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By Samantha Maldonado, THE CITY
There’s nothing like luxuriating in the cool respite of an air-conditioned room during a heat wave. But as sweltering temperatures take hold Thursday through Saturday, it’s important to conserve energy.
Con Ed on Thursday reached out to customers with a request to limit energy use between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. That’s to avoid outages as New Yorkers blast their air conditioners and strain the grid.
Air conditioning is necessary to stay healthy and comfortable during the hottest days. But bumping up the temperature in your apartment a few degrees and holding off on running power-guzzling appliances can help ensure the electric system’s reliability.
“We recommend setting your air conditioner units to 78 degrees or the lowest of the cool settings,” New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said Thursday.
While the grid’s operator makes sure there’s enough power capacity to meet our needs during the summer’s hottest days, the physical equipment that sends electricity across the city is at greater risk of overheating. If that happens, entire neighborhoods — and maybe the whole city — could experience power outages.
Diana Hernández, an associate professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health who studies energy insecurity, pointed out that those who don’t typically worry about the costs of energy could learn something from those who do.
“We all need to be kind of cognizant about our energy use,” Hernández said. “More people need to be as conservative as households that experience economic need.”
How Con Ed’s Networks Work
The heat, along with high demand for electricity, can overtax the equipment in Con Ed’s system, which serves customers in 70 geographical networks.
Patrick McHugh, Con Ed’s senior vice president of electric operations, likened each network to a suspension bridge with 24 suspender cables that’s able to be held with just 22 cables.
But in times of extreme heat, that’s not a lot of leeway. If more than two of those metaphorical cables break during a heat wave, the whole bridge could collapse. That means the whole network — that is, the apartments, hospitals and streetlights contained within it — is at risk of losing power, which could lead to a “mini blackout,” McHugh said.
To avoid a larger breakdown of the network and a more extensive repair process, Con Ed can reduce voltage in certain areas, an ability it has exercised this summer. In the past, Con Ed has shut off full networks. Now, the company can use its smart meters to shut off individual customers — which it has not done yet.
“We have to make a decision whether we’re going to shed customers to save the equipment, or just see what’s going to happen,” McHugh said. “The probability is the equipment’s going to fail, and then customers go off anyway, and it takes longer to get it back.”
Customers might be frustrated if they have their power cut on purpose, while other neighbors and businesses stay online. McHugh said customers will ask, “‘Well, why didn’t you shut off Times Square?’”
The answer is that the glowing billboards and flashing lights of Times Square are on their own network. That means lowering electricity usage there would not affect customers in Harlem, Jackson Heights or anywhere outside of Times Square.
In other words, customers within a network affect other customers in that same network, so when you mind your usage, you’re helping your neighbors and increasing the odds that the power remains on.
Hernández said it makes sense that customers may be resentful towards a utility like Con Ed, especially during the hottest days of the year.
“But we’re in this moment where there’s different things going on. Extreme heat is one component, the longer-standing climate change issues are another,” she said. “At some point, we all have to come together to realize this is a collective issue and we will be part of the solution.”
When and How to Conserve Energy
For the most vulnerable — those reliant on life-saving medical equipment and the elderly, for instance — maintaining steady electricity is essential. Concern about expensive electric bills may deter lower-income households from switching on their air conditioners, which poses a health threat.
“The goal is simply to get people to turn on their ACs first,” said Daniel Chu, an energy planner for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. “You really want to prevent heat-related deaths.”
The point during the day where the demand is expected to be highest — and when the grid is at most risk of being strained — is usually late afternoon, around 5 or 6 p.m., according to Con Ed. Lowering electricity use in preparation for and during that window of time can have the biggest impact on keeping the grid stable.
There are several actions individuals can take to alleviate pressure on the grid, said David Klatt, COO of Logical Buildings. His company runs a program called GridRewards, which pays enrolled electric customers to reduce energy use during those certain peak times. Even customers who aren’t enrolled can use the same tips:
- Before the hours when demand is highest, cool your space by setting your temperature lower than normal, then raise the temperature later.
- Postpone using your dishwasher, laundry or other electric appliances.
- Shut off unnecessary lighting.
