Smart meters a smart choice for curbing consumption

As electricity consumption reaches record highs, utility companies and governments are searching for eco-friendly alternatives to the energy crisis. 

Smart meters can provide real-time readings of energy use, providing more detailed information than conventional meters. Many energy companies throughout North America and Europe are in the process of replacing manual meter readings with these instant, automated systems. 

If consumers know the time-of-use prices for its energy consumption, the hope is that they will think twice before doing a load of laundry or running the dishwasher during peak evening hours. The long-term goal will be to reduce overall electricity demand, therefore requiring less generating capacity. 

Smart meters can cost anywhere from $250 to $500 depending on features. Critics argue that the cost of installing the new smart meters does not justify the expense, especially when used by low energy consumers, such as homeowners. 

The cost of managing old meters is about 50 cents per unit, compared to the nearly $5 per unit for the smart meters. Although expensive to install, the idea is that meters will save money by eliminating the process of sending paid employees on-site to manually read or manage the meters.  

Energy savings are expected to be around 10 percent per household, but in order for the system to be truly effective, the smart meters need to be coupled with a sliding pricing rate and data feedback to consumers. 

With cooperation and ingenuity, smart meters can be another effective step towards reducing energy consumption.

Laundry gets an energy clean-up

Using water to wash clothes is so…sigh…twentieth century. 

Though it is as much of an oxymoron as dry cleaning, dry washing technology is here. The Sanyo Aqua AWD-AQ1 can clean clothes without water by converting oxygen in the air to ozone. Ozone has a strong oxidation action, which when sprayed on clothing eliminates bacteria, odors and dirt. It almost makes doing laundry…cool?

There are other simple ways to reduce your energy consumption and clean up your laundering ways. 

• Use cold water: Nearly 90 per cent of the energy used for washing clothes goes to heating the water.
• Energy Star and front-load washers will save enough energy to pay for themselves in utility savings.
• Try eco-friendly detergents which are phosphate and bleach-free.
• Re-usable softener and anti-static balls don’t have the chemicals and toxins found in many conventional dryer sheets. You can also make your own softener sheets by misting a moist washcloth with a dab of liquid fabric softener and tossing it into the dryer.
• Look for moisture sensor clothes dryers, which automatically shut off when your clothes are dry. Not only will this save energy, it will save the wear and tear on your clothes caused by over-drying.
• Lay it on the line: Hang dry clothes.  Electric dryers emit approximately one ton of carbon dioxide per household per year and they are the 2nd biggest energy suckers in American homes. 

So make a clean start. By changing one simple thing, you can make a difference.

Micromanaging…good for energy, bad for people

While most employees don’t appreciate their boss checking on their progress every step of the way, when it comes to energy consumption, micromanaging is the way to go…and save.

As the summer months heat up, so does the energy grid. 

Air conditioning use is in highest demand on sweltering weekday afternoons. So what’s the solution? In both Canada and the US, governments are offering a Peak Saver program. Consumers are given a free programmable thermostat which is also installed and programmed free of charge.

It gives consumers the power to adjust their energy consumption, automatically reducing consumption when no one’s around. Out of the home or office unexpectedly? No problem—the thermostat can be adjusted via the Internet.

And in the blistering heat, utility companies like Hydro Ottawa, also have the option to “cycle” or remotely access your air conditioning unit to reduce electricity use for short periods of time. Generally, it means that the compressor gets turned off for about 10 minutes each half-hour. 

The fan continues to run, meaning that the change in temperature is hardly noticeable. The temperature inside generally falls no more than 2 degrees. So utility companies can manage the sweltering heat outside without having to activate more power plants, and still keep consumers cool and happy on the inside. 

Even better, energy savings can be as much as 10%, so there won’t be any blistering energy bills that leave you hot under the collar.

Gaggle of gadgets grounds for global gasp

Home electronics jacking up power consumption

Today, more than one billion people are using personal computers worldwide; two billion have television sets and more than three billion are gabbing on their mobile phones. And the number of chargers for all those cell phones? Around 6 billion. That’s almost the entire global population. 

Currently, 15% of household electricity consumption is used to keep those cell phones charged and those TVs and computers running. With these devices becoming an ever-increasing part of our world and that technology improving rapidly, this gadget gaggle is expected to triple the energy consumption rate over the next 20 years. 

The International Energy Agency is calling on governments to legislate more energy-efficient gadgets. It predicts that 1,700 terawatt hours will be consumed by 2030, if current consumption is not curbed. Not only would that cost an estimated $200 billion in electricity bills, it is equivalent to the current combined total residential electricity consumption of the United States and Japan.

