Energy Efficiency Markets Podcast

Why are National Grid's energy efficiency programs so successful in Rhode Island? Laura Rodormer and Matthew Ray, senior strategic business analysts at National Grid, describe the popular efficiency programs--plus the company's solar program. Customers who achieve high levels of energy efficiency are eligible for higher payments (approximately 40 cents/kWh) if they produce solar under National Grid's program, which does not involve net metering.

NV Energy wants more efficiency--but regulators in Nevada want less. That's the ironic situation in Nevada. Last July, NV Energy said its residential lighting programs in southern Nevada were so popular--three times the utility’s initial projections--that it wanted to add more money to the program mid-year. It also wanted to boost its LED lighting program between 2016-2018, but the program was eliminated by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

About 97 percent of the energy efficiency market is untapped due to the difficulty finding investors and other issues, says Dennis Quinn, COO of Joule Assets.

And that’s a big market: nearly $279 billion in the US, he says.

In this podcast, Quinn and Richard Jones, senior vice president of Hartford Steam Boiler explain how they’re going to help solve the problem by boosting investor confidence in projects. The two companies announced a portfolio-wide insurance product designed to meet the needs of small to medium-sized enterprises.

USGBC Colorado has seen a number of existing multi-family building owners invest in energy efficiency recently.“The new level of attention these leading multi-family buildings are paying to energy efficiency through their voluntary participation in the Denver City Energy Project (DCEP) points to a new trend that multi-family properties are establishing towards increased investment in energy efficiency,” said Patti Mason, Executive Director, USGBC Colorado. “This positive effort and investment will benefit Denver’s triple bottom line for decades to come."

Government energy efficiency mandates--especially those relating to appliances--are clunky and ineffective, says Ted Gayer, Brookings Institution vice president of economic studies. The costs outweigh the benefits, he says. It would make more economic sense to tax energy use or companies that produce pollution. Learn more about Gayer's views here: http://www.brookings.edu/research/testimony/2015/04/30-energy-efficiency-legislation-gayer

Building efficiency and energy storage are creating jobs in North Carolina, according to the 2014 North Carolina Clean Energy Industry Census, which showed about 25% annual job growth in clean energy overall since 2012, outpacing growth of other industries in the state. Ivan Urlaub, executive director of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, explains the gains in the energy efficiency industry revealed in the report.

In a study of Opower’s new behavioral demand response program, the company found some surprising and exciting results. The program costs less than traditional demand response programs, and yields more–up to 5% peak reduction. Learn the three keys to unlocking DR’s full potential. Download the OPower white paper: http://clk.ml-links.com/clk?pub=634&pgr=1166&src=12993&ctg=667&tstamp=20141028T235917&ast=42350&cmp=13753&crv=0&pos=0&frm=1927&imp=6071841131331717263&yld=0

Schneider Electric has teamed up with Pepco to take advantage of the Green Button Connect My Data program, which stems from the DOE's request to utilities to make available utility data to encourage innovation by third parties. While some utilities have not yet responded to the DOE request, Pepco is enthusiastically opening up its data in this project. Paul Hamilton, vice president, government relations, Schneider Electric, and Greg Thompson, manager, smart grid offers at Schneider Electric, explain in this podcast interview.

Most energy storage batteries can only address short-term issues – for example, frequency and voltage regulation – or long-term issues, including time-shifting and ramping. However, with the help of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a new company has released a battery that does both simultaneously. Russ Weed, vice president of business development for UniEnergy Technologies, which is an offshoot of Pacific Northwest National Labs, explains in this podcast interview.

No standards exist for microgrids that address reliability, connection to the grid, efficiency and other issues, says Michael Overturf, CEO of ZF Energy Development. His firm has partnered with the Perfect Power Institute to provide LEED-like standards for these facilities, located in campuses, medical facilities, industrial plants and other areas. ZF Energy is now applying these standards to some of its projects. Joining Overturf in this podcast is John Kelly, executive director of the Perfect Power Institute.

