Entreprenuers rethink America's energy use

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Appalachian Power seeks electricity rate increase

APCo hopes incentive draws jobs to Va.

SOUTH BOSTON — On the same day Appalachian Power Co. announced that it needs its second large rate increase in two years, about 65 people who are ready to redesign America’s energy usage from the top down shared their prospects for business partnerships Wednesday.

“Consumers are going to be amazed by the changes that are coming in the next 10 years,” said JG Staal,who is helping start a Richmond-area company that wants to conserve electricity by letting businesses and homeowners know when a

refrigerator or machine is using too much current.

Rising electricity rates will fire up consumer demand for more details on how they’re using power, said Staal and other electricity entrepreneurs attending a “Show Me the Energy Money” conference at the Virginia Tech Modeling and Simulation Center.

Consumers now get a bill from the power company that doesn’t tell them how they used the kilowatts they’re paying for, said Lynchburg native Katherine Hamilton, who is president of GridWise Alliance, a consortium of electricity providers and users that seeks to changes habits and practices that waste power.

Solutions could be as simple as unplugging an unused TV or computer during the day, because many devices draw power even when they’re switched off.

A desire to use those solutions could be driven by a need to save money and an instinctive, competitive need to be as energy-conscious as others in a neighborhood.

Information about a home’s energy use would be provided to the homeowner, under Staal’s concept, along with information about average power use in similar residences.

That information would be collected when Staal’s device, installed in a business or home’s electric panel, transmitted the information to an IP server that compiles and analyzes it.

At the other end of such a transaction could be someone like WattShifters, another Richmond-area company represented at Wednesday’s conference.

Stephen Walz, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s senior adviser for energy policy, said he thought WattShifters and Staal’s venture could form separate parts of an energy-saving concept.

WattShifters says it wants to give electricity providers such as Appalachian Power data that would help them meet peak-demand requirements in new ways that reduce the need for bigger plants.

Electricity wasn’t the only source of energy represented at the conference, which was held at a Virginia Tech facility built with Tobacco Commission funds in the Riverstone Technology Park.

Companies that are trying to create energy from algae, wind, solar and other renewable sources also attended.

Federal stimulus funds that are just now becoming available for energy-related projects could be a source of capital for entrepreneurs, two conference speakers said.

Although stimulus dollars have started slowly, “there’s going to be a lot of money flowing out,” said Henry McGuire, a vice president with Tetra Tech, a global engineering company that is the largest wind-services company in the United States.

Coming with that money will be a federal demand for accountability about how many jobs it creates. Information about the funds’ use will have to be transparent and made available to both the government and the public, McGuire said.

“Every single piece of work will be tracked,” he said.