- Unplug your TV and large appliances — and your electric vehicle, if you have one.
- Raise the temperature on your refrigerator and freezer by a few degrees.
“The idea is that the small actions across tens of thousands of users all operating in unison [result in] a coordinated, precise energy use reduction,” Klatt said. “Every flipping off of a light switch makes a difference.”
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As mentioned, Times Square should lead by example, and turn off their network during the timeframe. You’ll never convince others to do it without major players doing the same thing.
It is really important to conserve.
But City Hall, Con Ed etc should be messaging this ahead of time.
Longer term, the City and NY residents themselves needs to address the pervasive and thoughtless energy waste like:
freezing temperatures in offices; office lights on all night; stores that keep doors open though air-conditioning is on (illegal); restaurants with air-conditioning in street sheds and more
Yes the office lights! Or Equinox- I live across the street from one and they live there gym lights all night long!
Who air-conditions their street sheds?! Let’s call them out!
My apartment is on the Southeast corner (windows on both the South and the East) so I get full sun all day. I have begun placing white poster board from Staples behind my shades in the South window, and I am pleased to report it makes the apartment much cooler, even on a day like today. It’s 88 degrees out right now and I have the A/C off. Give it a try 🙂
We got blackout curtains (Costco, Amazon, have decent ones for not much, like $30 a pair) that really work to block the sun and keep it cooler. They come in a lot of colors and look like normal not gauzy curtains but they help.
You would think that in 2023 the ‘greatest city in the world ‘ would generate enough electricity for it’s residents and businesses. What are they doing to increase the supply?
Although I agree with you, I think part of the increase demand puts a toll on the system, so no amount of supply would make a difference. The best we can do with capacity is to lower our usage. Similar to using a paper straw as a firehose. It won’t hold.
You might recall that we used to have a great supply of clean energy via the Indian Creek nuclear plant. But alas, our dear elected officials put an end to that.
Thank you. 100% agree. Indian Point was also able to generate enough revenue to cover its expenses
Decreasing consumption is preferable to increasing supply, for obvious environmental reasons.
So don’t use any electricity and fossil fuels! Try to cook using the sun, and walk everywhere, including across the US!
We should stop all cooking on our mandatory new electric stoves and stop charging our electric cars.
We had heatwaves in the 1950s and 1960s. Our Stuyvesant Town apartment wasn’t air conditioned; JHS 104 was extremely hot, PS 61 not so much as it had high ceilings; The dancers danced at my HS , Performing Arts, with the windows open. Buses and subways? just visit the transit museum.
Just my thoughts for today.
You seem conditioned to say we will be alright without air conditioning. Everything else is banter.
How about discontinuing charging lithium ion batteries until the heatwave is over.
Never…”green” vehicles are always allowed, since people don’t see that conventional energy is still used (in some capacity). People also are happy to look the other way about the explosion risks they pose and the environmental impact of all those batteries once they need to be discarded.
article fails to actually answer the “here’s why” — which is the political leaders in the state stopped fracked and shut down perfectly good nuclear power plants that were safe, cheap, efficient and remarkable CLEAN forms of energy.
3PM, it’s 90 degrees F, not 103.
ConEd clearly doesn’t plan for summer time in NYC.
Electric power in NY and the US broadly should not have been deregulated. 90 degrees is just a hot summer day in NYC.
“We recommend setting your A/C at 78 degrees…” ?!
What’s the use for the A/C then. Rather do an ice bath
I keep mine set at 82 degrees and I’m delightfully comfortable.
I don’t use air conditioner at all (I am actually serious. I grew up without one and when I moved to the US, my parents were too poor to afford one, so the first couple of summers in NY were spent without one. ) When it gets too hot, I go and lie in Riverside park under the tree and enjoy the breeze and I am very comfortable. So you Ethan should then shut down your air conditioner and do what I do and you also will be delightfully comfortable!
I just walked up CPW. I almost felt like I needed a sweater as I passed each & every luxury building – doors wide open, a/c blasting out to the street, doormen outside, probably to stay warm. Same deal for stores on Fifth Avenue. Then I get email from ConEd asking ME to limit my appliance use during the day! Something is amiss.