May 21, noon CDT
Go beyond weatherization kits and compact fluorescent light bulbs!
Too often, utility programs to help low-income customers begin and end with the tried-and-true measures. The Clean Energy Ambassadors free Lunchtime webinar for May highlights innovative energy-efficiency programs that can really make a difference on your low-income customers’ utility bills.
Join your utility colleagues online the third Tuesday of each month from 12-1 p.m. Central time. The Lunchtime Webinar Series offers candid, informal discussions that address the needs of consumer-owned power providers and their rate payers. Visit Clean Energy Ambassadors to register for this free event and to see the full line-up of CEA services and events. If you have any questions please contact Anthony Cutler at 406-969-1040.
Western congratulates Southeast Electric Cooperative for earning the Community Service Award-Youth Division from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Earlier this year, the Montana cooperative helped to coach a team of students from Carter County, Mont., to victory in America’s Home Energy Education Challenge .
Karen Kreitel and Marlene Waterland of Southeast Electric Cooperative with NRECA CEO Glenn English and NRECA President Mike Guidry. (Photo by Southeast Electric Cooperative)
The national student competition encourages students and their families to start saving money by saving energy. The judges, who are science teachers, evaluated entries based on the inclusion of multiple schools, student participation, energy savings and a final report. At least 94 schools and 120,000 students participated nationwide.
In June, Energy Services Bulletin reported on the Carter County School District’s triumph in the competition. Southeast Member Services Representative Marlene Waterland worked with five schools in the co-op’s territory to help them with their energy saving plans. Educational displays she borrowed from Western’s Equipment Loan Program helped to demonstrate concepts about energy use to third- through eighth-graders.
The Carter County team – Alzada Elementary School, Carter County High School, Ekalaka Elementary School (K-8th grade), Hammond School (K-8th grade) and Hawks Home School – won the national competition by successfully reducing their home energy use by 3.4 percent. Montana Electric Cooperatives Inc. submitted that program to NRECA for national consideration.
Waterland accepted the award at the 12th annual TechAdvantage Expo Feb. 20. NRECA CEO Glenn English praised the small rural utility, noting, ”Southeast Electric Cooperative has shown what it means to be a cooperative by engaging with the community – from age 5 on up – and finding new ways to improve the quality of life for their consumer members.”
Tuesday, Feb. 19
Noon CST
Lighting is becoming more and more energy efficient, and upgrades continue to offer low-hanging fruit that utilities aren’t capturing. Join utility program managers for the Lunchtime Webinar, Best Opportunities for Community-wide Lighting Upgrades to learn how they improved lighting efficiency, not just for a few businesses or homes, but for the entire community.
Register for this free event today. Please contact Anthony Cutler at 406-969-1040, if you have any questions.
Clean Energy Ambassadors presents its Lunchtime Webinar series on the third Tuesday of each month. Candid, informal discussions center on ways consumer-owned utilities can save money and better serve their customers. Webinars are held from 12 to 1 p.m. Central time (11 a.m.-12 p.m. Mountain).
New technologies and innovative program designs are combining to create energy-efficiency programs that can meet the aggressive saving targets many states are setting, according to a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
Frontiers of Energy Efficiency: Next Generation Programs Reach for High Energy Savings finds that these next-generation technologies and programs can potentially achieve and sustain savings as high as 27 percent of forecasted electricity use and 19 percent of forecasted natural gas use by 2030. “As our report shows, new technologies and practices plus new program approaches unlock further opportunities to achieve large energy savings,” said Dan York, ACEEE utilities program director, and lead-author of the report.
Energy-efficiency programs for utility customers have been in place for over three decades in many areas in the United States. In the last 10 years, policies establishing high, specific energy savings targets have contributed to significant growth of these programs. For example, increasingly stringent building codes and energy-efficiency standards for appliances and other technologies are moving baselines for energy-efficiency performance higher.
The challenge facing these programs over the next two decades is to continue to achieve and sustain high savings levels. Certain types of programs in particular are having difficulty achieving high participation rates. The report profiles technologies and programs that offer an answer to these concerns.
While savings opportunities exist for all types of customers, the report finds some of the greatest potential exists for renovations and retrofits of homes and commercial buildings. Lighting also remains a large source of energy savings along with building mechanical systems and a variety of electronics.
Reaching more customers is another direction for next generation programs. Better data analytics improve understanding of more narrowly defined customer segments, enabling program administrators to focus incentives and marketing. Programs serving historically hard-to-reach customers, such as multifamily housing residents and manufactured home owners, are finding more success.
Another clear trend across program portfolios is an emphasis on better understanding customer behavior and motivations. Utilities are using such insights to design programs that engage greater numbers of customers to take actions that save energy.
The report examines a total of 22 different program types and concepts, from residential lighting to commercial buildings to industrial processes, along with a wide range of energy-efficiency technologies, including light-emitting diode (LED) lighting; high-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment; and combined heat and power (CHP) systems. The authors interviewed a large number of experts on customer programs and technologies, and collected numerous examples of these leading principles and practices in action.