The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid applauds the federal EPA for its draft plan for reducing carbon emissions, but wants to see the agency directly spell out the important role of smart grid and demand response in reducing emissions. The EPA didn't acknowledge the importance of these tools in its plan, says Dan Delurey, executive director of the organization. Industry members need to write the EPA to voice their opinion, he says.

What's one of the best ways for consumers, businesses and towns/cities to avoid the kinds of emergencies we experienced with Hurricane Sandy? Energy storage allows consumers and businesses to reduce their reliance on the grid, and can be implemented in a number of ways, says Darren Hammell, co-founder and chief strategic officer for Princeton Power Systems. He explains why solar users lost power during Hurricane Sandy and what they should have done differently. He outlines some of the challenges to getting more energy storage online.

What do microgrid developers need from policymakers now? Rob Thornton, president and CEO of IDEA, explains how Hurricane Sandy made micro grids ”cool.” But regulations and policy still stand in the way of realizing the many benefits of microgrids, which can provide reliable power, especially during storms like Sandy. Mayors, CEOs, schools and universities are beginning to see the advantages of microgrids, he says. But developers should be properly compensated for the important services they provide. And regulators need to understand that microgrids don’t pull loads off the grid; they work in conjunction with the grid.
IDEA–the International District Energy Association– is now in its 150th year.

The power costs associated with operating a data center are about 30 percent of total expenses. And most data center operators know that. But save them a little energy, and show them the results, and they're often surprised. Aaron Rallo, founder and CEO of TSO Logic, has released a dashboard that helps data centers "see" the results of their efficiency efforts and explains what it means to the customers.

Smart appliances offer lots of opportunities for energy savings, but there are risks too. Energy Efficiency Markets interviews Thomas Blewitt, Director of Principal Engineers for the appliance and lighting industries at Underwriters Laboratories about some of the challenges that may arise when new users adopt smart appliances for the first time, like more complicated installations and challenges operating the new user interfaces.

A number of states and cities now require benchmarking of buildings, which involves collecting energy use data and plugging it into software that feeds data to the EPA. The states--California and Washington--plus eight major cities have achieved a 7% reduction in savings over the past three years, says Timothy Croman, manager of energy efficiency business for Standard Energy Solutions. What's more, their energy intensity scores increased by 6 points. Expect more benchmarking regulations and their associated benefits, he says in this podcast.

The money pumped into the energy efficiency industry is not yielding sustainable results: What we need is a performance-based industry, says Matt Golden, principal, Efficiency.org. Golden is spearheading a movement to transform the industry into a market-based approach in which incentives match real savings--not predicted savings. Under his model, utilities would issue RFPs for energy efficiency and would treat efficiency like other resources. Competition would drive innovation, benefitting contractors, utilities and ratepayers. Listen to our interview with Golden to learn more about his goals for transforming the industry.

Connecticut has seen its share in recent years of severe weather events that have sparked outages--one, in fact, that left numerous residents in the dark for days. The state sees microgrids as a way to provide a "baseline level of safety and security." How is the state getting funding its microgrid program and what are its plans for the future? Listen to this podcast with Alex Kraigie, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to find out.

Laws in California, New York and Illinois now require owners of certain sized new buildings to "commission," or survey their energy use. Are these a bitter pill for building owners or do they yield important benefits? Energy Efficiency Markets interviews Jerry Schmits, director of business development with KLH Engineers, Energy solutions group, about some unexpected benefits that arise from commissioning.

Call them the outliers–the buildings that are massively inefficient. With energy efficiency, you can take these outliers and reap savings as high as 300% to 400%, says Barun Singh, CTO and cofounder of WegoWise. The company is now helping these energy users and others better understand big-picture trends with a new visualization tool. Listen to this podcast to learn more about the tool and the trends.

What's one way to avoid high peak usage charges? Vic Shao, CEO of GreenCharge Networks, says in this podcast interview that energy storage can solve the problem, especially when it's combined with predictive analytics. By predicting peak usage, and using energy storage to change energy usage during peak usage, customers can save money and utilities can avoid building peaking plants. He also addresses legislation affecting energy storage, noting that Hawaii, New York and California are at the forefront of energy storage.

