Flanigan's Eco-Logic

In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, father-daughter duo, Ted and Sierra Flanigan host the clean energy crash course focusing on the power grid and its stresses as things start to heat up across the country this summer. They discuss “the electricity traffic jam” and the importance of raising awareness of peak conditions.

They start by bringing the power grid down to basics – power plants, transmission lines, distribution lines – and how the grid handles this kind of stress. The conversation uses California and its Independent System Operator which manages our 50 GW system. Ted and Sierra then shift to responsible actions that each of us can take on the demand side to alleviate peak demands that are costly, and at times are highly disruptive and sometimes even life threatening.

Ted breaks what he calls “smart energy management” into four actions: conservation, energy efficiency, load management, and local distributed solar energy. Sierra asks Ted to link these actions with grid duress. What can be done right away? Ted encourages incremental action on the home front, we can all cut our power use by at least 5%, and encourages listeners to back policies that support innovation and an accelerated path to the ubiquitous clean energy future.