In a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Steven E. Koonin, states that “of the three legs of the energy trilemma – affordability, sustainability, and reliability – reliability must come first”. He also goes on to state that “The recent cold snap demonstrated again what experts have long known: Wind and solar might well contribute little during severe winter weather…” and “Until we build nuclear plants at the scale and speed required, a pile of coal next to a coal plant will remain the only proven hedge against multi-day winter events”. The debate on continued reliance on fossil fuels versus increased implementation of a more diverse energy mix and efficiency has only become more polarizing in recent years.
The primary reliance on large coal and nuclear central power plants requires long distance transmission lines and a vast network of poles and wires within cities and communities to provide electricity to our homes and business. This vast centralized grid system is susceptible to tornadoes, ice-storms, cyber-attacks, etc. Nashville’s recent large scale power outages during winter weather events have showcased just how brittle our energy grid can be when we need it most.
While Koonin’s assertion that reliability in the energy grid is of utmost importance rings true, it must also be stated that energy production is only half of the equation; reliability of the grid also depends on balancing consumption of energy. In the winter weather events Koonin describes energy consumption spikes due to decreased temperatures and more time spent at home; in these scenarios, the consumption side of the equation can destabilize the grid as it did in December 2022 – when Nashville faced brown-outs because of extreme cold weather and high energy use – resulting in brown-outs across Nashville.
No one wants to hear from their utility companies or government officials that they need to turn down their thermostats during freezing events, but the fact remains that high consumption can destabilize the grid as well. Rather than only reacting to these events as they play out, it would be much more productive to preemptively improve the resiliency of our homes and businesses by improving the efficiency of our buildings. Reducing the consumption of your home through energy efficiency improvements not only will help consumers cope during these extreme weather events but will also reduce your consumption on a day to day basis. Things like improving air sealing details in your home, increasing your insulation levels, and upgrading to higher efficient heating & cooling system will reduce the total energy demands needed during these extreme weather events and, in turn, help improve the reliability of the grid. To quote a recent client of ours, “We were without power for a week, the generator limped us through, but this made us realize we need more efficient HVAC, as we had turn off almost everything in the house to keep the HVAC running and not overload the generator.”
Another factor that is influencing the overall resiliency of the grid is AI data centers. Increased prevalence of AI data centers throughout the country is putting a significant strain on the grid and is spiking electricity rates; the cost of electricity is up 6.7% over the last year and up nearly 30% since the end of 2021. This coupled with the increased rate of extreme weather events has only increased the importance of implementing energy efficiency improvements to you home.
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