Become a PUF Member Organization

New House Sales Drive Electric Sales

The recent housing surge, in the South particularly, could drive up the growth of electricity sales.

The federal government reported last week that new single-family house sales were up 17.8 percent in October, compared with October 2015. 

Trends in sales of new single-family houses drive trends in sales of electricity. 

For every new single-family house, in the South especially, monthly electricity sales increase almost two thousand kilowatts-hours on average. 

This is a large increment. It would net out, for example, energy efficiency improvements of twenty existing houses of a hundred kilowatts-hours monthly. 

Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

Read Entire Article

Dripping Electricity

It leaked, she contended, out of empty sockets if the wall switch had been left on.

Her own mother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.
Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

Read Entire Article

December Birthdays

Edward Hammer, Bertha Lamme Feicht, William Merrill, Marcel Deprez

Hammer came up with the idea of making the fluorescent into a spiral in the shape of, well, a bulb.
Byline: 

Steve Mitnick

Read Entire Article

Challenging Common Excuses for Ignoring Grid Analytics

Heart of Digital Transformation Strategy

The three barriers to grid analytics – fear, uncertainty and doubt – can be overcome. Indeed, if utilities want to remain competitive, they should be. Where companies have moved ahead with successful implementations, the benefits are manifest.
Byline: 

Craig Cavanaugh

Read Entire Article

Architecture for the Integrated Grid

Built to Last Means Built to Change

To realize the full value of distributed resources and to serve all consumers at the highest standards of quality and reliability, the grid needs to expand its scope. What is needed is an intentional architecture that enables communication and coordination between devices and systems, regardless of their manufacturer.
Byline: 

Karen George

Read Entire Article

Capitalism Debates Socialism in Honolulu

Hawaii Considering Alternatives to Private Sector Ownership

Lawmakers in Hawaii are really asking three interconnected questions. Do we need stockholders or shareholders to finance our electric utility? Are we comfortable with private sector management setting goals for the local electricity business? If the electric business is run publicly as a not-for-profit, how will we set rates?
Byline: 

Leonard Hyman and William Tilles

Read Entire Article

Health Benefits of Energy Efficiency

A No-Brainer

We can make the standard arguments about why energy efficiency makes sense. But there is also another benefit: Improved energy efficiency provides direct health benefits to low-income households.
Byline: 

John Hargrove

Read Entire Article

Monetizing Energy Storage

Massachusetts Case Study

Currently, California and Oregon are the only states to issue an energy storage mandate. Massachusetts is considering whether to establish such a mandate and if procurement targets are warranted, the amount of additional energy storage to procure.
Byline: 

Andrew Kaplan

Read Entire Article

Effective Rate Design

Two by Four, not a Nudge

Some might think that tweaking rates is all that is needed. This is false. Effective rate design must get customers’ attention. It is not a precise science that should be constrained by gradualism.
Byline: 

David Boonin

Read Entire Article