*Completed the Reserve Unit Translator.
*Added a pie chart visualization to the LCOE Calculator.
*Built a Worksheet Reordering tool to better organize the worksheets.
*Expanded the Blender function and tweaked the data entry layout
*Added a tool that removes data associated with a specific source.
*Expanded the information displayed with the Energy Report tool.
*Added a bridging tool that fills in missing data. So for example if data exists for the years 2000 and 2008 the bridging function will fill in data for the years inbetween with an exponential guess. The bridging tool will also bring data up to the present year by assuming persistance... i.e. If there is data for 2011 it will be carried over to 2012 and 2013.
*The bridging data is coded to have a source of *... I added an abridging tool which quickly removes all * data leaving valid sourced data only.
*Added a tool that estimates the TWh generated by photoelectric systems based on the installed GW per country. The function relies on population weighted insolation stats.
*Added several functions that allow new countries to be added or removed as well as moved around in the database.
*Added a This per That tool. This allows the user to generate derivative pages. For example, CO2 per Person or CO2 per GDP or Watts of Solar per Person.
*Expanded the Country Datasheets to include regions... Africa, North Africa, Middle East, Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia et cetera.
*Improved the PVinsight and Energy Trend data downloaders such that they run a logic check on the downloaded data and will redownload data if they see any junk. Also added dedicated pages for Monthly/Quarterly data along with code that automatically updates the pages.
*Added a visualization of Photoelectric Module prices that shows how prices have evolved since 1975.
*Aligned the Electricity Price pages to the standard layout and retuned the currency converter tool.
*Added Production data for an assortment of major minerals.
*Added Production data for ethanol and biodiesel.
*Added Import and Export data for Coal, Oil, Natural Gas and Uranium.
*Added TPES data for Coal, Oil, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Hydro, Renewables and All Sources.
*Added pages for GW, Renewables and Thermal as well as TWh of Renewables and Thermal
Ideas
*Add more data on Energy Use per Sector - Transport in particular. The goal here is to gather enough information to be able to synthesize TPES stats.
*Add graphs and visualiations to the Energy Report tool. Add graphs and visualizations in general.
*Finish importing Major Mineral data.
*Go after regional data which I've been neglecting up to this point.
*Produce instructional videos that explain how to use all the tools.
*Add logic that looks at past capacity factors and carries those forward and allows for the estimation of TWh based on installed GW.
I did a hell of a lot of work on the project this month. One night I got out of bed at midnight and worked for several hours to finish off a script. At this point I don't have any ideas that will get me out of bed. The tool has gotten to be well organized and very flexible. When I read an article I can quickly cross-check the data from the article against EPE regardless of the units used. Not saying EPE is boring but I've completed my ya gotta do list - no critical subjects remain - I'm working off a nice to do list...
I have another project, PEPE, which I've been neglecting... not for lack of interest but for lack of both path and data. Earlier this week I read a thesis paper that provided both missing ingredients. PEPE is an photoelectric modeling tool and an energy modeling tool rolled into one. PEPE can currently model the performance of a photoelectric system, household appliance load and household lighting load. What PEPE lacks is the ability to model household heating and cooling load - these are huge loads but difficult to model. It will take several weeks of work but I believe I have a roadmap I can use to add these heating and cooling simulation abilities. Once heating and cooling simulations are added I'll be able to model photoelectric energy production against total household energy consumption and simulate how energy management can align the two. This is something I've had on my mind for about 4 years. I've used EPE as a meantime project to stay busy and develop skills which I can apply to PEPE. EPE is currently sitting at 12 MB and PEPE will easily be that large so integrating the two would produce a cumbersome product. The basic plan is to stripe out a few of the worksheets from EPE and build them into PEPE. The striped out EPE sheets would provide finacial modeling abilities to PEPE. The goal is to have a tool which is simple to use - you pick your house typology (built in 1980 for example), answer some questions (how many people live in the home and what appliances you own for example) and press play. The program would then calculate the economic performance at a range of system sizes, display the results and suggest an optimum.
There's a decent chance of completing an upgrade to PEPE in the next month and change. This would free up some time for things like cooking, hiking and riding my new bike. In the last two weeks I've tried out three new recipes - Roman Chicken, Indian Butter Chicken and Thai Coconut Chicken... Maybe I'll pivot to beef or lamb or pork? We'll see..
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