Energy data analytics company Bidgely says it can reduce energy consumption in homes by 6%, which is 300% better than other home energy platforms, the company says. This is based on a survey of 500 users, says Abhay Gupta, CEO. How is this happening? The company uses "whole house data," providing information about what air conditioners, lights, and other electricity users are consuming, he claims. This allows residents to see where they need to cut back. Listen to our podcast interview with Gupta and visit our LinkedIn page if you're curious about or have questions about this study: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Energy-Efficiency-Markets-5095376

Seattle, one of the first cities to implement benchmarking, has released a report about the initial results of its benchmarking efforts: A retirement home focused on behavioral changes and cut energy bills by 12 percent. What's more, of the 8,000 buildings that needed to be benchmarked, 90 percent have benchmarked. The city expects $90 million a year in savings from its benchmarking. Corey Weathers, principle of Catalyst 2030, outlines the city's benchmarking successes in this podcast.

In a pilot project with the Southwest Research Institute and ERCOT, a fleet of electric powered trucks is making money by helping stabilize grid frequency. Electric trucks stop charging quickly and automatically when the grid's frequency is unstable, and the un-named fleet owner gets paid for doing this. In this podcast, Sean Mitchem, a project manager for the research institute, explains this "fast response regulation service" project.

Think about all the people who fill up at a water cooler every day. With a new product provided by Aqwastream--stations that allow people to fill up their own bottles with water--the company flashes the water fillers with energy efficiency messages. In addition to providing energy efficiency education--especially to college students--the company aims to help cut the energy used in producing plastic bottles. In 2006, a whopping 17 million barrels of oil were used to produce plastic bottles by avoiding the use of them altogether. In this podcast, Mare Van Dyke, Aqwastream's Co-Founder, also talks about the advantages of managing such systems remotely.

Utilities will need to change their business model and offer new services and products next year, says Jill Feblowitz, vice president, IDC Energy Insights in this podcast interview. This is due in part to the new power coming into the grid from microgrids, solar and other sources. Because the grid was designed for one-way traffic, there's a need for balancing, and this creates new business opportunities, including demand response opportunities, she says. Listen to learn more about the company's predictions for utility spending next year.

Submetering helps commercial and industrial companies understand where they're using the most energy and gives them critical information, which, combined with controls, can cut energy use by up to 30%. In this podcast interview, Mark Straton, senior vice president for GridPoint, outlines this and other benefits of submetering. The company provides energy management solutions for leading enterprises and government agencies, including seven of the top 10 retailers nationwide and seven of the top 20 quick serve restaurants, plus the U.S Postal Service.

What keeps utility CFOs from embracing energy efficiency and demand-side management? What convinces them to invest in energy efficiency and demand-side management? Ward Eames, president, NTC, which provides educational content for utilities, provides tips based on his new ebook, "7 Strategies to Power Up Your CFO's Support."

Listen to the podcast interview to learn about how NTC helps utilities reach their customers--by providing education in the schools that trickles up to parents. Eames says this strategy has proven a successful way to entice residential homeowners to embrace energy efficiency.

While cleantech investment in general has dropped over the past five years, investment in energy efficiency is booming, says Sheeraz Haji, CEO of the market intelligence firm Cleantech Group. In its latest report–about third quarter 2013–the energy efficiency topped the investment charts in clean tech, with 33 investment deals in energy efficiency. In addition, there was a 33 percent jump in the number of energy efficiency companies on the Global Cleantech 100 list. The trend is due to the convergence of data, software, the web and energy, which has yielded companies like Opower, says Haji in a podcast interview.

Automated energy management software from BuildinIQ cuts energy use by 12 percent in one casino, and is expected to slash energy use in other casinos by 12 percent to 18 percent, says Pete Bickinson, CTO of BuildingIQ in a podcast interview. The software, provided to NV Energy, the utility that supplies energy to the city of Las Vegas, provides both energy efficiency and demand response. The automated system responds to pricing, weather conditions, market conditions, and comfort levels. The software yields immediate cash flow, he says. Users are seeing $1.50 to $3 in savings for every $1 they spend on the software.

