Who is PJM?
PJM Interconnection is a regional transmission organization (RTO) that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Acting as a neutral, independent party, PJM operates a competitive wholesale electricity market and manages the high-voltage electricity grid to ensure reliability for more than 61 million people.
PJM’s long-term regional planning process provides a broad, interstate perspective that identifies the most effective and cost-efficient improvements to the grid to ensure reliability and economic benefits on a system wide basis.
An independent Board oversees PJM’s activities. Effective governance and a collaborative stakeholder process help PJM achieve its vision: “To be the electric industry leader – today and tomorrow – in reliable operations, efficient wholesale markets, and infrastructure development.”
We're all depending on these guys to keep the lights on and operate an electric market. And that requires a lot of advanced mathematics.
Infographics tell a story. They are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system's ability to see patterns and trends.
This helpful infographic is prominently displayed in PJM's lobby, ostensibly to inspire visitors to think about how PJM's hard work to manage electricity supports everyone's creature comforts. It's an attempt to "dumb down" electricity to make its awesome power easily understandable and relevant to the hoi polloi who shuffle daily between PJM's conference rooms and tasty M&M bar. PJM has lots of important visitors to impress! So, grab a handful of M&Ms (plain or peanut!) and wander through the infographic gallery for a snacking good time!
Infographics tell a story. They are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system's ability to see patterns and trends.
This helpful infographic is prominently displayed in PJM's lobby, ostensibly to inspire visitors to think about how PJM's hard work to manage electricity supports everyone's creature comforts. It's an attempt to "dumb down" electricity to make its awesome power easily understandable and relevant to the hoi polloi who shuffle daily between PJM's conference rooms and tasty M&M bar. PJM has lots of important visitors to impress! So, grab a handful of M&Ms (plain or peanut!) and wander through the infographic gallery for a snacking good time!
Except it looks like PJM took the "dumbing down" a little too seriously and ended up with just plain dumb.
What can one megawatt hour of electricity do?
It can power:
600 Super Bowl parties (300 kWh)
5,556 iPhone charges (100 kWh)
Power a traffic signal for 3 months (200 kWh)
1,200 pots of coffee (100 kWh)
Download 133,320 songs (50 kWh)
Cool a refrigerator for 3 months (150 kWh)
The infographic informs that one megawatt hour (MWh) equals 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh).
What does all that add up to?
It's not 1 MWh.
It's 900 kWh.
Go ahead, add it up. You probably won't even need one of those nifty scientific calculators PJM probably uses to manage the electric grid. Any second grader can do it.
But PJM can't.
C'mon, PJM, less free nachos and danish on the snack bar and more math that we can rely on!
Perhaps PJM's mathematicians consider this infographic saved by the tiny disclaimer on the bottom?
What can one megawatt hour of electricity do?
It can power:
600 Super Bowl parties (300 kWh)
5,556 iPhone charges (100 kWh)
Power a traffic signal for 3 months (200 kWh)
1,200 pots of coffee (100 kWh)
Download 133,320 songs (50 kWh)
Cool a refrigerator for 3 months (150 kWh)
The infographic informs that one megawatt hour (MWh) equals 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh).
What does all that add up to?
It's not 1 MWh.
It's 900 kWh.
Go ahead, add it up. You probably won't even need one of those nifty scientific calculators PJM probably uses to manage the electric grid. Any second grader can do it.
But PJM can't.
C'mon, PJM, less free nachos and danish on the snack bar and more math that we can rely on!
Perhaps PJM's mathematicians consider this infographic saved by the tiny disclaimer on the bottom?
Based on a variety of sources. Numbers are estimations and may be rounded.
Rounded to the nearest thousand? Is that the kind of magic math PJM uses to manage the electric grid?
I'm frightened.
If that infographic is intended to impress me with your electric grid prowess, you've failed. Miserably.
So, now the fun begins! How many blog readers that visit PJM regularly can find this infographic in the lobby and photograph it before it's removed? How many visitors can snap a photo of the empty space left behind after its removal? How many visitors can snap a photo of its eventual replacement (and fact check that one)? How many visitors can inspire PJM to institute a "no photographs in the lobby" policy to save it from further embarrassment?
Be sure to help yourself to a complimentary snack while you're there. Maybe the missing 100 kWh is powering the M&M dispenser?
I'm frightened.
If that infographic is intended to impress me with your electric grid prowess, you've failed. Miserably.
So, now the fun begins! How many blog readers that visit PJM regularly can find this infographic in the lobby and photograph it before it's removed? How many visitors can snap a photo of the empty space left behind after its removal? How many visitors can snap a photo of its eventual replacement (and fact check that one)? How many visitors can inspire PJM to institute a "no photographs in the lobby" policy to save it from further embarrassment?
Be sure to help yourself to a complimentary snack while you're there. Maybe the missing 100 kWh is powering the M&M dispenser?
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