Efficiency is the simple concept that we can do more with less energy if we incorporate more intelligent designs. Rocky Mountain Institute's energy and resources specialists are exploring the opportunities for increased efficiency with existing and new technologies.

Turbocharging Energy Efficiency Programs

It is a new era for utility efficiency programs. Policymakers and regulators have required many utilities to achieve more efficiency savings than ever before, and the amount utilities spend on efficiency continues to increase at a rapid pace. Momentum for utility efficiency programs has never been greater.

Utilities have been providing efficiency to their customers for more than 30 years. But just continuing on with a “business-as-usual” mindset will not be sufficient if utilities hope to sustain the momentum and meet (or exceed) their efficiency targets. Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS) have set challenging energy savings targets, and to meet these targets, utilities will have to improve their performance in administering programs. If utilities don’t make significant progress, utility efficiency programs will fail to deliver on increasingly aggressive targets.

To improve their performance, utilities will need to turbocharge their efficiency programs by going for both broader and deeper savings. Going broader means acquiring more participants, while going deeper means helping each participant save more energy.

In Turbocharging Energy Efficiency Programs, RMI analyzes the challenges that utilities themselves face for going broader and deeper, and then offers recommendations to increase the effectiveness of programs.

Energy and Resource Investment Strategy

Although individual technologies offer only incremental energy improvements, RMI uses whole-system design to combine existing systems and achieve energy savings of 80 to 90 percent.

The Energy and Resource Investment Strategy (ERIS), developed by RMI, shows utilities and regulators how demand-side solutions and energy efficiency can be valued the same as conventional energy resources. ERIS is an advanced resource planning process that fully incorporates demand-side solutions to help guide utilities in choosing the most cost-effective and sustainable energy investment options.

Rocky Mountain Institute has the experience and tools to conduct a high-level ERIS and determine supply- and demand-side resources, including load management, end-use efficiency, and combined heat and power. This will allow utilities to create a right-sized, low-cost and reliable system.

Applying radical efficiency measures can even improve the quality of services at their end-use. Energy efficiency is the fundamental means for controlling total energy demand - however it is not the same as "energy conservation."

By making our buildings, appliances, and systems more efficient we are able to use less energy without sacrificing the luxuries of energy services, like hot showers and cold beer.

Demand Response

Power Meter Demand Response refers to the strategies used to reduce customer demand for electricity. One way to think about the effectivness of demand-side management is to consider a simple equation:

Your Bill = Electricity Rate x How Much You Use

Utilities are often pressured to lower their rates so they can reduce their customers' bills, but those bills could also be reduced through lower usage. RMI's electricity practice researches a number of different demand response strategies which have the capability to reduce overall energy use at peak hours, including:

• Energy load response = responds to the cutomers' electricity demand
• Price response = responds to the utilities' cost of generation

Another type of demand-side management program is one where utilities offer customers incentives to reduce their electricity use during periods of critical system conditions or periods of high market power costs. RMI's electricity practice works with utilities and policy makers to pilot and evaluate -- as well as develop the business case for -- demand response systems and efficiency programs to provide affordable and reliable electricity services to the public.