Register today for the 4th installment of Energy Systems Engineering Spring 2021 Seminar Series.
This seminar is available only online via Zoom.

“"The Role of Connected Communities in the Modern Grid"

Presented by: Ram Narayanamurthy is the Program Manager, Energy Utilization of EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)
 

REGISTER HERE

DATE: Tuesday, March 23, 2021
TIME: 12:00 PM EDT
LOCATION - ZOOM MEETING link to be sent prior to the seminar date
CONTACT US: inesei@lehigh.edu  

Abstract - Connected Communities (CC) are a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings GEB with diverse, flexible end use equipment and other distributed energy resources (DERs) that collectively work to maximize building, community, and grid efficiency. This talk will focus on  how groups of buildings combined with other types of DERs, such as electric vehicle (EV) charging and photovoltaic (PV) generation, can reliably and cost-effectively serve as grid assets by strategically deploying efficiency and demand flexibility.  By demonstrating the ability of groups of buildings and DERs to modify load, the  outcomes will enable increased energy efficiency, reduced energy demand, and reduced environmental impact. Domestic renewable energy production has been increasing, influencing utility electricity supply operations and creating technical challenges to efficient, cost effective, and reliable grid performance.  This, and other reasons including deferred infrastructure investment, have led to a number of federal, regional, and local efforts to modernize the electric grid. .  Similarly, advances in electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage technologies are offering pathways to interact with the electric grid in more dynamic ways. EVs are forecasted to be the largest net increase in load to the utility system in the next twenty years. 

Bio - Ram Narayanamurthy is the technical lead and program manager for Advanced Buildings at EPRI.  With two decades of experience in energy efficiency and decarbonization, Ram directs research in the areas of Building Decarbonization, Building Flexibility and Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Communities.  He has been instrumental in advancing California’s goals for Net Zero Energy and zero carbon buildings, developing the first Zero net energy neighborhood and developing zero energy affordable housing communities.  His areas of interest include building energy management and control systems, building thermal mass, envelope technologies and advanced cooling systems.

Prior to EPRI, he was the VP, R&D for EchoFirst, Inc. where he led development of zero energy homes by integrating residential HVAC, Home Energy Management and renewable generation.  During this time, he also commercialized residential user interfaces for energy generation, use as well as climate control.  Prior to EchoFirst, he was the architect of the Ice Bear thermal energy storage product line as Director of Product Development at Ice Energy, Inc.  In this role, he built extensive test facilities to test air conditioning systems as well integration of thermal energy storage systems.
 

If interested, please attend the presentation on Tues, March 23, at 12:00pm Eastern Daylight Time

For more information about the Energy Systems Engineering Master's degree program, visit our website:   ese.lehigh.edu