Virtual power plant (VPP) enthusiasts gathered on January 29 at our Midwest Energy Solutions (MES) Conference in Chicago for a collaborative workshop on how to accelerate VPP deployments across the U.S. organized around the imperatives listed in the Department of Energy (DOE) Liftoff Report for VPPs. Virtual power plants are collections of distributed energy resources (DERs) that can be called on to reduce electricity demand peaks. VPPs have the potential capacity to address 10-20% of peak load by 2030 according to the report. 

Building on the first part of this blog series, we’ll discuss the essential roles that stakeholders—program administrators, contractors, community agencies and government bodies—should play in helping underserved households secure the most suitable and cost-effective heat pump system. We will cover strategies that should be considered to mitigate upfront costs and help customers avoid negative utility bill impacts when installing a heat pump.

In our recent blog post Energy Markets 101: Regional Transmission Organizations, Independent System Operators and Energy Efficiency we discussed Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), Independent System Operators (ISOs) and wholesale electricity markets. If you’re not familiar with the RTOs and their capacity markets, go back and read Part 1. In this follow up, we’ll dive into how energy efficiency has historically participated in PJM’s capacity market and recent complaints filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in more detail.

The year 2007 was an unforgettable year for multiple reasons. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (the final book of the series) was released, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Climate Change, and it sparked the start of the subprime mortgage crisis which sent America into the greatest recession since the great depression. But, perhaps more influential than anything else was when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world. The iPhone took the world by storm, completely changing the way society interacts with technology and the way technology interacts with society.

As more and more distributed resources come onto the grid, we are coming full circle back to something that looks more like Edison’s original distributed energy system, after a century of Samuel Insull’s centralized model. Besides changes in how energy is generated, the way it is used is also changing, with energy customers becoming active participants rather than just passive consumers. The interoperability of all of the devices on the grid is essential to keeping up with the changing needs of customers and energy markets.

The number of connected devices globally will reach 50 billion by 2020. But a central question remains unanswered: Who will ensure that these devices provide maximum social benefit with minimal consequence?

To most outsiders, the world of energy efficiency probably appears static with slow, incremental changes. A furnace rebate here, light bulb swap-out there, maybe an updated building energy code every few years. But it should come as no surprise to industry insiders that this isn’t the case at all. An explosion of new technology across every part of our economy is rapidly changing our energy savings goals and the ways we identify and capture those savings.

One August afternoon, a few MEEAites embarked on a recon mission to gather data on smart devices in two major retailers of home appliances. Sadly, the budget didn’t approve our request for black turtlenecks and spy gear, so we had to make do with business casual.

Our goal was to get a general idea of what type of technology comes with today’s appliances that are commonly available to the public. As MEEA sets out to not only understand, but also influence on the world of intelligent efficiency, we have recently found ourselves arriving at the same question that starts at the consumer: What do customers experience today when buying new home appliances?

As MEEA continues its efforts to make valuable contributions to the national conversation on intelligent efficiency, it’s important to step back and take a moment to define this somewhat nebulous concept. ACEEE has done a great job of helping energy efficiency stakeholders understand what this term means through several research reports, web outlets and two high-quality conferences on the subject. Their 2013 report, Intelligent Efficiency: Opportunities, Barriers, and Solutions, defines intelligent efficiency as:

Over the last year, MEEA launched an initiative aimed at helping members better understand the intelligent efficiency revolution now upon us. This effort, which began as a simple collaborative for meeting and sharing knowledge, revealed that many stakeholders have both a strong interest in learning more about the application of intelligent efficiency concepts and technology, but also reluctance about technical details, new products and vendors, EM&V and other challenges.