DR & Conservation

It is little wonder why so many commissions prefer a regulatory model that shields most consumers (especially residential) from real time market volatility.

With its roots in the 1970s conservation movement, energy efficiency has grown into a thriving industry today - one that employs many and provides benefits to utilities, consumers, the economy and society in general. According to a recently released report, energy efficiency accounts for about three out of every four American clean energy jobs.

Flexibility, electrification, distributed solar, and smart inverters are familiar terms in today's utility environment, but they are of particular relevance to integrated resource planners. EPRI's Mark McGranaghan, Vice President of Distribution and Energy Utilization, touched on these topics, and a few more, in our latest EPRI Unplugged conversation.

More efficient products and services caused 60% to 75% of the increase in energy productivity since 1970. In this, the first of three parts on the history, present situation, and future of energy efficiency, we'll take a macro view of the efficiency industry and how we got here.

The smartphone ushered in an opportunity for a new era of energy efficiency. The challenge for grid planners is better understanding the market changes that are having an impact and that aren't related to DSM programs.

To realize the full value of distributed resources and to serve all consumers at the highest standards of quality and reliability, the grid needs to expand its scope. What is needed is an intentional architecture that enables communication and coordination between devices and systems, regardless of their manufacturer.

We can make the standard arguments about why energy efficiency makes sense. But there is also another benefit: Improved energy efficiency provides direct health benefits to low-income households.

The southwest region saw more energy saved from utility energy efficiency programs than was generated from solar power, both distributed and utility-scale.

Recent declines in energy storage costs have allowed businesses and homeowners to economically store electricity for a few hours. It is long enough to disrupt peak demand charges that many utilities rely on for their cash flows.