But what about all our technology improvements? Any efficiency progress that has been made over the last few years has mostly been cancelled out by the high demand for advanced devices that suck more power.

Canada is already leading the charge with some impressive appliance and electronic standards. The EnerGuide and Energy Star programs publish the names of the most energy-efficient brands and force appliance manufacturers to post their power-use ratings.

Simply using the best available technology would slow growth in consumption to less than 1 per cent a year through 2030.

Now that’s worth phoning home about.

Will the end of oil force greener lifestyles?

Mom said not to eat anything that’s been on the floor, but what about the roof? Green roofs are sprouting up worldwide as Peak Oil is starting to force a movement of eating locally.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that approximately 15 percent of the world’s food is grown in urban areas. This number is expected to rise as the population increases, food prices sky-rocket, and environmental awareness swells.

But in places like Cuba and other developing nations, the new Green Movement is old news. When the Soviet Union fell apart in the early 1990s, Cuba’s oil supply was cut off, reducing rations of imported foods. Cuba was forced to become self-sufficient and began planting thousands of cooperative gardens. They have been hitting pay dirt ever since.

Cuba may have been forced to go green, but now busy cities in North America are starting to pay attention. Vertical urban gardens are blooming on rooftops, beside parking lots and in vacant and abandoned spaces. Some architects are even beginning to design urban buildings to incorporate these rooftop gardens right from their inception.

And this ‘growing trend’ is catching on in Egypt, Singapore and Russia. Increasing oxygen production in some of these congested areas is nothing to cough at either. Energy, economic and environmental payoffs make vertical farming such a fruitful solution.

Vegetables and chickens: coming soon to a rooftop near you.

Every little bit makes a difference

Consumer demand for electricity is growing. It’s estimated that over the next 20 years, an additional 214 gigawatts of electricity will be required to keep up with demand. 

To put that in context, that’s 357 large coal plants worth of capacity.

So while governments and utility companies are doing their part to provide clean-burning alternative energy sources, consumers are being asked to start changing their consumption habits.

Beyond the basics, switching to CFL light bulbs, buying Energy Star appliances and simply switching off the switch, consumers now have other ways they can make a difference.

Take Smart Meters, as an example. Companies, like Xcel Energy, are finding ways to make smart meters as fun and as easy to use as TiVo. How it works is consumers manage home electricity via a web page that displays energy consumption and carbon footprint data and suggests ways to save energy (and cash).

By tinkering with the SmartGridCity site, savvy users can manage the power flowing to each appliance and rank them according to the order they should be shut down when prices rise. Turning energy consumption into a video game that saves you money.

Another option is by inserting special plugs into electrical outlets, almost anything—from hall lights and pool pumps to garage door openers—turning those appliances into a smart appliance.

The important thing to keep in mind is that no matter what you do, every little bit helps.

Illustration: James Day

Canadians still warming up to energy efficiency

While Canadians are clearly “greener” than they used to be in terms of energy consumption, we evidently still have plenty of room for improvement. That’s the indication from the results of Statistics Canada’s latest Households and the Environment survey. A biennial collaboration with the Environment and Health departments, the survey was initiated in 1991 and the latest is based on data collected from more than 21,000 households between late last year and early this year. 

“Rising energy costs and environmental concerns about the need to reduce energy consumption provide incentives for households to adopt energy conservation measures,” the agency says in an introduction to the survey, which is downloadable. Request Catalog No. 11-526-X.

“Lowering the temperature by just a few degrees at certain times of the day is one way Canadians can reduce their energy consumption,” it says, noting that the heating season can last up to 10 months in some regions.

Of the nearly 12 million households with at least one thermostat, 42% have installed the programmable kind. However, 16% apparently couldn’t be bothered or were unable to actually program them.

Another potential energy-saver is a federal proposal, announced in April 2007, to introduce national lighting efficiency standards by 2012 with a view to phasing out less-efficient lighting. Some 84% of respondents to the latest survey indicated that they had installed at least one type of energy-saving light in their homes, the most common option evidently being compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) despite concerns about appropriate disposal due to mercury in their ballasts.

With forced-air furnaces being the heat source of choice in 53% of Canadian homes, filter maintenance remains a critical element of efficiency. Two-thirds of the 2007 respondents said they changed filters at least every six months while others changed them every three months or more frequently. Fully 22%, however, admitted they changed filters only once in the preceding year and 5% had not done so.

Worryingly, 6% indicated they had no idea when their furnace filter was last changed.

