Resources for Sustainability: Tracking U.S. Energy Supply and Demand

Utilizing monitoring systems and benefits of integrated grid technologies, utilities and other stakeholders can monitor and act on vital supplies and demands of energy consumption.

Team Gemini and the company’s many team members develop closed-loop project models that apply a variety of industry-proven technologies to create and maintain sustainable communities. Part of that model is implementing independent, reliable utility supplies. From maximum uptime and efficient use of electricity and thermal energy, resilience in the face of energy emergencies, to water conservation and reuse, a variety of components work in tandem to save operating costs and minimize or eliminate wastefulness.

In this Resources for Sustainability article, we shed light on a macro-level view of energy supplies in the U.S., and how integrated grids support each other in fluctuating energy scenarios.

Hour by hour, the system constantly compares actual energy production with forecasts for maximum predicted consumption.

Areas on the map producing more electricity than required are coloured orange. Regions where production is falling behind predicted usage appear in blue. By clicking on the production-centre icon, staff can see how many extra megawatts are required to get an under-supplied region back on track.

As the map shows, the US electricity grid has a number of interconnected supply areas. This means reserve capacity can be diverted from an over-supplied area to one hit by shortages. As the EIA explains, “these diversions happen automatically. Electric system disturbances occur too quickly to rely on human intervention to detect losses and manually bring on new generating capacity.”

Supporting and developing a 100%-sustainable infrastructure, including the integration of a smart micro-grid whenever feasible, is among Team Gemini’s primary pursuits. Various technologies ultimately contribute to this goal, including intelligent Microgrids.

Feel free to explore more topics on our Resources page, or contact us if you’d like to recommend others.

For a full listing of Team Gemini sustainability tools and resources, please visit our resources page at http://teamgemini.us/resources/.