Aaron Berndt
@aaronberndt
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I have been asking this question for a decade! I’ve talked to utilities, regulators - nobody cares! Why aren't Texans paid to help prevent blackouts… | Canary Media
canarymedia.com
As the state endures another bout of extreme heat, experts lament its lack of incentives to recruit residents to help ease demand on the stressed grid.
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JUST IN: The #SupremeCourtOfTexas just ruled that @ERCOT is immune from lawsuits. OAG says ERCOT is immune from open records. It’s now become another #Texas agency with NO transparency or accountability that answers to @GovAbbott. https://t.co/484F7xYyvt
texastribune.org
The all-Republican court narrowly found that the nonprofit corporation operating the state’s electrical grid qualifies for sovereign immunity, which protects government entities from lawsuits.
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Today would be a great day to optimize energy use to shift the peak. We’re doing a terrible job managing the peak in Texas — need to focus on things like high efficiency heat pumps, smart thermostats, smart EV charging, and more. #energytwitter
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This is a great thread: Extreme heat waves will become more common Energy efficiency is part of the solution Paying people to reduce their demand would make a huge difference Instead of obsessing about natural gas power plants, we need to use every tool in the toolbox
Hey y’all. I know you’re mad, and I’m mad too. We have another ERCOT conservation notice starting at 4pm today. The heat we’re seeing used to be unusual in June, but now it’s too common. I’m mad that just two days ago the governor vetoed legislation to improve energy efficiency.
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I’m mad that we still haven’t made investments in energy efficiency and demand response. I’m mad that today we’re asking you to conserve energy instead of paying you to conserve energy like we’re paying industrial companies to conserve today.
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People complain that wind and solar output vary with the weather but the truth is that nuclear, coal and gas output also vary with the weather.
Output cuts at some French nuclear plants are expected to stretch into next week as a heatwave sweeping across Europe pushes up temperatures on rivers, risking even higher power prices
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Wonder why ERCOT is asking people to turn up AC? AC load increases drastically with temp. Home use jumped ~50% in our Austin research network this month. Renewables and efficiency programs are critical for home energy cost management and grid operation. #ercot #energytwitter
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Heat pumps are an essential climate solution. But there's very little data on how much they actually cost. To fill some of the gap, we surveyed homeowners and analyzed publicly available data. Here's what we learned: 🧵 #energytwitter #climatetwitter
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“While consumers might feel inconvenienced they have higher satisfaction levels” @google head of energy partnerships on stage talking about #energymanagement in the #home #smartenergy22 @JenniferMKent
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Price reduction is key to the adoption of smart thermostats as well as greater consumer engagement and education…@aaronberndt @Google @SmartEnergySmt @JenniferMKent @ParksAssociates @MindiSue00 #SmartEnergy22
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I know this is probably obvious but apparently needs to be said: by definition, any and all outages have everything to do with the power grid. #txlege #txenergy
Follow Niki for updates from TX officials ahead of expected winter weather. Gov. Abbott looking to set expectations right now, says:“There are reasons we may have outages that have nothing to do with the power grid whatsoever.” #txlege @statesman
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🥶Cold front sends Texas natural gas supplies plunging for second time this month Web story at https://t.co/4jowoFV8YM
#ONGT #NatGas #Shale #OOTT #PermianBasin #Houston
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“Kinder Morgan was one of biggest winners from freeze offs that disrupted gas deliveries in Tx during freeze, pushing prices for fuel available in storage to unprecedented levels. In contrast, power producers & utilities incurred billions in losses amid ballooning costs.” #txlege
Wow. Massive failures and freeze-offs in Texas' natural gas production & transport system was hugely profitable. Funny. I wonder who will pay for that. Oh, wait, we will. https://t.co/P9UGhNuKSw via @markets
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One year after the deadly blackout, Texas officials have done little to prevent the next one—which could be far worse.
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🚨🚨New pod!🚨🚨 I apparently can't shut up, so I teamed with @CanaryMediaInc and @PostScriptPods to launch @CatalystPod, a new weekly podcast digging into the weeds of climate tech. First episode drops next week. Subscribe everywhere!
canarymedia.com
A weekly podcast with climatetech veteran Shayle Kann interviewing experts about the future of decarbonization.
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One of my biggest takeaways from this @ACEEEdc report is we could reduce 2.2GW of *winter* peak for a $150m investment in smart thermostats. This is astoundingly cheap, far cheaper than just about any other proposed GW scale solution #txlege #txenergy
https://t.co/sWd6FmojSR
aceee.org
To meet its current power demands as well as the needs of its growing population, Texas must solve its major electric reliability problems, illustrated by widespread power outages during a winte...
By incentivizing #energyefficiency upgrades that can reduce peak electricity demand, Texas could avert future blackouts caused by extreme weather. Doing so would save at least $3.1 billion compared to 2 proposals to build new power plants. https://t.co/sF0x1S6rjs
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Ok, now going to finish up this long ass twitter thread a few hours later! @aaronberndt of @googlenest was next: There are ~1m smart thermostats in Texas. Total HVAC systems 8.5m. <10% of smart thermostats are in a #demandresponse program
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. @aaronberndt outlines the basics of residential demand response and how @Google partnered with @austinenergy
Energy efficiency + demand response tools decrease the strain on the grid and are critical to future @ERCOT_ISO reliability. Appliances like @Google’s smart thermostats are already doing just that by adjusting during “energy rush hour.”
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When wind, solar, nuclear, coal or gas power plants underperformed in February, they left billions of $$$ on the table. When gas producers & pipelines underperformed, they made billions of profits and Texans will pay it for a decade or more even if they couldn't get gas.
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