The recent steamy weather has increased the demand for energy but the head of Sturgeon Bay Utilities says there is still plenty of power available.
SBU general manager Jim Stawicki says the state has done a good job with the transmission system and generating stations and says "power is plentiful." Locally, he says Sturgeon Bay is aided by the fact that local businesses and manufacturers are not as busy as they were during their heyday...
Stawicki says SBU has seen a peak demand of 28 megawatts during this hot stretch and says a 30 megawatt demand would not surprise him. He says energy usage can also be affected by consecutive days of hot weather...
"We've come to convince ourselves that we live in the middle of a big air conditioner that is Lake Michigan," says Stawicki. "When you hit a stretch of very hot weather you kind of throw that out the window and you just want some comfort and relief at some point and to be able to sleep at night."
Speaking of comfort, Stawicki did pass along one piece of information regarding ceiling fans: They cool people, not rooms."So if you have an unoccupied room it really doesn't make sense to keep a ceiling fan going," he says.