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), the research and innovation arm of United Technologies Corp. (UTX), has won an innovation award for its PureStorage flow battery energy storage technology. The award comes from industry experts and the editors of R&D Magazine, and is listed among the 100 most technologically significant products introduced during 2012.
In this podcast interview, Sri Divakaruni, director, innovation business development, and Mike Perry, project leader for UTRC, explain how much less expensive the technology is and how it could be best used. UTRC is now talking to potential partners who could bring the technology to market.

In a draft report, Michigan revealed that it has surpassed its 1 percent annual electricity savings targets by 116 percent to 124 percent. That was achieved at a cost of $20 per megawatt-hour, much less than the $60 per megawatt-hour for electricity from gas-fired units, said Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman John Quackenbush in this podcast interview. Now, the commission wants to achieve 10.8 percent to 14.7 percent savings for gas, and 14.5 percent to 16.1 percent savings for electricity over the next 10 years. Is that possible? Listen to learn more about Michigan's incentives for utilities and its problems with its de-coupling efforts.

Accenture and Siemens have launched a joint venture, Omnetric Group, in the smart-grid field that will work with utilities to improve energy efficiency, grid operations and reliability. Jack Azagury, global managing director for Accenture Grid Services, explains in this podcast that the effort will help utilities solve the problem of integrating data with engineering. For example, the joint venture will take smart metering data and package it to help customers make better decisions about saving energy. Azagury says the effort can be "market changing" and save utilities up to 20% in their demand response efforts.

We've got much of the technology needed to solve the climate crisis. What we need now is financing innovation, says Jigar Shaw, author of "Creating Climate Wealth" in an interview with Lisa Cohn of EnergyEffficiencyMarkets.com. If we can break that barrier, we'll create what he calls climate wealth. The founder of SunEdison and the former CEO of the Carbon War Room quotes the EIA, saying we need $10 trillion by 2020 to fight climate change. We're on the path to invest $4.5 billion. "We have the technology to meet the 2020 goal," he says. "Many existing technologies are ready to be deployed." What's needed now is smart money, he says.

Listen to learn what smart money is, why many EE subsidies should be eliminated and why Shaw's plan would create wealth.

Where are the jobs? You don't have to look far, when it comes to energy efficiency, says Suzanne Jones, vice president of sales and marketing for the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AES). In fact, filling the void created by retiring baby boomers is a big challenge for the industry. People are needed across the board, especially at utilities, where many boomers stayed for 20 years and are now retiring, she says. Researchers, marketers, energy efficiency program designers, and program implementers are just some of the people needed.

AESP offers a website, www.myenergygateway.com, for students interested in these jobs.

As more distributed generation comes online, will we see more energy efficiency? The number of rooftop solar systems has increased dramatically. It makes most sense for solar users to focus on efficiency first, says Tom Hulsevosch, managing director, energy and utility practice, West Monroe Partners. This presents an opportunity for both energy efficiency companies and solar installers: They could focus on both installing solar and providing efficiency, he says.

California's plan calling for a massive amount of energy storage poses challenges for utilities that would be required to implement it. Mark MacCracken, CEO of Calmac, a manufacturer of thermal energy storage systems, discusses the technology options available to utilities in this podcast interview with Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com. "There will be a big learning curve," he says. "We'll see some test projects." Utilities will experience multiple benefits with energy storage under the plan. For example, they could use one energy storage device to help them address power quality and arbitrage.

The EPA estimates that 3 to 4 percent of national annual electricity consumption (or approximately 56 billion kilowatts), or $4 billion, is used to provide drinking water and wastewater services. Albert Cho, vice president for strategy and business development at Xylem, says this can account for 30 percent of the energy used by a city. Much of that energy is wasted, he says. One solution is adding equipment that can change how air is blown into the water to provide aeration, cutting by 50 percent the amount of energy used. Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com interviews Cho.

If you follow the money in clean energy, the first place you'll stop is energy efficiency, says Craig Shields, author of "Renewable Energy – Following the Money." The editor of 2greenenergy.com says, "If you want to put people back to work, energy efficiency is the place to start." His book, based on interviews with economists, philosophers and scientists, says the trajectory for long-term, high-paying jobs is energy efficiency. However, a number of challenges stand in the way, chief among them federal policy-making, he says in an interview with Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com.