Energy supply and demand

Every year, Statistics Canada releases its annual survey of Canada’s overall energy production and consumption. Chalk full of percent increases and petajoules of energy consumed, the survey highlights important energy trends. In 2007, one overarching trend emerged.

Canada – and one province in particular – used more energy than ever before!

As a result of increased consumption in the industrial, transportation, residential and commercial sectors, Canada’s thirst for energy rose 5.5 per cent in 2007. Use of the three main fossil fuels (natural gas, oil and coal) rose even more – 7 per cent.

Canada’s biggest single energy consumer is the transportation sector, which accounts for around 31 per cent of the total national demand. Its consumption rose 5.1 per cent. Coming in at a distant second is the industrial sector, which consumed a further 6.6 per cent.

Demand for all refined petroleum products, including fuel oil and motor gasoline also rose – 4.1 per cent. Sales of motor gasoline also increased, up to 42 billion litres, or up 3.8 per cent.

One province made a gargantuan leap in consumption. Alberta’s increased consumption of energy increased 13.5 per cent. The increase was attributed to higher demand by the mining and oil and gas industries. Alberta accounted for a fifth of total national consumption.

Increases in energy consumption were slower than the national average of 5.5 per cent in six provinces: Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Consumption increased 1.6 per cent in Ontario. It accounted for over 32 per cent of the country’s entire energy demand.

As temperatures drop coast to coast, one can’t help but wonder how 2008 stats will stack up.

How low can you go?

Energy efficiency means fewer emissions and lower costs. And that’s the clear benefit to industry Natural Resources Canada is aiming for with its release of the new Energy Savings Toolbox. 

It’s not always an easy task to spot ways to save energy in a complex industrial environment. The Toolbox includes a step-by-step Energy Audit checklist to help users assess energy consumption, costs, energy use patterns and inventories and then identify ways to increase energy efficiency. The toolbox also includes detailed information on energy fundamentals, energy consuming systems and condition surveys.

This free, comprehensive PDF resource is available now at Natural Resource Canada.

Energy Efficiency: A New Construct

Despite the ready availability of energy-efficiency technologies which would significantly reduce businesses’ operating costs, a ground-breaking federal study indicates that they’re under-utilized – if used at all. The National Round Table on the Environment & and the Economy and Sustainable Development Technology Canada  have found that commercial buildings account for no less than 14% of end-use energy consumption. As a result, they are responsible for 13% of Canada’s carbon emissions.

“Technologies are not being taken up, with the result that energy use and carbon emissions continue to grow,” they say in a summary of their 114-page study, Geared for Change. “Climate policy makers need to consider not just long-term national greenhouse gas reduction targets, but specific policies and actions on a sector-by-sector basis to get the deep emission reductions already set by the Government of Canada.”

Success, they say, requires a shift away from national-level policies to a more parochial approach because each sector of the economy has a distinct emissions footprint which necessitates sector-specific solutions.

Hence the collaborative study of commercial buildings. It flows from a 2006 NRTEE report on long-term energy use in Canada in which the think-tank stated that efficiency improvements alone could reduce the commercial sector’s annual carbon emissions by 58% from a 2050 “business as usual” scenario. The following year, an STDC report indicated that commercial buildings’ emissions could be reduced easily and significantly by 2030.

However, the latest research has found a “fragmented and diverse” sector with apparently entrenched resistance to improved efficiency. It also indicates that addressing that resistance will become a greater challenge as Canada moves to a more service-oriented and knowledge-based economy that likely will increase employee densities in the commercial sector.

Its energy consumption grew by 25% between 1990 and 2005, yielding a 27% jump in carbon emissions, and while its energy intensity increased from 1.69 gigajoules per square meter to 1.84 GJ/m2 between 1990 and 2003, it fell to 1.62 GJ/m2 by 2005.

The fundamental complexity of the commercial sector with myriad building designs, ownership and operation, coupled with the involvement of all levels of government, underscores the need for more focuses emissions policies.

“This multi-jurisdictional governing framework makes it difficult in turn for developers and owners to stay abreast of applicable policies and available resources regarding energy efficiency,” the NRTEE and STDC say. “Other barriers to technology adoption . . . . range from issues related to risk management, information gaps, complexities in the commercial building value chain, financial costs related to being the first mover in the market, energy pricing that does not account for environmental externalities, and institutional and regulatory barriers caused by existing policy frameworks.”

“No one measure on its own is sufficient to wring the necessary emission reductions from the sector and achieve our targets,” they say. “The most effective is a . . . carbon price coupled with increasingly stringent regulations – but with the application of focused technology subsidies or incentives.”

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