What’s the Real Outlook for Solar PV in Massachusetts?

Manuel A. Fontan, ERS, for Zondits Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is understandably a hot topic in Massachusetts. This kind of energy has a favorable market outlook, along with other renewable sources and efficiency measures, as cities look toward smarter and cleaner power and in many cases compliance with optimistic greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards such … Read more

4 New Bills in California Encourage Energy Storage Deployment

Energy Storage Association Conference with distributed energy resources energy storage deployment technology

California accelerates energy storage deployment with new legislation Energy Storage News, September 28, 2016 California state legislature and governor Jerry Brown have signed into law four key new energy bills that are set to accelerate energy storage deployment in the Golden State. Bill AB 1637 follows up on the previous victory that storage experienced with recent Self … Read more

New Opportunities for Energy Efficiency: Marijuana Growing Ops

Todd Winner, ERS, for Zondits Energy efficiency programs are increasingly looking for new measures that can generate energy and peak demand savings for customers and their programs. Energy efficiency measures typically considered  “low-hanging fruit,” such as lighting upgrades in interior commercial spaces and the installation of high-efficiency HVAC units in new construction projects, are becoming … Read more

FirstEnergy’s Efficiency Plans Face Critical Review

FirstEnergy Ohio energy-efficiency-in-ohio

FirstEnergy could make millions in profits from its energy efficiency plan Midwest Energy News, September 22, 2016 Critics say FirstEnergy’s plan to resume its energy efficiency programs in Ohio could let the company take credit for work done by others and make millions of dollars as a result — at customers’ expense. Profiting from others’ work? FirstEnergy’s … Read more

It’s About Time: Doing Integrated Real-Time Impact Evaluations

Sue Haselhorst, ERS, and Joe Dolengo, National Grid, presented at ACEEE Summer Study, 2016 ABSTRACT It has become clichéd that implementers want evaluation results sooner and with actionable recommendations; however, impact results often arrive two to four years after the measures are installed and paid, for and the evaluator recommendations are stale. National Grid’s (NGrid’s) … Read more

Roadmap to Distributed Generation: Innovative Tools for CHP Adoption

Sam Witty, Gita Subramony, ERS, presented at ACEEE Summer Study Combined heat and power (CHP) is becoming an important strategy to help buildings reduce energy costs and increase resiliency while achieving greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions on a system-wide level. NYSERDA’s CHP Acceleration Program assists New York customers with installing CHP by offering a catalog … Read more

Bring Me the Right Data!

energy-efficiency-data right data

An In-Depth Look at What Data Is Useful for the Utility of the Future Isaac Wainstein, Ryan Bossis, ERS, Presented at the 2016 ACEEE Summer Study It is often recognized that gathering large and robust data sets is a critical component for the utility of the future to successfully integrate energy efficiency as a grid … Read more

National Grid Zeros in on Aggressive Energy Efficiency Targets

The kilowatt you never use: How National Grid plans to save customers $3.6B through efficiency Utility Dive, August 31, 2016 According to ACEEE, Massachusetts’ approach to efficiency “has resulted in one of the most ambitious fully-funded state savings targets, incremental electric savings targets ramping up from 2.5% to 2.6% from 2013-2015.” And the state gives … Read more

Federal Appliance Standards – Consumer Friend or Foe?

Gita Subramony, ERS, for Zondits The Heritage Foundation recently posted an opinion piece on why the federal government should not be mandating energy efficiency standards. The authors suggest that the standards reduce consumer choices, have little impact on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or increasing energy savings, and hinder innovation. The authors argue that high … Read more

M&V in a Changing Evaluation Landscape

This is part of a series of Zondits articles on next generation evaluation and EDGE M&V. Please join us as we explore these emerging trends. Gary Epstein and Jeff Perkins, ERS, for Zondits The energy efficiency landscape is changing, and increasingly there is a push to take both the measurement of actual savings and the … Read more