{"id":12864,"date":"2012-06-19T11:30:24","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T16:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=12864"},"modified":"2012-06-19T11:36:14","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T16:36:14","slug":"the-texas-grid-theres-an-app-for-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2012\/06\/19\/the-texas-grid-theres-an-app-for-that\/","title":{"rendered":"The Texas Grid: There’s an App for That"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Filipa Rodrigues\/StateImpact Texas<\/p>

ERCOT has unveiled a new mobile app<\/p><\/div>\n

This morning I went to the iPhone’s App Store and downloaded the new mobile app<\/a>\u00a0from ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas<\/a>, which manages the Texas grid.\u00a0It’s free, and we’re grid junkies here at StateImpact Texas, so why not take it for a spin?<\/p>\n

So how’s the app? It’s okay. Much of the content is static, like conservation tips and some facts about the group. The main page, however, shows real-time load on the grid (as of this writing, 45,226 MW) and the forecast peak demand for the day. It’s the same info (and graphic) from ERCOT’s home page<\/a>, and in the age of flashy energy apps and devices like NEST<\/a>, it feels a little behind the times.<\/p>\n

There’s also a push\u00a0notification\u00a0feature, which will alert you when the grid is getting close to reaching peak demand. So users have the option of getting a push message from ERCOT that says “Turn up your thermostat 2 degrees before you leave home today.”\u00a0The idea is for people to cut back on their energy use at those times, which typically occur between 3 and 7 p.m. during the summer. (Maybe they should stop charging their phones?)<\/p>\n

And the app also has some static conservation tips for helping reduce demand.\u00a0They aren’t revelatory, but they bear repeating, especially since ERCOT says blackouts may only be avoidable this summer with increased conservation<\/a>:<\/p>\n