Public Power - November/December 2007 - (Page 58)

DEED In Braintree, Furnaces Can Feed the Grid By Laurel Lundstrom As ofdirector and thenPublic a chairman the American Power Association’s Demonstration of Energy Efficient Development’s (DEED) board of directors for more than five years, Joseph Morely, engineering and operations manager for the Braintree Electric Light Department in Massachusetts, reviewed various energy-related projects proposed by public power utilities, and increasingly realized the need to initiate more energy-efficient programs at home. In 2006, he made these realizations come to life, by helping homeowners to obtain Warm Air Micro-CHP Systems, appliances that generate electricity from the energy used to heat homes. Braintree installed five systems, sold by the company Climate Energy, LLC, in local residences last year. After monitoring the installations in a Climate Energy database, through an Internet connection to each system, the utility found the appliances substantially reducing each residence’s impact on the environment, as well as discomfort experienced from fluctuating temperatures. “A Climate Energy Warm Air Micro-CHP System will help conserve natural resources, reduce the environmental impact of power generation and provide higher thermal comfort to homeowners as well as provide public power utilities with the potential for economical, dispatchable green distributed power generation,” Braintree Electric said in its final DEED 58 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 report on the project. The Micro-CHP Systems are powered by a natural gasfueled generator made by Honda. The generators produce electric power as a byproduct of heat. The utility found that the average Braintree residence using the Micro-CHP system produces 4,500 pounds less carbon dioxide during the winter and two tons less carbon annually, than homes using a standard furnace. A home can quickly become Kyoto-Protocol-compliant by installing a Micro-CHP system, said the report. Kyoto compliance means reducing annual carbon output by 1,500 pounds by 2010. The installations, made by Key Span Energy, a local gas company, are connected to the electrical grid, so any excess energy created by the system, but not used by the residence, automatically flows back to the grid. The installations produce one kW of energy; customers receive credits for any portion of recycled energy, which can be redeemed later. But the program is more about saving energy than giving energy back to the grid, said Morely. Throughout the year, only one site produced excess power, for two months out of the year, according to the study. “Sometimes it doesn’t make sense because we are losing consumption. If you did a lot of that, you wouldn’t need to have an electric utility.” However, the benefits are substantial, he said. “In larger numbers, [the Micro-CHP Systems] can be very beneficial, because they give the utility the ability to curtail power and demand-side man- age for the customers,” said Morely, who recognizes Japan as a leader in the Micro-CHP industry, with more than 30,000 installations nationwide. Yet the trend toward using Micro-CHP Systems is slowgrowing in Braintree. Initial installation can cost between, $11,000 and $12,000, but can save homeowners up to $800 annually on their utility bills, said Morely. Each of the initial installations saved residents between $450 and $700 each last year, according to the report. Only one additional installation—and the first at full-price—has been made in the town since Braintree Electric Department completed its study last summer. The utility is recruiting more homeowners for installations and upgrading the existing systems to 1.2 kW capacity at minimal cost to residents. ❚ Laurel Lundstrom is an editor on the staff of the American Public Power Association. PUBLIC POWER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - November/December 2007

Public Power - November/December 2007 Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Connecting with the Customer Through Automation AMR or AMI? The High Court’s Antitrust Thunderbolts California’s Push for Demand-Response Plug-In Partners Get Plugged In Wiring Up for Double-Digit Growth For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards DEED Customer Service Hometown Connections Index to Advertisers Parting shot

Public Power - November/December 2007

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