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Aside from impacting or not impacting electricity rates, system loss reduction has the following benefits: Reduction of fuel emissions due to lesser use of fossil-fuel generating plants - this has societal impact as it cover environmental concerns. Utility system capacity savings - decrease in losses provides released extra capacity for the distribution lines and transformers. Promotion of Energy Efficiency - it will be noted that the Distribution Utility (DU) is an energy-efficient electric company as it tries to decrease its system loss. Improvement of system voltage profile - the utility is regulated to supplying a range of voltage level and reduction of losses will produce a marginal system voltage quality that may be acceptable. This will also provide good power quality at the convenience outlets of consumers allowing their electric equipment/appliances to operate without mis-operation or loss of life. Increase Utility Commercial Appeal - a DU aiming at system loss reduction gets an added commercial appeal in the restructured power industry. This is important in the changing environment of the power industry, have you seen MERALCO TV commercials?

The rule specifically applies to liquid-immersed transformers and medium-voltage, dry-type transformers. Utility transformers are already extremely efficient at delivering energy with minimal losses, but because they handle large amounts of electricity, small gains in efficiency can yield large energy savings. According to the published rule, the new rule could raise the cost of liquid-immersed transformers by up to 12%, but should decrease electrical losses by as much as 23%. It could also raise the cost of medium-voltage, dry-type transformers by up to 13%, but should decrease electrical losses by as much as 26%.

Electrified transportation is the use of electrical power to run transportation vehicles and related facilities. Electricity has long been used to power transportation in the Seattle area where 150 King County Metro electric trolley buses serve 14 routes covering 115 miles. Now electrical power options are spreading to port facilities, medium-duty trucks, school buses and truck stops. Most importantly, electricity is emerging to power cars and light-duty vehicles in the form of gasoline-electric hybrids and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) which can use grid power and run longer on batteries than regular hybrids. These options are explored in the FAQ below. These questions and answers are derived from a 2007 ETWG Briefing Report written by Rich Feldman, Apollo Alliance and Patrick Mazza, Climate Solutions.

Before going any further, let's look at the forces driving energy harvesting, aka energy scavenging. While it would be convenient to say the technology's rise is tied directly to the "green" movement, it really results from a confluence of factors: Device output voltage is increasing, power-management circuits have lower losses and higher efficiency, and ICs that actually do the intelligent work and data transmission are operating at ever-decreasing voltage and power levels.

Last Monday, as I was saying, they take their first decision. Being as it was a premiere, we wanted to make it big. We proposed strong measures of energy efficiency for Standby functions and Off Mode losses.

DOE and SuperPower, Inc. commemorated on February 21 a $27 million project to install a 350-meter high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cable between two electrical substations in Albany. While that might not sound like much cable for the money, the project is the first demonstration of a technology that could someday be used to build a more energy efficient power grid. The HTS cable reduces energy loss by up to 10%, and wires using the same technology could potentially be integrated into generators, transformers, cables, and fault current limiters, making most of the equipment that produces and delivers power more energy efficient. On the other end of the power line, HTS wires can be employed in motors, providing an energy efficiency improvement for one of the largest electrical loads served by electric utilities.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released its 2008 Environmental Outlook. Without new policies, the world risks irreversibly damaging the environment and the natural resource base needed to support economic growth and well-being, according to the report. But the Outlook finds that tackling climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and the health impacts of pollution is both achievable and affordable.

xamines some of the main policy options and instruments available for mounting a global response to problems such as rising sea levels, biodiversity loss and failing crops. 

We examine the potential economic implications of using vehicle batteries to store grid electricity generated at off-peak hours for off-vehicle use during peak hours. Hourly electricity prices in three U.S. cities were used to arrive at daily profit values, while the economic losses associated with battery degradation were calculated based on data collected from A123 Systems LiFePO4/Graphite cells tested under combined driving and off-vehicle electricity utilization. For a 16 kWh vehicle battery pack, the maximum annual profit with perfect market information and no battery degradation cost ranged from ~$140 to $250 in the three cities. If the measured battery degradation is applied, however, the maximum annual profit (if battery pack replacement costs fall to $5,000 for a 16 kWh battery) decreases to ~$10-$120. It appears unlikely that these profits alone will provide sufficient incentive to the vehicle owner to use the battery pack for electricity storage and later off-vehicle use. We also estimate grid net social welfare benefits from avoiding the construction and use of peaking generators that may accrue to the owner, finding that these are similar in magnitude to the energy arbitrage profit.

The effects of combined driving and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) usage on the lifetime performance of relevant commercial Li-ion cells were studied. We derived a nominal realistic driving schedule based on aggregating driving survey data and the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule, and used a vehicle physics model to create a daily battery duty cycle. Different degrees of continuous discharge were imposed on the cells to mimic afternoon V2G use to displace grid electricity. The loss of battery capacity was quantified as a function of driving days as well as a function of integrated capacity and energy processed by the cells. The cells tested showed promising capacity fade performance: more than 95% of the original cell capacity remains after thousands of driving days worth of use. Statistical analyses indicate that rapid vehicle motive cycling degraded the cells more than slower, V2G galvanostatic cycling. These data are intended to inform an economic model.