Press Releases, News & Technical Documents
December 11, 2019
On COP 25 “Ambition Day,” Pecan Street Announces Soil Research Initiative
By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street – The scale of the climate change challenge requires solutions of equal scale, and carbon sequestration within farmland soils offers a unique opportunity to reduce emissions. We believe the Pecan Street model can help to accelerate progress toward realizing the potential of this critical carbon sink.
November 22, 2019
Greentech Media: A Texas-Sized Gas-for-Electricity Swap
Converting Texas homes to electric heat would reduce climate-warming pollution, save Texas households up to $452 annually on their utility bills, and flip the state from a summer-peaking to a winter-peaking system.
November 22, 2019
IEEE Spectrum: A Plug-and-Play Microgrid for Rooftop Solar
By Scott Hinson, CTO, Pecan Street – Pecan Street designed and built a residential energy-storage system that turns a home into its own microgrid. It’s a solution that addresses all of solar’s integration issues at once.
November 5, 2019
ZDNet: How autonomous vehicles will change car ownership
Pecan Street in Austin ran an eight-month pilot project in three neighborhoods, where residents could hail the shuttle with a text, phone call, or via the app. They could be picked up anywhere in the service area and go to any destination within the service area.
October 17, 2019
Pecan Street @ 10: The Mother of All Energy and Water Databases
By Grant Fisher, chief information officer, Pecan Street – Our greatest technical accomplishment is the development of the largest database of real-world energy and water use on the planet. But we didn’t set out to create the mother of all energy and water databases. Honest.
October 3, 2019
Utility Dive: ERCOT weathers steamy August, but could Texas become a winter-peaking system?
Shifting from gas to electricity for winter heating “would result in increased winter electricity demand peaks,” the report found. “When combined with the reduction in summer peak demand, the increase in winter peak demand would flip Texas from a ‘summer peaking’ to a ‘winter peaking’ system.”
October 3, 2019
E&E News: Blackouts are on the rise. So Austin is making a ‘microgrid’
Scott Hinson is the chief technology officer for Pecan Street Inc., a nonprofit research organization that focuses on ways to spread solar power to reduce the use of fossil fuels in electricity generation. Pecan Street is located in the Mueller neighborhood and has organized some volunteer homeowners to participate in the blackout experiment. It might expose them to infrequent losses of power.
September 30, 2019
Pecan Street Whitepaper Examines Emission and Grid Impact of All-Electric Residential Heating in Texas
A study commissioned by Pecan Street Inc. examining the possibility of converting single-family residential heating in the ERCOT service area from natural gas to electric power concluded that the state could achieve significant reductions in climate and local air pollution and save Texans money through lower monthly utility bills.
September 18, 2019
E&E News Visits Pecan Street on their Electric Road Trip
Pecan Street hosted Edward Klump and Mike Lee from E&E News as they started their 1,000 mile journey from Houston to Nashville in an EV. Along the way, they’re stopping to write and share news about what’s happening in this fast-growing market. Review their Week One video recap and read their blog post that dives into our vehicle to grid research.