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by WalterBright 2815 days ago
"being able to store energy for 1 or 2 hours is still SUPER useful."

Of course, which is why variable minute-by-minute pricing of electricity can serve as a "battery". The air conditioner, for example, can cool the house to the lowest comfortable temperature while power is cheap, which will then act as a zero-cost "battery" when the electricity gets more expensive in the evening.
1 comments
Gibbon1 2815 days ago
Someone I know in Arizona says a lot of people crank up the air conditioner in the morning and early afternoon and then just coast through late afternoon and evening. Basically using the house's thermal mass as a 'battery'
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WalterBright 2815 days ago
I bet a lot more people would do that if electricity was cheaper when the sun was high and more expensive when it was lower.

I'd certainly do that.

In fact, if I was designing a house under such a regime, I'd design it to incorporate lots of thermal mass within the envelope of the house to make it more effective.

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Gibbon1 2815 days ago
Time of use is definitely coming.

What I noticed when looking at this stuff is 'green building' codes are really about green washing natural gas and expensive toxic high R value insulation. Last thing I saw before I stopped researching was an article where and industry shill was crowing that they'd closed the loophole that allowed builders and home owners to use solar energy to offset insulation requirements.

The loophole was centered around, instead of spending $50,000 to install thick foam insulation with it's attendant issues with mold. Install $20k worth of solar panels, a heat pump and thermal mass inside the house.

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WalterBright 2815 days ago
My house has icynene foam,

https://www.icynene.com/en-us

which doesn't support mold. I've been very pleased with it. My house is shaded by large trees, so solar would never pencil out.

I'm just kinda sad that my idea of concrete "batteries" with variable pricing never gets any traction. People just can't seem to get past the notion that consumer electricity rates must be constant 24/7 despite enormous expense to make that happen.

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PhantomGremlin 2815 days ago
People just can't seem to get past the notion that consumer electricity rates must be constant 24/7 despite enormous expense to make that happen.

Time of Use pricing exists in Portland. But it hasn't been done right. Even the utility itself admits: Time of Use is best if you use most of your electricity late at night or on weekends. If not, you will not benefit from this plan.

So, unless you want to charge an EV at night, or have "concrete batteries", variable pricing here is dumb.

When I discussed the perverse pricing with someone here whose job is literally to promote EVs, that person agreed, saying more or less: "Yeah, I looked into this for myself. I might be able to save $5/month and I might have to pay an extra $35/month."

Current fixed price electricity here is 7.2 ¢ per kWh. (plus other charges such as distribution cost).

Switch to time of use and pay 14.6 ¢ per kWh between 6 AM and 3 PM, and again between 8 PM and 10 PM.

At the peak between 3 PM and 8 PM pay 20 ¢ per kWh.

The cheap rate is 4.2 ¢ per kWh, between 10 PM and 6 AM weekdays, and all day on Sunday.

Hmmm ... let me see. I can pay 7.2 ¢ all the time ... or I can pay 14.6 ¢ or 20.0 ¢ most of the time ... and get cheap prices when my demand is lowest.

Fixed price is a no-brainer decision for most people. They don't give a fuck about the "enormous expense to make that happen"; most people will choose the plan that costs them less per month.

https://www.portlandgeneral.com/residential/power-choices/ti...

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WalterBright 2815 days ago
You're right that the plan they have makes no sense at all. It's almost as if they purposely want variable pricing to be a failure.
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