A Methodology for Improving Company Wide Energy Efficiency

The speaker this afternoon was Lee Stogner and this session had approximately 30 attendees.

It was interesting to hear that Lee’s interest started by hearing from a friend about building a home using 2x6’s. This allows more room for energy efficient products between studs. He showed us the results from a survey by Price Waterhouse Cooper shows oil prices as top barrier and stated that energy costs affect the bottom line of companies.

Lee posed the question, “What single device consumes the most energy in the US?” The answer was motors consume 23% of all electricity consumed, most of any device.

Lee went on to present the five topics to focus on which is listed below:

1. Improving Energy Management
2. Improved System Operations
3. Improved Asset Management
4. Workflow Improvements through Lean Six Sigma
5. Engineered Capital Projects

Lee summed up the talk by presenting the Methodology for Improving Company Wide Energy Efficiency which includes the following four steps:

1. Energy Assessment
2. Maintenance Improvement Program
3. Systems Optimization/Real Time Monitoring Program
4. ERP/Lean Six Sigma across the Supply Chain

Lee finished by answering questions and asked the attendees and you, the readers, to comment on and discuss the presented Methodology and topic.

He did a great job in give a big picture view into energy efficiency at the company level that we can all implement and relate to.

Integrating Wind Energy into the Grid

The speaker was Craig Quist of PacifiCorp and had approximately 55 attendees.

There is a goal of 20% wind integration. The speaker said, “To get to 20% wind integration, it will take much more than waving a magic wand”. Currently, the Western Interconnection has 0.6% of wind generation, with a 3.3% nameplate.

So in order to achieve 20%, industry must jointly develop a “road map”. This map includes the following:

• Integration issues
• New transmission products
• Solutions to increase capacity
• Morph individual utilities to respond like RTO/ISO
• Enable higher penetration levels

This was very detailed talk and the speaker spoke in detail on the above topics and those can be found on his presentation available on the conference webpage. You can tell that PacifiCorp have done a lot of research and work in wind energy and has a lot of experience in this area.

Power System Level Impacts of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles

Speaker: A.P. Meliopoulos

~ 80 attendees

The speaker started by talking about the “Big Picture”. We currently consume 100 quad of energy which is divided evenly between industrial, transportation and electric energy. Along with the petroleum usage, which is abut 20 million barrels a day and the environmental concerns, Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV) are necessary.

He also went over the numbers to show the cost savings for the customer to justify PHEVs in the future.

By having PHEVs in the system, there are impacts and they are in the following areas:

• Infrastructure
• Fuel Utilizations
• Impact on Environment
• Power system Reliability/Security

The vehicle design allows for connection and control by the Grid to use so we must be able to modify the infrastructure for it.

Here is a forecast the speaker used: If each family owns 2 PHEVs, it will increase household load by 50%. Give this, the first impact is to the infrastructure so would need to model system for this load increase and determine infrastructure changes and impact. One of the impacted equipment is distribution transformers. The second impact is on fuel utilization and with the increase of load; the fuel consumption will increase for electric generation as well.

The third impact is the increased pollutants from the increased generation. The fourth impact is on the power system and a change in system operation. In one scenario, the vehicles can be called on for help to boost power in the system.

The speaker concluded that the PHEV will make an overall favorable impact and based on what he presented, I would agree. It is matter of finances and technology to make it happen.

A Smarter Electrical Grid

One of the buzz words flying around is "Smart Grid." What does that really mean? Perhaps, using AI to limit a customer's usage or adding an advanced control system or .... Really, it is larger than that and means developing an integrated foundation of architecture, communications and technology. A Smarter Energy electrical infrastructure means a smart grid, expanded transmission system and stable energy storage. This directly affects the consumer and industry landscape by requiring greater efficiency from all.

The grid of the future will be comprised of advanced hardware, materials and software systems. Right now there are amazing opportunities for scientists and engineers to make a difference in the U.S. and solidify it's energy stability. Over time the electrical power grid has evolved and it will keep moving forward as long as we can break through the market barrier! I agree with Mr. Gentile's comments and presentation. I would like to add to his recommendations.....

• Research undertaken at technological Universities needs to be focused on an end product; rather than just proving a theory without concern for mass production, installation and scalability. Proving theory is needed for advancing technology, but I feel more effort should be made to push the product to market.
• More collaboration between National Labs, Universities and the Power Industry to develop synergistic products to support the Smart Grid

Future Energy Storage Technologies for the Grid

Bradford Roberts, Chair, Electricity Storage Association and Power Quality Systems Director, S & C Electric Company, provided a compelling discussion on energy storage technologies for the grid of today and tomorrow. He began his discussion with an interesting point, arguing that we all need to remember that the electricity industry is the only major industry that tries to operate with no inventory. Indeed, if we were to stop generating electricity right now, all of the lights would go out instantaneously. This is in contrast to a brick-and-mortar industry in which, if supply is cut there would still be inventory on the shelves likely able to last through the shortage.

A way to overcome the grid’s lack of inventory is through the deployment of storage technologies. There are many grid storage alternatives and Roberts presented a summary of a few: (1) pumped hydro, which is currently the biggest contributor to storage (in fact, current pumped hydro storage actually exceeds renewable energy capacity in the industry); (2) compressed air storage, which uses geological caverns and empty spaces underground to store compressed air (in a similar manner to pumped hydro which stores water); (3) batteries, which are developing at unprecedented rates with new technologies such as the Vanadium Redox (VBR), Zinc Bromine, and Zinc Flow Battery systems; (4) flywheel systems; and (5) power conversion systems.

