Electric rates for commercializing thermal storage in buildings

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1978

OSTI ID:6274318

Asbury, J.; Holt, L.

This paper describes the economic benefits of thermal storage in residential buildings and analyzes alternative electric-rate designs to commercialize thermal-storage technologies. Storage in three residential applications are considered: electric storage heating, storage air conditioning, and storage domestic water heating. The storage systems collect off-peak electric energy for thermal applications during peak-load hours. The economic rationale for the systems is that the marginal cost of utility-supplied energy is considerably lower during off-peak hours than during on-peak hours. The design and implementation of effective electric rates is the key to commercializing the storage technologies. Four types of rates are evaluated: time-of-use rates, demand charges, and two forms of load management contract rates (a monthly credit and an off-peak discount). The criteria used to evaluate the rates are: combined utility and customer benefits (efficiency), political acceptability, simplicity, and practical feasibility. Alternative rate types are evaluated and findings are presented for each storage application.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA); Department of Energy, Washington, DC (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6274318
• Report Number(s): CONF-781235--2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
250600 -- Energy Storage-- Thermal
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
290800 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Heat Utilization-- (1980-)
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
AIR CONDITIONING
APPLIANCES
BUILDINGS
CHARGES
COMMERCIALIZATION
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ELECTRIC APPLIANCES
ELECTRIC POWER
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY STORAGE
EQUIPMENT
GAS APPLIANCES
HEAT STORAGE
HEATERS
HEATING SYSTEMS
LOAD MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
MARGINAL-COST PRICING
OFF-PEAK ENERGY STORAGE
POWER
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RATE STRUCTURE
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
STORAGE
THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE EQUIPMENT
WATER HEATERS