Author Archives: EDF Blogs

Why Residential Demand Response Is a Critical Part of Our Nation’s Energy Mix

By | Published: December 5, 2013

Guest Blog Post By: R. Blake Young, President and CEO of Comverge

The complex task of managing peak energy demand is not something that should be addressed in a piecemeal fashion, and this is particularly true in the demand response industry. For reference, demand response (DR) balances supply and demand, providing peaking capacity to utilities without investments in new plants. DR incentivizes change in customer energy usage patterns to reward lower electricity use at times when system reliability is jeopardized or the price of electricity is higher.

While Comverge supports both residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) demand response programs, it’s important to remember that the residential sector is an incredibly valuable and essential part of any energy management program. The infographic below illustrates why residential demand response is so important to our nation’s energy mix. Read More »

Posted in clean energy, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid | Tagged , | 4 Responses

Don’t Miss Three Important, Upcoming Webinars from EDF’s Investor Confidence Project

By | Published: November 6, 2013

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant, Environmental Defense Fund

 

Nearly 40% of U.S. energy is consumed by both residential and commercial buildings, which emit more than a third of our country’s greenhouse gases. Realizing all of the available cost-effective energy efficiency savings would require roughly $279 billion of investment, resulting in more than $1 trillion in energy savings over ten years.

Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) opens up energy efficiency to investment markets by laying the foundation necessary to enable organizations to tap into this vast potential. This means turning energy efficiency upgrades in the commercial building sector into an asset that can be bought and traded, much like stocks and bonds.  By developing a straightforward set of protocols that define a clear road-map for upgrades, ICP creates an investment-quality asset class whose risks and returns are transparent. Ultimately, large-scale adoption of the ICP framework will reduce transaction costs and engineering overhead, while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings.

ICP will be hosting a series of webinars targeted at specific stakeholders in the energy efficiency sector, and strongly encourage individuals and organizations interested in the future of the energy efficiency industry to attend.  With the assistance and feedback of industry leaders, investors and programs, ICP has developed a range of Energy Performance Protocols tailored to market needs and project types that will reduce transaction costs, manage performance risk and increase deal flow.  Our webinar schedule this fall will focus on how these protocols can create value for individual projects, organizations and the energy efficiency industry as a whole.

Read More »

Posted in clean energy, Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

One Year After Superstorm Sandy, Slow But Steady Progress Toward A Common Goal

By | Published: October 29, 2013

Source: Iwan Baan

By: Rory Christian, Director of New York Smart Power, and Mary Barber, Director of Smart Power Initiatives

It was only a year ago that the most devastating storm the Northeast has ever seen slammed into the region. Hurricane Sandy pummeled the states of New York and New Jersey, destroying homes and businesses and knocking out electricity for millions of families for days, weeks and – in some cases – months.

The unprecedented situation shined a much-needed spotlight on the vulnerability of our century-old energy infrastructure, placing the issue front and center for the region’s state and local leaders, electric utility companies and regulators, particularly as climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events.  Utilities in the region have since begun to fortify flood-prone substations among other reinforcements to the power grid, but improvements that are ‘status quo’ are only part of the solution to future challenges.

Ensuring the adoption of technologies and policies that move the U.S. power grid into the 21st century, making it more resilient, flexible and smarter, can simultaneously accomplish today’s goals while preparing for future challenges – some of which may not yet be apparent.  EDF is working closely with stakeholders to find innovative and pragmatic solutions to help modernize our aging energy infrastructure, an improvement that is crucial to resiliency, safety and storm recovery. Read More »

Posted in Climate, General, New York | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Welcome To Chicagoland

By | Published: September 23, 2013

This commentary originally appeared on EDF's Climate Corps blog.

By: Sitar Mody, Senior Manager of Strategy, Environmental Defense Fund

Today, EDF Climate Corps is thrilled to launch a major initiative to accelerate energy performance in buildings in the city of Chicago.

