ECS News and Events

ECS Honored During Awards Luncheon on Friday, May 11, 2012

May 11, 2012 - ENERGY CURTAILMENT SPECIALISTS, INC. (ECS), one of the largest and longest tenured demand response providers in North America, was named Energy Champion for their outstanding efforts in energy efficiency and conservation from SDG&E.

Along with Energy Curtailment Specialists, additional award winners include the UC San Diego Alexandria Realty, City of Chula Vista, Hotel del Coronado, IKEA, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Lemon Grove School District, Qualcomm, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, the San Diego Convention Center, Siemens and the United States Marine Corps.

These are companies SDG&E says have "gone above and beyond to save energy and money by taking advantage of the many rebates and incentives that are available through SDG&E's energy-efficiency and demand response programs." Collectively, the winners have saved more than 24.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity and more than 500,000 therms of natural gas.

ECS offers the demand response programs of SDG&E. Several thousand facilities participate in ECS’ PowerPay Program across North America, yielding more than 2,300 MW of demand reductions during grid crisis, equivalent to the output of several large power plants. Clients enrolled in an ECS demand response program receive advanced notification of peak demand hours and issues with the electric grid and have the ability to gain thousands of dollars in revenue for reducing their electric use during those times.

Qualified participants also receive access to ECS’s innovative, cutting edge metering platform named Demandtrak. Demandtrak is a powerful open source web based platform where customers can view energy usage at their facility in real time. As an added benefit, through its Green Roots Initiative, ECS donates trees to one of America’s national forests in the name of each customer that enrolls in the program.

We live in a world where technology advances at the speed of light. New products and techniques are entering the market every day, and one of the products attracting a lot of attention is the smart meter. Smart meters are used to record the consumption of electric usage, typically at intervals of one hour or less. This information is then quickly passed on to the utility for monitoring and billing.

Sounds useful, right? So why all the controversy? Some utilities have recorded minor complaints regarding:

• Lack of privacy
• Health concerns such as headaches and sleeplessness from the radio frequencies
• Harmful effects to the bee population

On the other end of the spectrum, much of the population supports the smart meter, stating that it provides many benefits including:

• Detailed feedback on energy use which enables customers to adjust their habits and lower their electric bills
• Reduction of blackouts
• Preventing the need for new power plants
• Eliminating manual meter reading
• Providing automatic outage notification to the utilities to help restore power quickly

Imagine being sound asleep and dreaming of the exotic vacation you are about to take, when all of a sudden, the government orders a mandatory evacuation because they suspect a hydrogen explosion may occur in the vicinity of your home. That’s exactly what happened over one year ago in Fukushima, Japan.

Nuclear power is quite popular in several countries. It has a few advantages, such as low carbon emissions and high production of electrical energy in one power plant, but the disadvantages are far more important and deserve recognition. Many people fail to recognize the potential problem of radioactive waste escaping into our environment and the risk for possible accidents.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck the northeast coast of Japan. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant had three of its units down for maintenance, but the remaining three units were automatically shut down due to this natural disaster. A 46 foot tsunami quickly followed, disabling emergency generators that were required to cool the nuclear reactors. The pressure within these nuclear units began to build and soon reached twice the normal amount. In order to remove some of this pressure, officials decided to release steam into the air, which contained some radioactive materials such as tritium and nitrogen-16. Unfortunately, there was no stopping the buildup of hydrogen gas and no safe way to prevent the severe explosion that resulted. Within the following weeks, further evacuations were given and concerns about food and water supply became apparent.

It’s almost that time again! Everyone is getting ready to pull out their flip flops, sun block, and portable grills. But what can we expect with this summer’s weather? Judging by this past winter’s mild conditions and spring’s unusually warm temperatures, we may be in for a treat.

According to the Farmers’ Almanac, June will bring above-normal precipitation for the Eastern third of the country ranging from locally heavy showers to severe tornados, but once July makes its appearance, we should be in the clear. “We expect to see a spell of widespread extreme heat and humidity for the latter days of summer, predominantly during late August. About two-thirds of the country will experience above-normal summer temperatures, with an unusually large region of much above-normal temperatures for the Southern and Eastern States.” They even predict temperatures will soar into the 100s in many areas.

With all this heat, everyone will be searching for ways to stay cool- a run through the sprinkler, a dip in the pool, and blasting the air conditioning. If this is the case, we may experience another awful event similar to the Northeast blackout of 2003.

