Energy Efficiency/Conservation

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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Renewable/Efficiency

Energy Efficiency/Conservation

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Grand Valley Power Achieves Highest Level of Recognition

In June 2011, Colorado Country Life magazine acknowledged Grand Valley Power’s success in completing its new headquarters facility which earned it Level Three recognition from the GreenBack$ program, the first business in Mesa County to do so.

The Greenback$ program is sponsored by the Grand Junction, Fruita and Palisade chambers and is organized to help businesses save money on their utilities while also receiving recognition. The program offers a series of self-guided checklists that steer businesses through three levels. The first level is designed to help businesses implement some of the easiest steps in saving money. The second and third levels begin to execute changes through larger projects, which can help the business realize larger long term savings.

GVP built its new headquarters facility with longevity and sustainability in mind. The facility was designed to meet GVP’s needs for the next 50 years. Along with meeting these needs, the building was also designed to be as energy efficient as possible.

Designing and building the facility to meet Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED Certification, brings with it savings for years to come. The facility is heated and cooled with a geo-exchange loop system, which uses the earth’s temperature to provide heat in the winter and cooling in the summer.
Natural day lighting was also a big part of the design of the building. By using natural day lighting, GVP was able to reduce lighting load by an estimated 50 percent. A 7.8 kilowatt solar array was also installed over the entrance to provide a portion of the power needed in the facility. Other design elements included in the building are recycling bins located throughout the facility and flooring made from recycled wood.

With these design elements, GVP knew that the benefits would be recognizable. What was unexpected was all the added benefits that come with designing and building an efficient, state-of-the-art facility. The GreenBack$ program is free for any business to join and looks to build recognition for local area businesses operating efficiently. For more information about the GreenBack$ program, please visit www.greenbacksproject.com.

Learn About the Future of Electricity

There’s still time to register for the Colorado Rural Electric Association’s Friday, October 14, Energy Innovations Summit.

The day-long program will bring together experts and innovators in a variety of energy areas. There will be discussions of energy policy; a look at carbon capture and storage and transmission and how it affects the future of electricity. A panel will also discuss what kind of energy storage is needed to make intermittent resources more dependable while another panel talks about how electric cars will impact the grid. Other topics during the day will include micro-hydro projects, natural gas and CSU’s Clean Energy Supercluster.

Anyone connected to the state’s energy landscape is invited to attend and learn more about what is happening in this changing industry.

A variety of vendors will also be on hand to share information on their new products and services.

To register, go to www.crea.coop and click on the Energy Innovations Summit block on the right side of the home page. For more information, contact Leanne Arrant at 303-455-2700, ext. 105 or larrant@coloradorea.org.

Is Your House Haunted? Energy Eaters Are Frightening

San Isabel Electric Asso¬ciation has been part¬nering with some local libraries providing a product called the Kill-A-Watt Electric Appliance Usage Monitor. By simply plugging an appliance into the monitor, you can tell how much electricity it uses. As a consumer, how you use electricity is a personal decision; how much you pay for what you use is set by the cooperative on economic models. So the only control you have over your bill is to increase efficiency and conserve power.

In Colorado Country Life magazine’s April 2011 issue, SIEA’s general manager Reg Rudolph shared his experience with the Kill-A-Watt. Over Christmas he took some time off to spend with his family and thought it would be a good time to read up on the meter and learn about his own electricity usage to see if there was something he could do for efficiency and conservation.

Rudolph set up two Kill-A-Watt meters on his television sets. One television was a simple television without any attachments. The other television housed a cable box, video games, DVD player and more.

After about a month of monitoring, he pulled the meters off to see how much power these “neces¬sities of life” were using. He discovered there was a phantom in his house using electricity like crazy. The simple television had used around $6 worth of power, while the other television used an astounding $28 worth of power. Those two appli¬ances used approximately 20 percent of the consumption in his home for that month which was significant considering all his other appliances were electric, with the exception of the water heater.

The lesson learned is that today’s electronics are using power even when they aren’t being used. A washer, dryer and range will draw power generally only when running, but televisions, cell phone charges and computers actually draw a fair amount of phantom power just because they are standing by for your call. Even after 20 years in the business dealing with electricity every day, Rudolph was shocked by this revelation.

We all get monthly bills for phones, electricity, water and gas and oftentimes don’t take the time to look at what comprises the amount we pay. But if you look around your house at all of the things that use power, even when they are turned off, you might discover ways to conserve energy or operate more efficiently.

To see what the average appliance uses in a home, visit www.siea.com. If the cumulative consumption of what is installed is below your monthly electric bill, you probably have a phantom in your house, too. Changing out lightbulbs that are frequently on can help and unplugging unnecessary appliances or putting things on a timer will eliminate consumption.

Electricity provides a tremendous amount of value to our day-to-day lives and operates 24 hours a day. We are so dependent on it that when it does go up in price it impacts our lives. We do have some power over how much we use. Go find some phantom power and get your money back.

The Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association Advanced Meter Project

Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association has contracted for the installation and deployment of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) on the cooperative’s 3,600 miles of power lines. This new metering system will provide near real-time communication between parts of its electric grid. It will allow members to more efficiently manage their electric distribution system, reduce costs, improve service reliability and offer more options for managing their electric use in the future.

Portions of the AMI system went online in the third quarter of 2009. By the end of 2010, approximately 4,000 meters had been installed in areas surrounding Berthoud. The timeline calls for an additional 7,000 meters installed in 2011. Projected completion date for the project is 2014 when all 35,000 meters will be on the AMI.

Adapting the Poudre Valley REA system to this new technology will have benefits for consumers in reduced costs and enhanced reliability of the electricity delivery system.

This new technology will reduce reaction time to outages and the efficiencies gained from more effective power management are projected to result in reduced carbon emissions from electricity generation. It will also enable remote meter reading. Future applications of AMI concepts will allow for in-home consumer access to energy use data.

Members receive a letter from Poudre Valley REA prior to installation of a new meter and a door-hanger identifies when a meter is changed. Only a temporary service interruption may be necessary.

The value of AMI technology was codified in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 which identified many benefits relative to national security and efficiency.