RMI Outlet
Plug Into New Ideas
Tesla Hitting the Battery Accelerator
No one knows for certain what lower-priced batteries means for the grid. Readily available, cheap storage is certainly capable of changing the grid as we know it, but other factors will all play an important role in the relevance of batteries moving forward.
Taking the “Pulse” of Your Home or Office’s Electric Load
A number of companies are developing increasingly more-accurate and transparent solutions to enhance the value of smart meter data for consumers.
California Flattens Rate Blocks, Rolls Out Default Time-of-use Pricing
California’s three largest investor-owned utilities will soon go through a major electricity rate reform, replacing the four-tier structure with a two-tier or a three-tier structure. While this would seem to discourage conservation and efficiency, new default time-of-use rates could change the entire equation.
Why Tankless Water Heaters Might Not Hold Water
For the 4.6 million American households with electricity rates that vary by time of day, a tankless electric heater could actually increase operating costs if the hot water is used during peak price times.
Hard Time Exposes the Soft Benefits of Deep Energy Retrofits
Talk of building energy-efficiency retrofits usually focuses on commercial offices. But there’s another type of building—prisons—where the non-energy benefits of those retrofits really stand out in stark relief.