In 2008, the world consumed 493 quadrillion BTU worth of energy, and sadly, less than 8% of that was renewable energy. Although fossil fuels may be cheap and easy to use, they have damaging long term effects on Mother Earth, including the release of toxic gases and radiation. Petroleum, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power all contribute to these negative impacts and the United States is among the largest suppliers.

On the other hand, renewable energy is not only abundant and simple to use, they also produce low carbon emissions and are much more environmentally friendly. There are several different forms of renewable energy including hydroelectricity, wind power, solar energy, biomass, biofuel, and geothermal energy.

Hydropower produces electricity through the movement of water. Typically, dams are used to block rivers and collect water. When the water is released, it is forced down shafts which lead to a large turbine. This turbine turns, generating electricity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China was the most influential producer in 2010, creating 714 billion kilowatt-hours through hydropower. Brazil and Canada were also among the top contributors, producing 401 and 348 billion kWh, respectively.

6 Things You Didn't Know About Earth Day

Get ready everyone, Earth Day is just around the corner! You always hear about it, but how much do you actually know about this special celebration? Not much? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. We’ve scoured the internet to find the top 6 most interesting and useful facts, so be sure to jot them down to impress your friends later.

6) After witnessing the damage of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, US Senator Gaylord Nelson came up with the idea of a “national teach-in on the environment.” On April 22, 1970, twenty million Americans participated in the very first Earth Day celebration, occupying streets, parks, auditoriums, and college campuses to protest the deterioration of the environment.

5) In December 1970, following the first Earth Day, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to deal with environmental issues, known as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Today, the EPA still works with Congress to enforce regulations protecting human health and the environment.

4) Since the creation of Earth Day, over one billion people in 192 countries choose to participate in their community’s activities, making it the largest civil observance in the world.

3) Surprisingly, there is actually another Earth Day. Both were launched in 1970, but the one many people probably don’t know about falls on March 21, the spring equinox, when night and day are exactly the same length of time. Conservationist, John McConnell, chose this day to represent a time of equilibrium and balance.

What have you thrown in the trash today? A used water bottle? An old newspaper? Maybe a few plastic bags? With society being so busy and distracted, we rarely think about where that pile of junk mail ends up. In case you haven’t noticed where I’m going with this, it’s the city landfill.

Each year, we generate approximately 250 million tons of garbage, and sadly, only about 30% of that is being recycled. So that means roughly 175 million tons of trash end up in our landfills in just one year! The number of landfills is decreasing while the amount of trash continues to skyrocket- where in the world are we going to put all this garbage?!

There are a few alternatives to landfills including anaerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment, pyrolysis, and plasma arc gasification. These all sound well and good, but they are much more costly and time consuming than good ol’ recycling. Each ton of recycled aluminum cans can save the energy equivalent of approximately 185 gallons of gasoline- think about that the next time you finish a soda. There are also a number of other objects that end up in a landfill rather than being recycled or composted. Many different types of glass, mixed paper, plastic bottles, steel cans, dry cell batteries, motor oil, leaves and grass clippings, and product packaging should all avoid the trash can. You have all heard recycling advice before, but have you actually done it? Stop buying plastic water bottles and start using that aluminum one your sister got you for your birthday. Quit throwing out those glass beer bottles and start bringing them in when you grocery shop. You’ll save a whole ninety cents on your bill. And start giving your unused coupons to that woman down the street who won’t go to the store without them. She’ll thank you for it.

In case I haven’t tickled your brain cells enough, I’ll leave you with one last fun fact to think about. There are only two man-made structures on our planet that are large enough to be seen from outer space. One is the Great Wall of China and the other…is the Fresh Kills landfill located in Staten Island.

References:

http://recyclingfacts.org/

http://www.ecoevaluator.com/lifestyle/recycling/ten-common-landfill-items-that-are-recyclable.html

http://justlivegreener.com/environment/253-scary-facts-about-landfills.html

http://www.superpages.com/supertips/garbage-landfill.html

Let’s take a step back in time and reminisce when gasoline prices were less than one dollar per gallon.  Ahhh, those were the days.  Unfortunately, when we snap back to reality, all we hear about is how prices are quickly surpassing the four dollar mark.  Some are even predicting gas will hit five dollars per gallon by summer.  I invite you to follow me on a journey around the world to see what the rest of the population is paying at the pump.

