Mad River Valley Energy Study
From Mad River Valley Energy Wiki
Vision
The vision for the Mad River Energy Study is the following (essentially the same as this web site, the Mad River Energy Energy Wiki, because this web site is an outgrowth of the initial Energy Study project):
A community created "living document" to serve as the go-to reference regarding energy information in the Mad River Valley. Think Wikipedia, except focused on energy in the Mad River Valley.
Index of completed projects of the Mad River Valley Energy Study
- Mad River Valley Energy Study - Electric Usage Summary - The first product of the Mad River Energy Study!
- This website: The Mad River Valley Energy Wiki.
- Mad River Valley Energy Study - Installed Base of Renewable Energy Systems, through the tremendous work of the students of UVM CDAE-295 Service Learning Course in the Fall of 2009.
Audience
The audience for the Mad River Energy Study includes:
- People interested in launching new energy projects
- Town Planners (e.g. Waitsfield Town Plan)
- Students
- Anyone interested in energy in the Mad River Valley
Scope of the Mad River Valley Energy Study
The scope of the Mad River Valley Energy Study includes:
- Residential and Commercial Energy Consumption
- Energy Efficiency
- Energy Conservation
- Renewable Energy Production
- Electricity
- Heating
- Transportation
Goals and Challenges
- To get and continually have contributors for various areas of content.
- To keep the information up-to-date.
- Fact-based, not opinion-based
- Links to other information whenever possible. Minimize re-writing of information.
- To make information as accessible as possible to everyone in the community.
- Encourage feedback on MRV Energy Study
- Balancing community contributions with reliable information and security. Studying Wikipedia conventions for this.
Information sources
The information for the Mad River Energy Study will come from a variety of sources with the content contributed by members of the community. These information sources include:
- Linking to existing information whenever possible (instead of re-writing it here). There is a great deal of information out there regarding energy. This site helps to put it in context for those in the Mad River Valley.
- Local expertise. There are tremendous amounts of local expertise in energy. If you have energy expertise, please contribute to this site.
- Some original research. Some original research and data analysis will be done for the MRV Energy Study.
Current Status
The focus of the project is actively working on assessing the present energy situation in the Mad River Valley, including the following sub-projects:
- The first product of the Mad River Energy Study is the Mad River Valley Energy Study - Electric Usage Summary, first published in July, 2009. This part of the study focused on the total energy usage in kilowatt hours (kWh). The next step for this sub-project is to figure out the peak load (in kW) for the Mad River Valley, optimally for each month of 2006, 2007, 2008 to match the kilowatt hour data. the other piece of the puzzle to understanding what the electrical energy needs of the Mad River Valley are.
- Surveying the existing renewable energy installations in the valley.
- Square footage of residential and commercial for each town to calculate in order to assess the total heating need and to start to measure usages, efficiency and conservation over time. Looking for resources to take up this sub-project.
Project Plan
Major sections/sub-projects of the Energy Study are envisioned as including the following. (Sections will likely evolve over time.)
- Background and context setting information for energy in the Mad River Valley (CURRENT PROJECT FOCUS)
- Current Consumption (Electrical, Heating) (CURRENT PROJECT FOCUS)
- Current Renewable Energy Production (CURRENT PROJECT FOCUS)
- Completed Efficiency & Conservation Projects (CURRENT PROJECT FOCUS)
- Current Energy Mix
- Conservation
- Renewable Energy Sources (Wind, Solar, Biomass, Geothermal, Hydro, etc.)
- Opportunities (Grants, Group Buying Opportunities, etc.)
- Combined Clean Energy Scenarios (Clean Energy being defined as Energy Conservation + Energy Efficiency + Renewable Energy Sources)
In each section (where it applies):
- Current Situation, Installed Base
- Education and expectation setting (challenges, limitations and constraints), for example:
- Available resources
- Output/Savings Scenarios (Probable/Realistic & Maximum Possible)
- Estimated probable/realistic and maximum potential contribution for energy source
- Individual and community solutions
- Long term outlook
- Projects, Initiatives and Organizations
- History, Completed
- Active, In-Progress
- Planned
- Inactive, Aborted
- Next Steps & Taking Action
- References, External Links, See Also, Further Reading
Much of the above with manifest itself as articles on the Mad River Energy Wiki (this web site).
Current Needs
- Community members to be contributors to various sections of the study
- Contacts at Green Mountain Power and Washington Electric Cooperative to get peak kW for each town for 2006, 2007, 2008
- Someone to do analysis of square footage of residential and commercial for each town to calculate energy per square feet and to start to measure usages, efficiency and conservation over time. Waitsfield data analysis is complete and will be used as an example for whoever is to do this.
Roles for the ongoing project
- Content Contributors for Individual Sections - Subject Matter Experts, people working on parts of the study
- Core team working through the logistics and connecting the dots
- Project Manager
- Knowledge Manager for the Energy Wiki site
Success stories
Know of any energy study which would be useful to know about? Please add them here.
Funding Sources
Funding would certainly help speed up the effort to collect some of the data and to do the content creation as well as to help ensure moderation of the site does not lapse. So far we have been using a combination of volunteers and students to collect the data, do the necessary analysis and write reports.
Funding ideas are certainly welcome!
Got Feedback?
Have feedback? Let the MRV Energy Study team know. There is a "Send Feedback" link in the "navigation" box on the left side of every page as well as a link in the reports which are published as a part of the Energy Study.
Contacts
- Stan Ward, Project Manager, stan [at] mrvenergy [dot] org
- Dennis Derryberry, dennisd [at] madriver [dot] com
- Jay Pilliod
See Also
