Today, Nevada Geothermal announced the continuation of their drilling program with work commencing on it’s third production well. When complete, the company projects generating some 31.25MW which it will sell to Nevada Power Company.

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Yes, we all know the things we can do individually to help conserve energy. But there is an emerging class of company that makes conservation their business, like EnerNOC.

The service EnerNOC and others offer is called demand response and energy management. Effectively, this is a network of computer monitoring and control points scattered across the largest consumers of energy in a region. Based on pre-negotiated actions with participants in the network, the power levels can be reduced on demand to help take the peak loads down during periods of high-demand.

What may not be apparent to casual readers is that peak demand in the grid happens only a few days per year. Special power plants called “peakers” are built and connected to the grid to activate when demand is projected to rise above supply in a given time period. Demand response is an alternative to this approach where the demand is intelligently monitored and managed below the supply threshold in a given time period.

While at the REFF conference last month, Tim Healy, the CEO of EnerNOC spoke and mentioned that with their small customer base, they have eliminated the need to build over 100MW of new power plants simply by managing demand in this way. This is a smart approach and one that is sure to catch on.

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Should you ever believe the small choices people make about the way they live their lives don’t matter, visit My Abodo, an interactive model for conservation in the home. It’s a little cheesy for people who understand the underlying issues and already are clued in, but for those who are unaware, it’s a great tool to bring home the impact of their choices.

We encourage you to build your Abodo and see what your choices do to your footprint…

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After a short vacation, we’re back. Expect publishing to pick up again through the week.

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Renewable Energy Access has an excellent article on this subject authored by Karl Gawell of the Geothermal Energy Association.

Q: I hear that there is geothermal power potential in the Gulf of Mexico. Is that true? Where is it located, and will it ever be developed? – Danielle J., Dallas, Texas

A: Good question. You’re right — considerable geothermal energy potential exists in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore in Louisiana, Texas, Alabama and Mississippi. Two types of geothermal resources are of particular interest in the Gulf area: “geopressured” geothermal and “oil field co-produced” geothermal resources.

Read more…

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