These storage systems work most ideally in combination with renewable energy technologies such as wind power. Unfortunately, according to Roberts, the wind power capacity factor in the US is only about 25-27 percent. To tackle this problem, the US needs to undertake projects such as that recently completed in Japan where a 34 megawatt battery was connected to a 51 megawatt wind farm, allowing the wind farm to be 100 percent dispatchable during peak hours every single day.

Roberts has been very active in this field and pointed the audience to a report recently completed by the Electricity Advisory Committee, on which he is a member, entitled Bottling Electricity: Storage as a Strategic Tool for Managing Variability and Capacity Concerns in the Modern Grid.

Transforming the U.S. Energy System

Mike Davis is an Associate Laboratory Director at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Pacific Northwest is one of the 24 pre-eminent research laboratories and facilities sponsored by the Department of Energy. Pacific Northwest has an approximate $1.1 Billion dollar research budget spread among its 4000 staff located at 4 facilities in Washington State.

The vision of the Pacific Northwest Lab is to “reduce dependence on foreign oil, build a clean, efficient energy future and address global climate change - all in a context that strengthens the nation’s economy.” They believe their vision can be broken into three main categories:

1. Creating tomorrow’s electric infrastructure
2. Decarbonizing the energy economy
3. Enabling science-based policy

Mr. Davis also described how the domestic content of the United States energy portfolio is decreasing while the environmental impacts of energy systems are increasing. These two critical trends continue to accelerate in the wrong direction. The domestic trend must be resolved by the people and polices of the United States; no one will force us to decrease our reliance on imported petroleum, natural gas, or nuclear fuel. The current environmental issues such as increasing emissions and nuclear fuel disposal are seen domestically but require solutions on the global level. Solutions require:

• Federal investments
• Cost-sharing arrangements
• Vast and varied resources of the fed government, states, industry, universities, national labs, and other nations
• Strategic partnerships – domestic and global

Nuclear Power – Past, Present & Future

The speaker for this presentation was Dr. David Hill. Dr. Hill is the Deputy for Science and Technology at the Idaho National Laboratory. He has an extensive background in the nuclear field, which might explain the full house of 84 people attending his presentation.

Nuclear has a history full of great achievements. Today, there are a little over 100 reactors in operation in 31 states throughout the United States. These reactors produce about 20% of the total electricity produced in the United States. An interesting fact, new to me, is about half of the fuel for these reactors comes from decommissioned weapons.

There does not seem to be an end to the need for nuclear generation. Industry experts believe that nuclear generation is an essential, but not only, part of reducing the carbon footprint of the United States. Like other clean energy sources, there are still political questions that need to be addressed as well as a need to better educate the public.

There is also a lot of research into nuclear technologies; $630 Million of funding was requested this year. This research is exploring methods to apply nuclear energy beyond electricity production by combining energy systems. Further development of high temperature reactors potential to be combined with oil, petroleum, natural gas refining and possibly be combined with hydrogen production and coal gasification.

Energy Policy Legislative Update

Tom Schneider of the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee provided an excellent overview of challenges and opportunities within the energy realm through a critical policy lens. He was joined by Bill Williams who presented an overview of the energy-related mandates of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Schnieder began by pointing out that there is an unprecedented dual challenge before us today—that of global climate change and simultaneous addiction to foreign oil. These challenges have proven to be a threat to the country’s economy, national security, and environmental health.

IEEE-USA, according to Schneider, has risen to assist tackling these challenges. Through its position statements, the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee has recommended a significant increase in energy efficiency, breaking of the oil addiction by transforming transportation, development of a green electric power supply, and construction of a stronger and smarter electrical energy infrastructure. Breaking the nation’s addiction to oil will, of course, take considerable work. Schneider envisions this goal being accomplished through the electrification of transportation systems and the widespread development and use of alternative transportation fuels. The green electric power supply, Schneider maintained, must be composed of advanced nuclear power, extensive development of renewable energies, and the advancement and deployment of carbon capture technologies.

The future looks bright, according to Schneider, who pointed to the likely upcoming Energy Policy Act of 2009, expected from the Senate and House, and the Obama Administration’s plans to roll out a Climate Change Cap and Trade program which may take final form in 2010.


Bill Williams, also of the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee, joined Schneider by discussing the energy-related sections of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). IEEE-USA, according to Williams, really got out in front of the issues contained in the new act, showing the organization’s devotion to energy, engineering, and the environment. ARRA, passed on 13 February 2009 and signed by President Obama on 17 February, contains $41 billion for energy initiatives. Importantly ARRA contained the language necessary to ensure that proper appropriations would be allocated where due, leading Williams to excitedly predict that, unlike past legislation, ARRA would accomplish great things. Included in ARRA were $4.4 billion for modernization of the grid, $100 million for electricity grid worker training, $3.2 billion for efficiency and conservation block grants, $2billion for advanced batteries, $500 million for biofuels, $3.1 billion for state energy programs, and many other big-ticket appropriations and mandates.

As Williams admitted, “it is a very exciting time to be doing energy policy on Capitol Hill”. With the opportunities discussed by Schneider in combination with the review of appropriations by Williams, one would be hard pressed to argue that it is not an exciting time. Indeed, the years ahead will bring electrifying opportunities to those in the energy realm and to members of IEEE.