{"id":5346,"date":"2013-10-31T22:17:12","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T22:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=5346"},"modified":"2013-10-31T22:17:25","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T22:17:25","slug":"5346","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/10\/31\/5346\/","title":{"rendered":"At a Key Moment for Energy, California Should Seize Demand Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This commentary originally appeared on EDF’s California Dream 2.0 blog.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Traditionally, if an area\u2019s population grows \u2014 or it loses a power plant \u2014 it needs more energy. But California and some other states can approach it differently and reduce the use of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

Instead of asking, How can we\u00a0add<\/em>\u00a0more energy?\u201d the real question becomes \u201cHow can we\u00a0reduce\u00a0<\/em>demand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Two words:\u00a0Demand Response<\/a>\u00a0(DR).<\/p>\n

DR is an incentive that has been proven to work on the East Coast and elsewhere, encouraging energy users who voluntarily participate to reduce their electricity usage temporarily when demand could outpace supply.<\/p>\n

Recently, the California Energy Commission\u2019s\u00a0Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR) Draft<\/a>\u00a0recognized DR as a technology with a high potential to maximize energy efficiency. This report comes at an important time for the state, when greenhouse gas emissions from large facilities have\u00a0increased in California<\/a>\u00a0after decreasing the previous years, in large part due to the closing of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) power plant.<\/p>\n

In our\u00a0recently submitted comments<\/a>, EDF commended the Commission on thinking big on demand response, a cutting edge load management technology that can lower wholesale energy prices when they are highest, dramatically minimize system costs, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

In their report the Commission also acknowledged that while DR is a great tool if used well, there still \u201chas been little progress towards increasing the amount of DR used in the state.\u201d\u00a0 The Commission included several recommendations to bolster DR going forward, which EDF supports and will advocate for.<\/p>\n

We also made suggestions for how the Commission could maximize the use of DR in California, including:<\/p>\n