Electricity Distribution Grid Evaluator (EDGE) Model

This paper describes the Electricity Distribution Evaluator (EDGE) model, a MATLAB-based simulation tool developed by RMI and designed to comprehensively assess the DER value proposition in different regulatory and utility business model environments based on a detailed assessment of the technical and operational implications. Though designed to study an individual utility or region, the model maintains the flexibility to be adapted for use with many different utilities or regions. The ability to alter the model’s parameters allows RMI to identify conditions that optimize value, and to test the effects of new, innovative business models and rate structures. The EDGE model provides an analytical basis for assessment of the costs and values created by all resources, including DERs.

 

Heat Pumps: An alternative to oil heat for the Northeast

Heating oil is an economic drain on the Northeast region of the US. Users of heating oil are at a crossroads, as the fuel is increasingly untenable for long-term use. Heat pumps are an attractive alternative to heating oil. While there are some barriers to the widespread adoption of heat pumps, states can take steps to address these barriers. Reducing the upfront cost of heat pumps will drive the industry toward self-sufficiency and resolve many of the other barriers.

 

Reinventing Fire in Southern California: Distributed Resources and the San Onofre Outage

The prolonged shut-down of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in Southern California could mark an important turning point for the region’s electricity system. Distributed and demand-side resources offer a portfolio of solutions to help fill the near-term supply gap, while also advancing California’s long-term goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting local economic development and job creation. This discussion paper assesses the role the following distributed energy resources could play in the absence of SONGS: behavioral savings; demand response; energy efficiency; solar photovoltaics; combined heat and power and fuel cells; storage. That paper includes information on what the potentials for these resources are, how their economics affect adoption, how much time it takes to install them, and how long we expect them to persist. We also offer recommendations to unlock these resources and encourage their adoption by utilities and their customers.

 

Comment on "Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future" on Nature.com

This comment was posted on Nature.com in response to “Opportunties and challenges for a sustainable energy future” by Steven Chu and Arun Mujumdar. In it, Amory Lovins argues that integrating the Department of Energy's technological solutions with innovative design, strategy, and public policy could solve many energy problems.

 

A Farewell to Fossil Fuels: Answering the Energy Challenge

In this article published in Foreign Affairs, Amory Lovins describes a U.S. transition from fossil fuels--a blueprint detailed in Reinventing Fire-- that requires pursuing transformational change in automotive efficiency, design of buildings and factories, and the electric system.

 

Reinventing Fire Electricity Sector Methodology

This document provides RMI's methodology for the analysis of the electricity sector in Reinventing Fire.

 

Keeping the Lights on While Transforming Electric Utilities

This article discusses the new electricity paradigm required of electric utilities in the face of climate change, energy security concerns, and disruptive technologies. The new paradigm for utilities is based on energy efficiency, demand response, renewables, energy storage, and distributed generation.

 

Renewables, Micropower, and the Transforming Electricity Landscape

This article, published in RMI's Spring 2010 Solutions Journal, describes micropower's acceleration in taking over the global market long dominated by central thermal stations. This conclusion is supported by RMI's Micropower Database (available to download), which recalculates cogeneration capacity and output from primary data sources.

 

Efficiency and Micropower for Reliable and Resilient Electricity Service: An Intriguing Case-Study from Cuba

Cuba's decrepit electricity grid suffered 188 days of significant blackouts in 2004, 224 in 2005, 3 in 2006, and 0 in 2007. This dramatic improvement was due to a nationwide efficiency program, a crash program of switching to a majority of distributed generation, and reorganizing grid architecture around islandable netted microgrids. This success could be instructive for failing grids like those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Accelerating Solar Power Adoption: Compounding Cost Savings Across the Value Chain

This paper discusses common barriers to solar power adoption and techniques for getting around those barriers. The authors argue that for solar power to become a significant contributor to energy supply, and hence greenhouse gas emissions reductions, the industry has to achieve high annual growth rates for decades. The challenge cannot be overstated, especially once subsidies can no longer be relied upon to drive industry growth. Several barriers, including high costs, lack of reliable demand, supply chain dynamics, and utility integration issues, threaten to prevent adoption rates from rising as fast as is required. In particular, high costs are a major barrier, since solar power must soon be cost competitive unsubsidized. Fortunately, large cost reduction potential is available, which has not been captured during the hectic expansion of the industry. Based on experience in other industries, the basic tools of end use efficiency, whole systems design, lean manufacturing, and economies of scale will let technology manufacturers and PV installers drive down costs by a factor of two or more. These savings, enabled with support from government policies, industrial collaboration, and process efficiency gains, can bring today’s PV technologies to grid parity in many markets, allowing the exponential growth curve to continue.

 

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