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August 4, 2008
Energy expert offers ideas for conserving electric power
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Homeowners and businesses often waste power because they aren't aware of all the steps that can be taken to reduce their electricity consumption to lower bills and help ease strain on the nation's power grid, says a Purdue University expert."We need to help consumers more than we do," says Athula Kulatunga, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering technology and a certified energy manager. "Studies have shown that people want to be more conscientious of their energy usage but don't know how they can make a difference."
Kulatunga says simple actions such as installing a digital thermostat, insulating water heaters and adding insulation to a home's attic and walls can result in significant savings. There also are new technologies being used and researched by utility companies that can go even further.
Most utility companies offer rebates and energy audits, and some offer voluntary programs in which households can opt to have "smart" devices hooked into the home's electrical supply that will provide near real-time readings on usage, power outage notifications and power quality. Some devices will even shut off power in times of peak usage.
Kulatunga says that in the future, consumers may be able to disconnect partially from the power grid and use other energy sources, such as wind or solar, to power select high-energy appliances such as refrigerators or clothes dryers. These alternate sources of energy would be integrated into the home's electrical supply but would not put a strain on the centralized power grid.
"Our nation's power grid is relatively old, and it is showing signs of weakness," Kulatunga says. "There is a limit to what our grid will tolerate, so we have to find ways to minimize the consumption while the grid is being upgraded."
Kulatunga oversees Purdue's International Rectifier Power Electronics Development and Application Lab, known as IR-PEDAL, which focuses on energy-efficiency-related applied research in three main areas: motion controls, power conversions and audio amplifiers.
Current projects include working with American Electric Power to study how large power transmission fuses and capacitors behave and why they fail, developing devices to detect and communicate the failing components in the power grid, and researching how to improve the efficiency of brushless, electronically controlled DC motors that could eventually replace mechanically controlled motors.
Writer: Kim Medaris, (765) 494-6998, kmedaris@purdue.edu
Source: Athula Kulatunga, (765) 494-7724, nkulatun@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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