What is energy efficiency? That sounds like a pretty simple question. But it’s not. Defining efficiency used to be pretty straightforward: weatherize, upgrade equipment and lighting, use a bit of social science to cut consumption. But now efficiency is becoming just as much about shaping demand in real-time to support distributed energy. And that’s shaping how it gets defined, implemented and tracked.
A number of factors — the rise of new consumer tech in the home, bundled distributed energy offerings, a shifting demand curve due to PV, improvements to data collection, and the “electrify everything” movement — are coming together to change efficiency’s role on the grid. We’ll discuss this changing paradigm in our first segment.
Then, we’ll move to electrification. Why are heat pumps suddenly getting so much attention? And how can they help meet efficiency and decarbonization goals?
Read along with us:
- Twitter thread of efficiency resources suggested by listeners
- ACEEE: Snapshot of Energy Efficiency Performance Incentives for Electric Utilities
- Nexant: The Need for a Holistic Electrification Strategy
- GTM: Electric Heating Accelerates the Push for Deep Decarbonization, but Cost Remains an Issue
- GTM: Electric Heat Pumps Can Slash Heating Emissions by More Than Half in California Homes
- Strategen Consulting: Is the “Duck Curve” Eroding the Value of Energy Efficiency?
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@ACEEEdc has quite a few reports and data points that might be of interest. To start, we found that energy efficiency costs utilities an average of 3.1 cents per kWh – usually less than wind or utility-scale solar (as found by@Lazard). https://aceee.org/blog/2018/12/renewables-are-getting-cheaper-energy …
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We also found that rural residents spend 40% more than metropolitan counterparts on energy bills, but EE can help alleviate this burden. Energy burdens (report, fact sheet): https://aceee.org/research-report/u1806 …; https://aceee.org/fact-sheet/rural-energy-burden … Rural EE programs (report): https://aceee.org/research-report/u1807 …
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Fresh off the press is another report that identifies exemplary customer-funded electric and natural gas utilities EE programs across different customer segments, like low-income households, multifamily, and small commercial, among others! https://aceee.org/research-report/u1901 …
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A few other ideas: State and provincial efforts to price GHGs & implications on EE: https://aceee.org/blog/2019/01/more-states-and-provinces-adopt … Local govs and EE workforce development: https://aceee.org/blog/2018/06/cities-are-laying-foundation-robust … Zero energy building codes: https://aceee.org/blog/2018/10/zero-energy-buildings-rise-barriers … Happy to chat further or make introductions!
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You know
@marycshoe was interviewed on the@MPTYpodcast and would provide a well-versed, strong perspective to energy efficiency issues on@TheEnergyGang Not only that, she captains our#FantasyEnergyLeague team for@Energy_Leaders-DC team#BiggestLosers -
Not a retweet – but I’ll second that endorsement!
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Thanks
@cece_coffey and@chase_counts! I’d be honored to join@CleanGridView as an EE champion on@TheEnergyGang. No promises I’d be as much of a skilled contrarian as@JigarShahDC, but I could drop some knowledge (and lend a lot of enthusiasm) to an EE podcast episode. -
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The most interesting development I’ve been following is
@SCE ‘s upcoming “clean energy optimization pilot” which is an effort to incentivize and measure EE in terms of carbon emissions instead of kWh. -
Thanks
@itsgreengreg – we’d be happy to talk about our plans to incentivize efficiency thru GHG reductions, it’s a great partnership w/ our customers @ UC & CSU. -
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(1/2) “The advent of Pay-for-Performance programs, the growth of on-bill financing offerings, market transformation initiatives, load shifting, and integrated DR strategies, among other new strategies, are all expected to play central roles in the upcoming EE portfolios…
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(2/2) while the traditional measure-based deemed and custom interventions that serve as the foundation for the current EE Potential and Goals modeling are becoming less prevalent.” Joint comments from California IOUs on the inclusion of EE in the integrated resource plan (IRP)
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EE is in transition from monthly kWh through programs, to load shaping through markets.
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Check out the National Standard Practice Manual
@RVFnow. Takes cost- effectiveness screening out of its black box and tries to achieve consistency and flexibility at the same time. The more it’s adopted, the more it can unlock EE value around the country.
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New conversation
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Recent NY PSC order on EE taking some interesting / innovative approaches on integrating EE into core utility biz model
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Following up on NY — a couple of specific studies to look at focus on heat pumps. One — done for us by VEIC — shows that heat pumps could reach 2/3 of households by 2030 –
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@VibrantCE had some interesting research about Colorado retiring coal and the huge benefits and $$ it would bring, replaced with a mix of#energyefficiency and#renewableenergy . https://bit.ly/2sIEWTi
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CPUC staff proposal on integrating EE into the IRP based on studies from Navigant and E3. Instead of treating all EE as a flat cut to total projected load, EE measures are grouped based on similar load impact and treated like supply-side resources.
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The E3 RESOLVE model then picks resources for hourly load slices based on lowest cost. Results are interesting. First, traditional EE cost-effectiness test was not a perfect indication of which bundles would be picked.
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Second, the volume of each EE bundle picked varies – and some weren’t picked at all!
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https://www.e2.org/eejobsinamerica/ … · Energy efficiency added the most new jobs in 2017 of the entire energy sector. there are now as many energy efficiency workers as there are waitstaff in U.S. bars and restaurants and as twice as many workers as all fossil fuel sectors combined.
