Cape Cod News editorial staff
Cape Cod has often thought of energy use and power outages in terms of winter, blizzards, and Nor'easters, but extreme summer heat and storms now bring as much impact. On the Cape extreme thunder storms with very high winds and thunder and lightening create outages while temperatures into the 90s increasingly add extra demand on the power grid. In fact, electrical use is 40% greater in the summer than in the winter, says Eversource spokesperson Chris McKinnon, largely do to air conditioning demands.
It turns out that small steps make a difference in the draw on Cape Cod's power grid -- not to mention saving money on power bills. It might not seem like much but small simple actions add up. Some easy to implement ideas include:
Cape Codders know about the need to insulate against snow and ice, but weatherization applie to heat as well. Insulated doors, windows, and walls all help minimize energy use - keeping it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Cape Light compact offers energy efficiency support to help address areas such as weatherization on Cape Cod.
As the energy provider to Cape Cod, Eversource manages the power grid and maintains and restores power after outages. According to McKinnon, the company has been adding switches and sensors to make grid more responsive and respond more quickly to surges and outages. On the Cape specificially, the new Provincetown battery storage system is now up and running and brings a new way to store and manage power flow and recovery. Eversouce has also addressed power restoration issues through a year-round tree trimming program .
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