Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

The Department of Energy just released a study showing that if you give people digital tools to monitor their power use, they’ll cut their electricity consumption during peak periods by 10 to 15 percent — and that modest amount eliminates the need for $120 billion worth of new power plants and transmission lines over the next 20 years.

Reuters reports:

The 112 homeowners (in the study) were given new electric meters to receive signals from the local utility when power prices are high, and thermostats and computer software that curtail power use at these times. They could set preferences by computer and remotely change preferences while away from home.

A companion study called the Grid Friendly appliance project fitted 150 homes in Oregon and Washington with “smart” dryers and water heaters equipped with circuit boards to detect when the power grid is stressed. When that happens, the appliances curtail power use for a minute or two.

Those few seconds of curtailment could keep a stressed power grid from triggering a widespread blackout, say researchers.

Another new study, by a North Carolina engineering professor, shows that a relatively small change to the nation’s long-haul trucking fleet could have big payoffs. A $10,000 auxiliary power unit could run a semi-truck’s heating and cooling systems on one-fifth as much fuel as is used by running the semi’s engine. The fuel savings would pay for the upgrade within 3 years and if used on every truck, could keep 15 million tons per year of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Better yet, shifting from truck to rail, although requiring some overhauls in the nation’s rail infrastructure, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent.

But the $60,000 question, of course, is whether we can move from studies to action in time to make a difference.