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Why is/should participation in a demand response program be the difference between killing people and inconvenience? Wouldn't fluctuations in grid supply and de

Why is/should participation in a demand response program be the difference between killing people and inconvenience? Wouldn't fluctuations in grid supply and demand make much more of a difference as far as there being energy for folks' survival needs? Shouldn't grids be ensuring they have sufficient supply so that no one dies? Why would we want to design a system where lack of participation in a demand response program means people could be at risk of death?

bagels 5y ago
Why should we allow people to live in places they will die without air conditioning?
- bob1029 5y ago
  Its not about dying. Its about quality of life. Most things are at this point in our civilization. What if your furnace fails and you live in Alaska? Some Houstonians would probably assume that is a death sentence. Someone in Alaska would probably be fine. Uncomfortable, yes. Dead? No. More broadly, I find it incredibly contradictory that a technology board would approve of intentionally-shitty quality of service because the engineering "is just too hard".
bfung 5y ago
Those are good questions without simple answers. I agree that grids should be built better, but they aren’t due to economics and catch-22s. Take the Texas power grid again as an example. It wasn’t winterized properly in Feb. 2021, freezing 100s to death. The cost of doing so is a ~$10/month bump for everyone there. The usual process for increases go through the PUC process and it’s hard to get large increases through, it’s usually $10/year increases and people complain that’s a lot. The gov., elected by the people, get to approve the price hikes. DR is a much cheaper solution $-wise and politically as well. Not saying that’s how things ideally should be, but welcome to reality, where optimizing for the individual doesn’t align with taking care of the community/city.

bagels 5y ago

Why should we allow people to live in places they will die without air conditioning?

bob1029 5y ago
Its not about dying. Its about quality of life. Most things are at this point in our civilization. What if your furnace fails and you live in Alaska? Some Houstonians would probably assume that is a death sentence. Someone in Alaska would probably be fine. Uncomfortable, yes. Dead? No. More broadly, I find it incredibly contradictory that a technology board would approve of intentionally-shitty quality of service because the engineering "is just too hard".

bfung 5y ago

Those are good questions without simple answers. I agree that grids should be built better, but they aren’t due to economics and catch-22s. Take the Texas power grid again as an example. It wasn’t winterized properly in Feb. 2021, freezing 100s to death. The cost of doing so is a ~$10/month bump for everyone there. The usual process for increases go through the PUC process and it’s hard to get large increases through, it’s usually $10/year increases and people complain that’s a lot. The gov., elected by the people, get to approve the price hikes. DR is a much cheaper solution $-wise and politically as well. Not saying that’s how things ideally should be, but welcome to reality, where optimizing for the individual doesn’t align with taking care of the community/city.