Mountain City Montage
by PAULINE TOM
Is it Thursday, January 13, before 7 p.m.? Hurry! Get to BookPeople in Austin for the launching of “Kings of Colorado” by David Hilton, dad of Drew and Cameron.
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Follow what’s happening on davidehilton.com. Like him and it on Facebook.
Do you follow Beth Smith on Facebook? She doesn’t Facebook at work. Still, she has 1,191 friends (and climbing). Every time I look, it’s higher. Can anyone in Mountain City trump that?
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PEC launched a “SmartGridPilot” program in November. Dozens in Mountain City are participating, including the Tom household.
I must admit, at first, I deemed it, “StupidGrid”.
RonTom walked to the kitchen in the wee hours the third night after installation. BAM! Hit by a dry sauna!! Bleery-eyed, I accessed the program online. Each night between midnight and 4 a.m. the thermostat for our living area heat pump switched to 92 degrees.
Meanwhile, next door at The Medlocks, half of the house couldn’t get out of bed because SmartGrid plummeted the setting for one of their heat pumps.
Quickly, programmers gobbled the glitches, and I’m here to recommend SmartGrid. With SmartGrid, we remotely turn our water heaters on and off, so they’re running just 3 - 6 hours a day! We tell them exactly when to run.
By hour and day, online we see how much energy we use for our two heat pumps and two water heaters. On some days, we’ve spent less than sixty cents on all four!
Our usage dropped from 2,192 kw in December 2009 to 1,676 kw in December 2010, a 24% plummet. Difference in weather? Average temps were only 6 degrees cooler in 2009.
PEC invited us to spread the word and send potential new participants. Phone 830-868-6006 or email [email protected] to express interest.
PEC installs, at no cost to members, a new electric meter at each home or business and places demand-management devices on HVAC units, water heaters and pool pumps, if applicable.
If accepted, you’ll receive an online account providing access to personal energy management programs and will be able to set and adjust personal comfort settings (room temperature, water heater schedule, etc.) online and monitor electric use in real time.
One neighbor warned me, “Don’t do it! They can control your thermostat.” That’s true. But, PEC commits that should that be necessary in times of peak usage and during scheduled tests, they will limit the adjustment to within 3 degrees of your setting.
If PEC adjusts your thermostat remotely, you can walk to your thermostat or computer to trump their decision.
PEC and LCRA hope to gather data showing participants use less electricity, in order to reduce or eliminate the need to build power plants. Such savings could result in a reduction in cost of electricity.
And, wow ... can’t we use a reduction in any cost, with gas prices skyrocketing? Did you see that the past president of Shell Oil predicts $5.00/gallon gasoline within two years? Ouch.
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And, wow! Can’t I use an increase in tidbits?! Call 512-268-5678 or [email protected]
