure is fatally flawed because it excludes food and energy and uses hedonics for other ridiculous adjustments that don’t translate to the real world.
Energy metrics should be simple and answer the question whether the organization is operating in a sustainable way. The building controls and communication equipment industries will work with innovative customers to define these new meaningful dashboards and metrics.
Conclusion
Before continuous debt monetization destroys our currency we must use the remaining value to transition to a new energy-economic Industrial Revolution. We will see an energy revolution because the existing model is in decline and energy is still economic oxygen.
Last week I spent several hours speaking with Dan Maheu, President of Smart Papers in Hamilton, Ohio. http://www.smartpapers.com/newgrntest/index.html
Dan and I met a few weeks ago at the OSIsoft user conference in San Francisco where he was presenting on the creation of an industrial smart grid and the use of Pi for energy management. http://www.osisoft.com/
I visited Smart Papers to see how a 150 year old brick and mortar manufacturing business could transform itself into a lean operation by leveraging ICT (information and communication technology) infrastructure. What I saw was inspiring; it illustrates that innovation can happen anywhere.
Hamilton, Ohio is the quintessential small American industrial city. Located on a river just north of Cincinnati, OH, Hamilton is still home to several large and numerous small industrial companies. The area was first settled in 1794 as the home of Fort Hamilton. With a red brick building lined main street, Hamilton looks like many other Midwest industrial cities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton,_Ohio
Though the town’s façade looks familiar to anyone who has traveled around the US Midwest, it conceals the innovation happening inside an old paper mill. Dan is revolutionizing the way his company consumes energy. He and his team have updated their energy monitoring, reporting and control systems so that they operate as a campus wide smart grid. This means Smart Papers is running a smart grid island. A central part of the project involves introducing everyone on the site to the language and patterns of energy. By leveraging ICT, they’ve made energy awareness accessible to everyone in the organization—including visitors. The site is covered with digital displays that project real-time energy consumption key performance metrics.
Though the company owns and operates its own onsite 40 MW coal fired power plant, the energy operating model they’ve developed may be applicable to numerous commercial and even residential energy management projects. Their scale of operation ensures that they have the budget and people to explore many energy efficiency improvement projects. This makes them unique among many organizations exploring energy conservation.
I will anxiously follow the next several projects on Dan’s list. They include many initiatives that recycle Smart Paper’s infrastructure for new uses. Projects under consideration include:
1. Adding synchrophasors to monitor spot power anomalies that may improve price forecasting. As usual, I expect the unexpected.
2. Retrofitting several acres of unused manufacturing plant infrastructure to house computer servers.
3. Converting the coal fired power plant to run on biomass generated from non-recyclable paper products
4. Adding 3.5 acres of PV to the plant roof (but only when it makes economic sense).
This 150 year old brick and mortar business continues to innovate and confirm “what’s old is new again”. By operating a facility-wide micro grid and engaging employees to develop energy consumption best practices, Smart Papers is leading the way in the smart grid revolution. Dan is proving that it’s possible to transform a business while leveraging a well worn plant and existing employees. I will continue to follow their efforts because I believe the lessons learned can help other customers use ICT. Given that the average smart phone has more computing power than the Apollo program, technology is not a limiting factor. Organizations are simply waiting for a logical and proven deployment roadmap.
The purpose of this series to share my experiences and challenges while converting an existing home to net-zero. Hopefully we can exchange lessons learned in order to reduce the process complexity for others and to ensure vendors who build systems gain better insight into the customer experience. This post is intended to describe the the starting point for the home. I'll cover utility bills, performance and active systems in a future post. After that I'll move to a potential plan that includes my thought process...
Background
Several years ago my wife and I decided to relocate from the San Francisco Bay Area to a rural property near a Big 10 College town. During the home search process, we decided that the most effective way to meet our needs was to buy bare land and build a home from scratch. I was determined to build a home that was comfortable, spacious and cheap to operate—because, well, I’m cheap (why spend more than necessary?). Given that we planned to keep the home for multiple decades it was imperative to create a design that would keep operating expenses as low as possible. We didn’t set out to build a green home and we definatley didn’t set out to make it net-zero. After spending several years on energy management solutions for Cisco and while working with technology partners and customers on smart-grid standards I concluded that net-zero is not only achievable for a reasonable price, it’s also necessary given future constraints on energy supplies and growing demand—both will drive prices significantly higher.
Before proceeding, I’ll also address two questions I frequently hear:
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1. “Why did you leave Silicon Valley?” We like the seasons and we wanted our children to have a closer connection to nature than they otherwise could living in the suburbs. It didn’t hurt that the home site we purchased was a few acres and cost less than many 3 bedroom homes in Palo Alto.
2. “Is it difficult to work remote?” No. Working remote has a few disadvantages, but the advantages are great (no commute, limited interruptions, flexible work hours). Working for Cisco, a global communication technology company, makes it easy to connect with the right people, teams and partners at the right times. It takes a little more effort to be effective, but there are fewer distractions. I sometimes miss out on important “water cooler” discussions, but that just forces me to regularly contact a variety of people to “check in”. Given the nature of my work and the size of the main campus in San Jose most of my meetings were over the phone. Maybe 10% were in person. I spent about half my time travelling. So transitioning from a Cisco office to tele-work was easy. I think I’m even more effective now and I have a much higher quality of life.
The Original Design Process
Returning to the discussion about the home, given my long investment horizon, I wanted to ensure it served our needs while making its operations as affordable as possible. My wife and I began using PunchPro software to simulate a few design concepts. We originally planned to use an architect, but after designing a number of CAD models, it was simply easier and faster to make adjustments ourselves. We had a good family friend (who designs museums—but that’s another story) help us a number of times. We even leveraged his skills, time and studio to construct a large scale model. The model allowed us to move physical avatars through the rooms while simulating sunlight with a flashlight (while looking in the windows…). We hired a local designer to create a final set of blueprints.
During the design phase I read a number of articles and books on passive solar homes. This provided some invaluable insight into the benefits of passive thermal designs. By coupling these design principles with the US EPA EnergyStar home program we were able to build a large home while keeping the energy bills below $150 USD per month (and we heat and cool 24/7 to any temperature we want). Most comparably sized homes in our area would consume $500~700 per month in utility expenses. If I ever build another home, I would use this approach again. Where EnergyStar falls short is in the ongoing commissioning of active systems (HVAC, lighting, appliances etc). But this is actually a problem for all home and commercial building vendors today. There is no standard that enables real-time simple, accessible, affordable reporting. Existing solutions require large amounts of money and custom software…
Our design goals:
- Orient the home around the kitchen/great room
- Design for the sun and seasons (Maximize free light, shading and ground thermal storage)
- Maximize comfort
- Minimize energy use
- Maximize local materials and build for long life
- Heat with wood
- Control with off-the-shelf products—convert later…
- Architecturally speaking, the home should blend in…
As we progress from here to a net-zero home, I’ll share more about the control systems and challenge. If you have ideas that can improve the outcome, please share.
Recommended Reading
1. For solar home design I recommend Dan Chiras’s work.
2. For home design CAD software, see PunchPro Software: http://www.punchsoftware.com/
3. The EPA EnergyStar Home Program is here: http://www.energystar.gov/