With California's strict new guidelines for LED lighting, manufacturers are working to come up with LED lights that provide both energy savings and lighting quality. As they work to improve their technologies, we're seeing LED lights that can be used for many, if not all, applications.

That's the word from Mike Watson, vice president of corporate marketing for the LED manufacturer Cree. The company has released the first LED bulb to exceed the California Energy Commission2019s new guidelines for LED lighting.

The new Cree bulb achieves a color rendering index (CRI) of 93, making the TW Series Bulb the first to be eligible for utility rebates in California in 2014. SMUD has already confirmed it will provide a rebate for the new Cree TW Series LED Bulb.

Radiant barriers, which reduce air conditioning costs, have been around for many years. They save up to 17% per month on cooling costs by reducing attic temperatures by up to 30 degrees. They achieve this by blocking radiant heat from the sun.

New building codes and mandates have boosted the market for radiant barriers. Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com interviews Lorraine Bittles, the OSB product manager for LP Building Products about the uses and market for radiant barriers.

Interested in helping shape which topics we cover at EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com? Please fill out this short survey: http://kevinnormandeau.polldaddy.com/s/energy-efficiency-markets-audience-survey-2013

How can quantum computing reap energy efficiency? In lots of ways. It helps solve complex problems in ways that reap energy efficiency. For example, it can be used to solve complicated scheduling challenges for Fed Ex, which leads to more efficient routes and gas savings. It can help airlines schedule flights more efficiently, again, saving on fuel costs. And it can be used to help decide how best to plug surplus energy into the grid.

In this podcast, Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com interviews Jeremy Hilton, vice president of processor development for D-Wave, which is the world's first commercial quantum computing company.

What could energy efficiency and innovation do for climate change? Tom Stoner, author of "Small Change, Big Gains: Reflections of an Energy Entrepreneur," describes Project Butterfly, which aims to create a new business case for the global energy system--a case that reduces carbon emissions as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. A seasoned energy industry player, he worked with top scientists, researchers and economists to evaluate a number of options, and found that shutting down all coal-fired plants and other policy changes wouldn't be effective. Instead, he came up with a plan that focuses on energy efficiency, redirecting energy subsidies, and opening up energy markets to innovation. "This could alter forecasted carbon dioxide levels to keep us out of the danger zone," he says in a podcast interview with Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com.

In a smart grid application, utility Sacramento Public Utility District (SMUD) has moved from using maps and push pins to visual analytics to help make decisions about outages, smart meters, and other issues.

Steve Ehrlich, SVP, Marketing, of Space-Time Insight, which has supplied a smart grid system to SMUD, says that many utilities are still using maps and push pins. But situational intelligence software can help utilities unite and analyze data from various sources--outage information, wind speed data, and smart meter data, for example.

One of the biggest benefits of this type of system: It helps utilities avoid outages and prevents crises. Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com interviews Ehrlich about how utilities benefit from such systems.

PNC, a financial services bank, has just certified its 200th LEED building. Why the big push in LEED buildings for this company? They save on energy costs, boost productivity, and are customers' preferred place to bank, says Nana Wilbeforce, energy manager with PNC Realty Services Group, which maintains the buildings. In fact, the LEED-certified branches see $463,000 more deposits per paid employee per year than the non-certified buildings. The green buildings, with their increased sunlight, low-VOC materials, and pleasant lighting make employees more productive and draw more customers, he says. While others complain that the certification process is too timely and costly, he says the time and effort are worth it.

Energy Storage will get a boost from cities and other governments worried about the potential for natural disasters, says Ron MacDonald, former Canadian Parliament member and Executive Chairman of American Vanadium, which produces energy storage systems. Policy makers in New York State and elsewhere are improving their infrastructure systems, which will result in more money going into energy storage, he says.

For example, New York City is funneling funds into improving its infrastructure in response to natural disasters--and that could affect the energy storage market, he says. When one city or state takes action, others often follow the lead, he says. And investors take notice, he says.

MacDonald also provides tips for people in the energy storage industry, saying they should connect with their policy makers. Interview by Lisa Cohn of EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com