NEW YORK (AP) — When a heat wave hits, millions of air conditioners switch on at once, straining the electric grid and driving up the risk of outages — and residents’ power bills. To ease that strain, power companies may ask customers to do something many probably won’t: Set the air conditioner a few degrees higher.
Now, a renter-friendly pilot program in New York City is testing a different approach: plug-in batteries that can power air conditioners offline during peak demand, helping take pressure off the grid at its most stressed moments while still keeping residents cool.
“It’s basically a souped up version of the power bank that you would use to charge your phone when you go out,” said Andrew Wang, the chief executive officer of Every Electric, the company behind the pilot, which has partnered with the city’s energy company Con Edison…