First stop, France - the land of wine, cheese, and baguettes.  Europe is known for their high gas prices, so it’s no surprise to see they are paying about $8.29 per gallon.  A stone’s throw away, we find ourselves in Turkey, where they are paying close to $10 per gallon!  Let’s take a moment and thank our lucky stars we aren’t even close to paying that much in the US.  Quickly moving east, we arrive in Iran and discover it costs them approximately $1.44 for every gallon, which they consider expensive.  Their neighbors to the south are paying less than half of that!  Coming in at only $0.61 per gallon, Saudi Arabia is a major supplier to the United States and is owner to about one-fifth of the world’s oil reserves.  Traveling about 6,000 miles east, we arrive in Japan, home of well made, fuel efficient cars.  They’re going to need those cars, since they are paying around $6.62 per gallon.  As we grab some sushi to-go, we make our way to our final destination, Venezuela.  Hold on to your hats folks, citizens here are paying a mere $0.08 for one gallon of gasoline.  Venezuela is known for its oil rich lands and affordable gas prices, but eight cents is just astonishing to Americans.

As everyone knows, gas prices in the United States could be more affordable, but as you’ve seen here, they could also be much more expensive.  Although our country is not one of the lucky ones spending mere pennies for gasoline, we are fortunate enough to be paying half the price other countries are being forced to pay.

References

MSN Autos

Kiplinger

Daily Finance

ECS is hosting FREE educational Webinars to help you stay informed of new regulations and programs. Regulatory experts will provide you with useful information in your market. Experts will also be available to answer your questions. All you need is a web access and a telephone to participate. Attendees will participate in group sessions.

Simply click here to register for your 30-minute spot. Two educational Webinars are held on Wednesdays.

Morning Session: 10:00am
Afternoon Session: 2:00pm

Demand Response programs pay businesses significant $$$ to reduce their electric usage during rare cases of instability on the electric grid. ECS is the largest private Demand Response Provider in North America, with over 10,000 facilities participating in our programs. What was once a rarely utilized program has become a surefire revenue-generator for businesses across North America. Over the past 10+ years ECS has paid out more than $100 million to its customers

Why you should participate:

• You choose your one on one individual meeting time
• Exclusively high payments and big enrollment bonuses (highest demand response rates in the industry)
• There are deadlines for enrollment. If you miss those, you will have to wait until 2013
• Senior management will be on the floor to negotiate payments to you and answer any questions you may have
• Engineers available to help with reduction strategies if desired
• Free advanced metering with ECS' world class monitoring dashboard suite (DemandTRAK!)

Benefits of Demand Response:

• The program is completely cost and risk free
• Your company will receive substantial revenues by participating
• Advanced metering platform available at no-cost for qualified users
• Participating businesses demonstrate leadership and responsibility in the community by helping to prevent blackouts
• Demand response is a "green" initiative which can help you achieve any green goals you may have

For area specific information of to sign up Click Here

Let’s face it. Public transportation is not our favorite way of getting around. The inconvenience of waiting, all of the germs, and that creepy man in the back of the subway train talking to himself will certainly deter most people from this form of transit. But the rising cost of gas is changing all of this.

Over the past three months, the price of gas has risen approximately fifty cents per gallon in the US. Some people are outraged, some do not even care, but the majority of our population has begun to seek out alternatives to using their own cars. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Americans took 10.4 billion trips using public transportation, including buses, trains, street cars and ferries. In 2011, they estimated that the average person who relied solely on public transit could save about $10,000 per year! With that much money, you can get 2,600 gallons of milk, 20 brand new iPads, or 47 tickets to the March Madness Final Four games! That certainly makes you think of what else you could be spending this money on.

Thurman will be hosting a free seminar at The Carolina Kitchen in Hyattsville, Maryland on February 16th. There will be an open bar and appetizers. He will be will be joined by experts in the energy purchasing and demand response industries. Door prizes will be awarded and all attendees will receive an autographed picture of our legends (in fact, they would gladly sign any other memorabilia you have as well). Space is limited so reserve your spot now by visiting www.legendsenergygroup.com

Leap into Demand Response this Leap Year with ECS and Receive Enrollment Bonuses!

