Welcome to Our New Blog!

Posts Tagged ‘Electricity’

A Look At Renewable Portfolio Standards

Posted by

Renewable Portfolio Standards or RPS are guidelines established by individual states to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable sources. Renewable sources of electricity include wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and some types of hydro, but can also include landfill gas, municipal solid waste and tidal energy. 

The U.S. has always relied heavily on fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and nuclear to generate the lion-share of its electricity.  Those fuels are considered nonrenewable because they represent a finite resource that will ultimately become exhausted or will be too expensive or…
Continue reading >>

Read More

A Unique Chance for Commercial & Educational Buildings to Get Paid to Reduce Energy

Posted by

By Sonya Ulen
Director, Load Response, Constellation Energy

If you could see just how much energy or water that is used in your building, or even the floor that you work on, would you stop to take a look?

Some businesses have dedicated energy managers that monitor electric power use and water consumption for their organization. But now everyone can have a “behind the scenes view” because energy monitoring has reached a whole new level — now businesses can install customer-facing software platform and kiosk that will allow their employees to view, compare, and share their building consumption…
Continue reading >>

Read More

Snowpack’s Influence On Winter Heating Demand

Posted by

Both natural gas and power prices continue to experience considerable downward pressure due to the persistent above average temperatures present in the eastern two-thirds of the country.  Weather-related demand, which is typically measured in Heating Degree Days (HDD’s), has been significantly lower than normal this winter.  

This lack of demand has delayed the price support that we typically see at this point of the heating season.  The HDD’s from Nov. 1, 2011 to the current day are -13% lower than the same period last year and are -8% lower than the 30-year normal.  As a result, the prompt-month natural gas…
Continue reading >>

Read More

ABACCUS Report: Competitive Electricity Markets Encourage Innovation

Posted by

States with competitive electricity markets have seen a surge in consumer-driven product and service innovation, according to the Annual Baseline Assessment of Choice in Canada and the United States (ABACCUS) released last week. This is primarily because electricity suppliers that are competing for business in well-structured competitive electricity markets are able to introduce new products and services previously unavailable in traditional monopoly markets.

So where would a consumer be more likely to reap the benefits of innovative energy solutions, lower prices, and savings?
•    The ABACCUS report identifies Texas as the competitive retail market leader for the fifth consecutive…
Continue reading >>

Read More

How Customers with a Blended Electricity Solution Can Create a Reliable Budget

Posted by

Since I last posted about the different approaches that some customers with a blended electricity solution may take to create a reliable budget, one of my colleagues came to me with an interesting story. From time to time, customers with blended electricity solutions would come to him with questions about why a certain bill was higher or lower than expected.

One customer, a large property management firm with more than 100 commercial condo buildings, no longer has that question since they began using our i2i platform. i2i, which includes a suite of services and reports, gave this…
Continue reading >>

Read More

CA Solar Power Project Gets $1.2 Billion Loan

Posted by

Image Source: NASA's Earth Observatory, courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is undergoing something of a renaissance in the solar-rich areas of the world, especially Spain and the Southwestern U.S.  The Department of Energy secured a $1.2 billion loan for the Mojave Solar concentrated solar power (CSP) project.  The facility will supply 250MW and is sponsored by Abengoa Solar, a leading developer of solar power based in Spain.  The plant will be built in San Bernardino County, CA.

CSP focuses sunlight…
Continue reading >>

Read More