Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

The purpose of the proposed Heartwood Consumer Energy Management and Measurement Platform project (aka EMMA) is to demonstrate and refine tools that provide consumers with facilities to manage their energy usage, storage, and generation at home conveniently, inexpensively, and effectively. The project will demonstrate and refine an automated energy management system for homes, buildings, and small microgrids that enables the market proliferation of local energy resources including solar panels, small wind turbines, and storage. This flexible energy management and measurement application (EMMA) is based on international standards that comprise the Home Electronic System (HES), open-source software, and low-cost hardware, developed to foster a competitive mass-market for affordable consumer energy products. The goal is to create a consumer-centric platform that enhances grid reliability and resiliency. This project will map a pragmatic path from the present utility-centric grid to a more distributed and equitable future.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses), Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption)

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

The project focus is on demonstrating how to make inexpensive and resilient solar and renewable energy available to homes, businesses, farms, and local underserved communities. The Heartwood demonstration project is expected to serve as a template for other local and Tribal communities in Southwest Colorado and Northern New Mexico (e.g., Ute Southern Ute Tribe and the Mountain Ute Tribe (Durango and Cortez Colorado area) and the Picuris Pueblo and Taos Pueblo (Taos New Mexico area). Two have already established solar arrays (providing power to local electric coops) and they plan to also develop community microgrids that could be enabled by EMMA when it is validated at Heartwood. Other cohousing projects in the region are also potential users. These would be accomplished with the active collaboration of the local rural electric coops (e.g., LPEA, Kit Carson Electric Coop).
This project is a template for follow-on projects entirely focused on disadvantaged or underserved communities and to making clean, reliable, local power available to the community and its members at a minimal cost.
Additional projects would employ a local workforce with varied training and skills (e.g., building construction, agriculture workers and situations, home appliance installation and service technicians, etc.). As was previously noted, the project areas include many communities that could benefit‚Äîand regionally, co-housing projects offer affordable housing alternatives.
The region is subject to wildfire and other climate risks and EMMA could reduce dependency on vulnerable electricity transmission and distribution grid facilities by enabling individual and community semi-independent microgrids.

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Mission Statement:

CyberLYNX is a small consulting firm that primarily develops international technical standards in ISO/IEC Subcommittee 25 "Interconnection of IT equipment" for home and building electronic communication and controls, known as "Home Electronic System" (HES). The operations and intended applications are global and involve experts from over 18 countries worldwide. The focus of this work in on a home & building energy management system for integration of distributed solar+storage and microgrids. The scope of this work includes both developed and developing countries.

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timothy schoechle