Chicago is a beautiful city. Chicago is an historic city. Chicago is also a city with a clear and powerful dedication to advancing energy efforts citywide. Many buildings in Chicago are already on a path to greater energy management having committed to Retrofit Chicago – the city’s premier initiative to help buildings reduce their energy use by 20% over 5 years.

EDF’s new Building Energy Initiative in Chicago will complement Retrofit Chicago by giving building owners and operators the “boots on the ground” to sustain their commitments and facilitate access to advanced energy markets – all to save money and the environment.

EDF is recruiting 50 buildings in the city to participate in EDF Climate Corps and developing a robust network for building owners and operators to accelerate adoption of leading energy management practices and gain confidence in implementing innovative investments. We also have two experts, Devesh Nirmul and Ellen Bell, on the ground in Chicago to provide year-round technical support.

Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

ICP Protocol For Standard Commercial Projects

By | Published: September 18, 2013

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant, Environmental Defense Fund

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP) is pleased to announce the release of our newest Energy Performance Protocol for Standard Commercial projects – defined as multiple-measure energy efficiency projects typically costing less than $1MM.

This protocol strikes a balance between engineering and measurement and verification best practices and the need for a streamlined, cost-effective approach to developing a standardized investment quality energy efficiency project.  This latest addition complements our existing Large Commercial Protocol in an effort to develop a family of protocols addressing the range of projects types common in the growing energy efficiency retrofit marketplace.

The goal of the Energy Performance Protocols, as a whole, is to reduce transaction costs associated with investing in energy efficiency projects by standardizing how projects are baselined, engineered, installed, operated and measured.  This allows investors and building owners to gain confidence in the long-term return on their energy efficiency investments.  The goal is to bring together project originators, building owners and investors in a more transparent, and thus more robust, marketplace.

Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project | Comments closed

New DOE Effort To Standardize The Energy Efficiency Data Dictionary

By | Published: August 8, 2013

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant, Environmental Defense Fund

This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a new report that will serve as a data analysis tool for the energy performance of commercial and residential buildings. By providing a standardized approach for the evaluation of energy data, the Building Energy Data Exchange Specification (BEDES) will help optimize energy efficiency efforts.

BEDES provides a common language for key data elements to help a range of stakeholders communicate more effectively. The use of established formats, terms and definitions will allow for smoother interaction between contractors, software vendors, finance companies, utilities, and Public Utility Commissions. As a result, information can be shared and aggregated without laborious scrubbing and translation, which will help more rapidly answer the key questions related to energy savings and financial performance that remain barriers to energy efficiency adoption at scale.

We are pleased that the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) was highlighted as one of five key projects aligned with BEDES goals, and prioritized for collaboration as the project moves forward.  The Executive Summary (page 4) of the report clearly expresses some of the key data issues and potential solutions that this ambitious project will attempt to solve.

Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project, Tools | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Pushing Energy Efficiency Finance Beyond Theory To Practice

By | Published: July 30, 2013

By: Matt Golden, Senior Energy Finance Consultant, Environmental Defense Fund

New Energy and Loan Performance Data Project Uses Latest in Data Science to Help Capital Markets Engage in Efficiency Lending

Environmental Defense Fund’s Investor Confidence Project (ICP) and the Clean Energy Finance Center (CEFC), in partnership with state and local lending programs, financial organizations and a range of additional stakeholders, are collecting, aggregating and analyzing loan performance and energy savings data from energy efficiency upgrades in residential and commercial buildings.

The Energy and Loan Performance Data Project represents the first concerted effort to combine data from some of the largest US energy efficiency programs in an attempt to develop an actuarially significant dataset to help engage the capital markets.

Nearly 40% of US energy is consumed by both residential and commercial buildings.  Realizing all of the available cost-effective energy efficiency savings would require roughly $279 billion of investment, resulting in more than $1 trillion in energy savings over ten years.  However, currently, only 1% of all US investments are made in energy efficiency projects.  Our goal for this project is to help lay the foundation that will enable organizations to tap into this vast potential market.

Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, General, Investor Confidence Project, New York, On-bill repayment | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Investor Confidence Project Aims To Develop Multi-Billion Dollar Energy Efficiency Finance Market

By | Published: July 17, 2013

This commentary, authored by James Lester, originally appeared on Cleantech Finance. 

Last month, we discussed an influential new report by Ceres and the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), Power Factor: Institutional Investors’ Policy Priorities Can Bring Energy Efficiency to Scale. The report detailed several policies that if put in place, could unlock broad-based financing from institutional investors for energy efficiency, a potential several hundred billion dollar investment opportunity.

Among the issues that prevent large scale energy efficiency financing, Ceres and others have found that there is no systematic method to measure the accuracy of the initial predicted energy and financial savings of each project. There is not a robust fundamental way to make sure the upgrades are performing after they have been completed. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and a collection of expert partners are working to change that.

EDF has worked with a variety of industry experts to design a straightforward set of protocols that define a clear road-map from efficiency opportunity to an investment quality project with reliable returns and access to markets. The project, known as the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) hopes to enable a market for investment quality energy efficiency projects, by reducing transaction costs and engineering overhead, while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings. Read More »

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Investor Confidence Project, On-bill repayment | Comments closed

One Way Or Another, We All Profit From Clean Energy

By | Published: July 16, 2013

This commentary, authored by Dan Upham, originally appeared on EDF's Voices blog.

When the folks at oilprice.com wanted to take a look at the clean energy landscape and see what opportunities might exist for energy investors, they turned to Jim Marston, the head of Environmental Defense Fund’s U.S. Climate and Energy program and regional director of our Texas office.

“As an environmental organization, EDF doesn’t offer investment advice,” Marston was quick to explain. “There are other, far more qualified people to recommend investment options.”

When it comes to market-based environmentalism and the economic benefits of clean energy, however, we’re in our comfort zone. And Marston is particularly comfortable talking about the “smart power” sector; the ideas, products and services that focus on clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

“Keep in mind that the U.S. will spend around $2 trillion over the next two decades to upgrade our outdated energy infrastructure,” Marston said, “And many companies realize that there’s a real market for products that make the existing electric grid better, greener and ‘smarter.'”

Read the full interview on oilprice.com for more.

Posted in clean energy, General, Smart Grid, Utilities | Comments closed

House Cuts Clean Energy Funding, Dragging Down An Entire Community Of American Innovators

By | Published: July 15, 2013

This commentary, authored by Robert Fares, originally appeared on Scientific American's "Plugged In" blog.

The U.S. Department of Energy recently partnered with Texas Tech University to commission a Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SwiFT) laboratory, which helps researchers understand how wind turbine placement affects performance. (Source: Texas Tech University)

In my last post, I discussed a House subcommittee’s shortsighted vote to slash funding for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) innovative Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E). I’m sorry to report that the rest of the House has now followed suit, passing a $30 billion energy spending bill that cuts a huge chunk out of clean energy programs.

Not only does the bill contain the subcommittee’s 81 percent cut to ARPA-E, it also guts energy efficiency programs and even rolls back progress in energy efficient lighting. The House’s embargo on funding for clean energy doesn’t just hurt our footing in the international race towards a new energy economy, it also drags down an entire community of American innovators working to achieve a sustainable future.

We deserve more than political posturing and moves as antiquated as the incandescent bulb. Right now, a convergence of environmental, economic and technological forces is transforming the global energy landscape. Just last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projected that renewable energy sources would eclipse nuclear and gas generation by 2016, and provide a quarter of the world’s energy supply by 2018. Renewable energy is unequivocally a major component of the energy landscape. Read More »

Posted in clean energy, Education, Energy Efficiency, Innovation, Renewable Energy, Smart Grid | Comments closed