Record heat, record energy use

This week's record heat has also meant record energy use, with A/C around the area cranked (and apparently becoming more popular as well).

PSE customers set a new record for summertime energy use, with maximum demand reaching 3508 MW on Wednesday afternoon as temperatures at SeaTac hit their all-time record of 103 degrees. This exceede the old summertime record of 3228 MW set on a 98 degree day in the summer of 2007.

In contrast, our all-time record is 4906 MW set last December during our big winter cold and snow -- which shows that we still have more furnaces around here than air conditioners, but not by much.

From our previous 2007 summer record until our new record set this week, the temperature rose by about 5 percent (98 degrees vs. 103 degrees) but energy use rose by more than 8 percent (3228 MW to 3508 MW).

To me, that means that while we still do have more furnaces than air conditioners, the A/C is catching up quickly.

New record ... or not?

Record hot temperatures are always a tough call, and today's up and down at SeaTac shows why.

The temperature has been as high as 95 degrees this morning, and then dipping back to 90 degrees and now up to 93 degrees again here at the noon hour -- with the slightest variations in the wind making all the difference.

An east wind, gaining a little heat as it comes down off the Cascades, sent us up to a toasty 95 degrees for a short time, then a west wind, off the cool waters of Puget Sound, sent temperatures down to a frosty 90 degrees. All of which means that whether we break the all-time record of 100 at SeaTac (set on June 20, 1994) a tough call. I'd say yes, but the slightest shift in the wind will make the difference. And, if it's going to be this hot, let's get into the record books. KOMO's Scott Sistek and Paul Deanno have a nice rundown of all this.

On the utility front, it's a demanding day on our electrical system, but we do have the capacity to meet energy needs. The larger issue is the stress on the infrastructure, and so far we have seen a few small outages in Bellevue, Olympia and Redmond. Some were from what appeared to be small animals causing a short-circuit, others from equipment failures. Was it the heat? That's hard to say. It's easy to know if the weather caused an outage when a tree is blown over in a storm, but tougher when equipment fails in hot weather. No doubt, extreme heat puts stress on any kind of mechanical device, from your car radiator to our infrastructure. So far, though, the response from PSE crews has been quick and most customers who have been out are back in service within a few hours.

To get the latest, follow PSETalk on Twitter.

How can you help ease the load? Energy efficiency is always a winner, and a way to save money while helping the environment. Here are some tips at PSE.com, although I am not sure there's any great way to stay cool with temperatures pushing 100 degress today.

Summer Sizzle

Here's a quick summary on life in the Puget Sound area: we spend 1o months grumbling about the rain and gray skies, and two months grumbling about the heat. In between, for a few minutes in May and a few minutes in September, we go all Goldilocks and declare the weather "just right."

The National Weather Service is predicting some record heat the next few days, with temperatures up to 100 in Western Washington by Wednesday. This can be a problem for some people, such as those who work outdoors or may have health concerns, or a joy to others who are sun-starved for much of the year. The graphic here shows the hot spots, with the warmest areas in pink, right around Olympia, where temperatures may reach the low 100s by Wednesday. But everybody else in the "red zone" cooks along as well, with highs in the mid to upper 90s.

As a utility, we have a number of concerns in this kind of weather. Extreme heat is hard on our transmission and distribution systems, and also places a lot of load on our generating plants. Interestingly, though, the demand for energy, while much higher than average during a heat wave, is actually much less than during extreme cold. The likely reason is that we have more people heating with electricity, and not as much air-conditioning -- although a/c is becoming more popular around our region than it was decades ago.

During our winter record cold of December 2008, the demand on our electric system reached about 5000 megawatts, while this summer heat wave is expected to create a much lower demand for energy.

One great way to stay cool is through switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, which are much more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs. The incandescents use about four times the energy of a CFL to produce the same amount of light, mainly because the incandescent actually takes about 90 percent of the incoming energy and turns it into heat, with only about 10 percent of the energy consumed by a traditional bulb becoming light. On average, CFLs put out 70 percent less heat for the same amount of lighting as an incandescent bulb.

For a little reading on our heatwave, I recommend Professor Cliff Mass' blog posting today, and also the National Weather Services "forecast discussion", which is posted several times a day by the NWS forecasters. It's a great "behind the scenes" look at the rationale and interpretation behind the forecast you might see on TV or on the radio.

From the utility angle, energy efficiency is important year round, but especially at times of higher than normal demand such as a heat wave. Many of the steps you can take are easy, and will help you stay cooler, and save money as well. New technologies can also help you put in air-conditioning without having to do as much re-work on an older home, and still manage costs through greater efficiency than older models. The PSE rebate for these "ductless heat pumps" is $1200, and right now you can combine this with IRS tax credits for energy efficient products.