How does Power Stoplight help the environment?
Power Stoplight tells you when it’s a Good, Mid-level, or Bad time to use power based on location and time-applicable prices for electricity. Demand and Supply levels (aka Load and Generation) for your Region determine these prices, so there is a direct relation between your load use, your region’s required generation and the carbon emissions that enter our atmosphere as a result.
Consider a typical week of heat & humidity in the middle of August. If you start the laundry Monday night versus Tuesday morning, the electricity grid on Tuesday won’t require its power plants to add both immediate and long-term generation capacity. That kind of capacity buildup is often done by enabling or increasing fuel levels in coal-burning plants, not solar, hydro-electric, wind, or nuclear. By shifting your significant electricity loads to a non-peak time, you have helped reduce the magnitude of those peaks and the emissions that correspond with them!
So it’s very easy to take action and really make a difference, but keep in mind that every region’s power generation and usage characteristics are unique. Thus, the environmental impact of using Power Stoplight will vary from place to place.
Are you powering your home with solar panels or wind generators? Power Stoplight’s servers survey weather & electricity grid conditions for your Region and tell you when generation is needed & should be possible, helping you to contribute when your contribution is needed most.
As is the case in every system, each contribution, either positive or negative, counts towards the sum of all the parts. Smaller components when added up, DO make a difference. Your use of Power Stoplight can reduce the total load on the grid, reduce the total emissions entering the atmosphere, and maybe even save yourself some money in the process!