January 24, 2012 – Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. (ECS) is excited to announce this year’s Demand Response Virtual Expo 2012, a three-day event where businesses can speak directly with ECS energy experts about enrolling in a demand response program. The event will take place on February 29th, March 1st, and March 2nd. This is the best time of the year to enroll in ECS’ risk free program, so reserve your 30-minute spot today! Space is limited for the event—first come, first served.

“ECS offers the highest demand response rates in the industry, and companies will have the opportunity to receive increased signing bonuses through this important virtual expo,” remarks Jim Korczykowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of ECS. “Our senior management team will work with you to be sure you get the best enrollment possible in this completely free, no risk program, and will also help you maximize your reductions as easily as possible.” Clients enrolled in an ECS demand response program will receive advanced notification of issues with the electric grid and will have the ability to gain thousands in revenue just for being on standby. For more information on this program, or to sign up for the event, please visit www.ecsgrid.com/DRexpo.

Thurman Thomas and Ruben Brown, four-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowl selection, will be hosting a free seminar in Chicago on October 26th. These legends will be joined by experts in the energy purchasing and demand response industries. Door prizes will be awarded and all attendees will receive an autographed picture of our legends (in fact, they would gladly sign any other memorabilia you have as well). Space is limited so reserve your spot now by visiting www.legendseminars.com

This program is designed to reduce demands on the NYISO electric grid. You will be given a day-ahead notice to reduce your electric, by ~ 3:00 pm the day prior to the reduction event or test. There will be at least a 1 hour test in July or August and in January or February. Historically, there have been only a few hours of reduction calls annually. You will receive a minimum of $45,000 per MW annually ($45 per kW)...read more

Green Roots Initiative Through the Green Roots Initiative, ECS donates 10 trees to one of America's national forests for each customer that enrolls in an ECS demand response program.

This effort is in conjunction with the Arbor Day Foundation's Trees in Celebration program. ECS donates tens of thousands of trees annually. "The commitment by ECS to plant trees will have a lasting impact on our environment," said Matt Harris, president of the Arbor Day Foundation. "

The trees planted by ECS will help restore wildlife habitat, clean the air we breathe and protect soil and waterways. We commend ECS for planting trees in honor of its customers." The Arbor Day Foundation will provide a certificate and plaque to the company being honored as confirmation and also to inform the honoree which national forest the trees will be planted in. "We are constantly sending the message that joining our program is an environmentally friendly course of action, but we wanted to take our environmental stewardship one step further with Green Roots Initiative and we decided to honor our customers at the same time," said Jim Korczykowski, President & CEO of ECS.

Legends Energy Group (Legends) and Cox Communications are proud to announce that Cox has made Legends its official demand response partner for all Cox Virginia locations.  Not only will Cox receive a payment by reducing its electricity during times of stress on the electric grid, but Cox's reduced energy consumption will have a profound effect on the local environment.

"I am so pleased that we are partnering with Legends on this important environmental initiative. This signing ceremony and the great work that will begin shortly thereafter is proof positive of our continued engaged in the conservation arena," says Gary McCollum, Cox Virginia Senior Vice President and Cox General Manager.

Legends consists of some of the most talented sports legends of our time, including NFL Hall of Famers Bruce Smith and Thurman Thomas, along with many others.  These sports legends act as player affiliates to the group to market and bring recognition to industry-leading energy programs available to businesses across the country.  Many businesses are unfamiliar with these big energy saving opportunities. Legends partners with national demand response leader "Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc.", which administers the program.

Buffalo, NY, Aug. 19- At a time when Buffalo's economy is on the decline and energy costs continue to rise, one local company with a typically national marketplace is offering a solution specifically tailored to Western New York businesses.  Energy Curtailment Specialists, Inc. (ECS), the largest privately held demand response provider in the country and headquartered in Buffalo, is allocating $5 million to local businesses as part of their effort to fund demand response initiatives of larger WNY electricity end-users, make Buffalo a "greener" city, and boost the economy.

ECS is encouraging businesses in WNY to join their Demand Response program, an energy conservation program that pays participants for their efforts in energy reduction during times of high electric demand, to take advantage of the dollars available.

"Being a Buffalo-based company and understanding the current rough patch in our economy, we are very excited to offer area businesses the opportunity to reap the benefits of Demand Response," said Glen Smith, Buffalo native and co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of ECS.  "It's great to be able to spark the economy and put Western New York in the national spotlight for something positive."