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The
#energyefficiency opportunity in the manufacturing sector is huge —@AllianceIndEff reviewed 160 of the largest manufacturing companies with U.S. facilities to explore public EE & GHG targets.
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Hi!
@SEPAPower published a report called the 2018 Utility Demand Market Snapshot. Covers utility and wholesale market trends, program design, and innovative applications. Link:
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It’s not a study, but the new reality series “Home Diagnosis” puts residential EE and indoor comfort front and center. It’s a good piece of
#scicomm. (Think CSI + This Old House.) The creator and host,@proofispossible, would be a good get for the show.
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Excited to hear this episode! I’ve got a few suggestions, but not all of them are new. 1)
@SusanEDudley and Brian Mannix have great work on energy efficiency https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21841 … -
4) Joshua Blonz at
@rff has a new and interesting paper looking at the principal-agent problem in energy efficiency problems: -
5) Stumbled across this paper this morning. It’s from
@energyathaas‘s Lucas Davis (and two coauthors). The improvements did not improve comfort or decrease electricity use. Maybe because households left their windows open on warm days! https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/idbbrikps/8767.htm … -
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We would direct you to a report on
#carbontax: https://aceee.org/blog/2019/01/more-states-and-provinces-adopt …. Also look out for ACEEE’s#Greeenercars rankings coming out tomorrow! https://greenercars.org/
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Here’s two:
@BerkeleyLab on EE program spending and savings thru 2030 https://bit.ly/2FLdCg7 and@ACEEEdc report on Exemplary EE Programs their performance and lessons learned (Nexant implements 2 of these programs
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Efficiency 2.0 is Flexibility and it doesn’t get much more interesting than the
@ARPAE Program NODES run by@SGlavaski
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@ACEEEdc published a report in December on#EE performance incentives across multiple states. https://bit.ly/2R4CxvZ Two trends: multifactor incentives and innovative cost recovery solutions.
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ACEEE 2017 utility scorecard. Also great video on energy burden in rural areas. Https://Aceee.org/blog/2028/08/energy-efficiency-helps-rural …
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Myself and
@JessMehrhoff@NavigantRSRCH are about to publish a new report on EE Implementation trends
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@openEEmeter in US & from EU:#EEFIG Underwriting Toolkit https://valueandrisk.eefig.eu & EEFIG DEEP https://deep.eefig.eu EuroPACE@EuroPACEprogram & M-Benefits
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Here is a paper I did on the time value of EE measures and interactions with the duck curve: https://swenergy.org/Data/Sites/1/media/documents/publications/documents/burgess-et-al-2018-aceee-summer-study.pdf …
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A recent study UTC published to help quantify ancillary benefits of EE regarding improved air quality on occupancy health and productivity. As an estimator in EE a trend ive noticed nationwide is that states and citites with EE codes, $ for services drops
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This piece by Amory Lovins re: the impact of integrative design on expanding energy efficiency potential: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aad965 …
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http://buildinghvacscience.libsyn.com/website Home Performance 2.0
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Performance based incentives. The
@IESO_Tweets’s Energy Performance Program for example.
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I’m also sure that
@ucdavisenergy could chime in with additional research they’re excited about -
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i testified yesterday at nyc city hall on the synergies of integrating solar PV with vegetated green roofs. depending on several factors, the evaporative cooling effect of plants can reduce PV panel power efficiency losses by 8-12-16+ % in summer months.
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We just put out a study on U.S. energy efficiency potential through 2040 that found energy efficiency programs can reduce electricity consumption growth rate from 0.62% to 0.46%. https://www.epri.com/#/pages/product/3002014926/ …
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@AmoryLovins published a great piece last year: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aad965 …
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Of the exemplary programs cited in ACEEE’s recent report, 30% saw *negative* participant growth in 2017. Possible topic: which policy/program approaches are seeing the fastest participant growth
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It’s a couple years old but New Zealand did a wonderful study about the health benefits of EE work. They put some hard numbers on school days saved, hospital visits, and reduced asthma incidents. A great first stab at quantifying in real dollars the NEBs of EE.
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How about the enormous savings that would be lost if DOE rolls back
#lightbulb standards@TheEnergyGang#energytwitter https://appliance-standards.org/image/infographic-light-bulbs-power-big-savings-america …
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Prof
@mzjacobson‘s one-pager diagram of Major Components of 100% Clean Renewable Energy System for All World Energy Purposes:
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#Refrigeration condenser coil cleaning as per the chart: 20% energy savings. Globally, it’s been estimated that#HVACR cooling equipment cleaning and maintenance might drop#emissions by 500 million metric tons CO2eq yearly! DM for more information.
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The
@IEA’s#EnergyEfficiency 2018 report is a good look at the global potential of efficiency and how major economies around the world aren’t yet investing enough to get us there.
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This sounds great. Two (radically opposed) recommendations: (1) A low
#energy demand scenario to limit#climatechange <1.5C w/o negative emission technologies (aka energy efficiency can save us) from@NatureEnergyJnl -
(2) Does saving
#energy helps us save the climate? A study by colleagues@ETH_en suggests energy efficiency gains are but a drop in the ocean (aka energy efficiency cannot save us) Paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12053-018-9715-8 … Blog in@ETHZukunftsblog https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2018/12/blog-anthony-patt-energiesparen.html … -
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I can tell you about energy efficiency in India !
@SmartJoules
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Here’s the brief on light bulb standards https://appliance-standards.org/sites/default/files/light_bulb_brief_2.pdf …
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