Maggie Molina, ACEEE state policy senior manager and report co-author, called the report a valuable resource for utilities looking to help consumers save money by using less energy. “With a wealth of information on the leading edge of program designs and energy-efficiency technologies, this report shows that program designers have an increasing number of options to achieve greater energy efficiency,” she said. Source: American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, 1/9/13
The 10th and newest edition of the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings 
, released today by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and New Society Publishers (NSP), continues to promise consumers that they can “Save Money, Save the Earth.”
That’s not just a catchy motto. Jennifer Thorne Amann, ACEEE buildings program director and the guide’s lead author, points out that every kilowatt-hour (kWh) not used in the home saves more than a pound of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being pumped into the atmosphere. That means, for example, that replacing a 20-cubic-foot refrigerator from 1998 with an energy-efficient 2012 model saves more than 300 kWh and 500 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. “That translates to real savings on your energy bill, and real progress toward curbing carbon dioxide emissions from your home!” she said.
Achieving energy savings in the home isn’t just about replacing older appliances, though. Consumers following the advice in prior editions have gotten top-notch home energy audits to inform their decisions on making energy-efficiency home improvements. Others tapped state or utility incentives to make budget-friendly efficiency upgrades such as insulating their homes or installing compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).
The new edition of the Consumer Guide has expanded and updated chapters on lighting, home electronics, building envelope and water heating. Homeowners and renters can use the new information to help decide which improvements will yield the most “bang for their buck.” Utility program managers may find the guide a valuable reference for designing programs that put their load management goals within reach, while delivering big savings for customers.
Highly readable, well-organized chapters and clear illustrations provide readers with extensive information on home heating and cooling, ventilation, electronics, lighting, water heating, cooking, and laundry. Readers will learn the latest developments in green technology. All topics come with helpful explanations for:
Printed on 100-percent post-consumer recycled paper, hard copies of the book can be ordered for $18.95 (plus shipping and handling) directly from New Society Publishers or from major retail booksellers.
Link to the Consumer Guide for Home Energy Savings from your utility’s energy-efficiency page to let your customers know about this handy resource for saving energy and protecting our environment. You might consider offering a copy as a prize in a contest, or you can mine it for energy-saving tips to place on your website, as Western customer Mor-Gran-Sou did.
Source: American Council for an Energy-efficient Economy, 12/18/12
The Affordable Green Initiative, a pilot program from the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), provides sustainability and green building tools to HUD grantees and affordable housing organizations. The initiative aims to help organizations institutionalize sustainability and achieve performance improvements across their housing portfolios. HUD subsidizes free training, technical assistance and accreditation for all participants.
The first component of the initiative – training, through HUD’s Green Academy – is now available. The comprehensive Green Academy Training Program rolled out in October and is being presented in cities across the country through February 2013.
Courses include Introduction to Green Building for Affordable Housing; Executive Decision Making; Best Practices for Green Building Operations; Financing Green Building; and Energy Performance Contracting for Small Public Housing Authorities. Registration is open for various locations:
For more information, contact HUD.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is seeking utilities with convenience store customers to participate in a pilot project funded by its Conservation Applied Research and Development (CARD) grant . The CARD grant program identifies new technologies, strategies and program approaches that help utilities to achieve the annual state energy conservation goal of 1.5 percent.
The Convenience Store Energy Efficiency CARD grant pilot project focuses on optimizing the performance of existing equipment, lighting, motors, air infiltration and controls, rather than major equipment replacements. Any convenience store with older equipment could benefit from this pilot project.
Michaels Energy received the first award in March 2012, and has completed audits on four primary sites. The audits showed opportunities to reduce annual operating costs by 15 to 17 percent per site. The results are being used to develop a template for delivering services in another 46 Minnesota convenience stores. So far, only 20 additional sites have signed on to the project, so the end date for the grant has been extended.
Please contact Ralph Dickinson of Michaels Energy at 651-900-4710 if you have Minnesota convenience store customers that could participate in this pilot. Pilot sites served by municipal utilities are particularly sought, as the grant specifically aims to help municipals stretch limited resources and address a customer type that can be difficult to impact.
Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Efficiency!
Webinar
Dec. 18, noon CST
Join the Clean Energy Ambassadors for a free webinar on safe, energy-efficient products to light up holiday homes and businesses, inside and out. Discover innovative ideas for controlling heating bills and making the holidays comfortable and joyful for every customer and member.
The FREE CEA lunchtime webinar series takes place from 12to 1 p.m. Central time on the third Tuesday of each month. Discussions are specific, candid, and informal, and always focused on the needs of consumer-owned utilities. Register for this free webinar . If you have any questions, please contact Anthony Cutler at 406-969-1040.
A lot of nothing is going on in a Fort Collins, Colo., community these days. That is, nothing in the sense of the net energy the community uses.
The project is called FortZED (Zero Energy District) a community-driven initiative introduced in 2007 and designed to create one of the world’s largest net-zero energy districts in an existing community. The net-zero energy concept means generating or purchasing as much renewable energy as is used on an annual basis.
The FortZED district encompasses approximately four square miles that include downtown Fort Collins and nearby Colorado State University. It includes almost 6,000 residential and commercial customers (representing about 10 to 15 percent of Fort Collins Utilities’ distribution system), eight distribution feeders, approximately 80 MW demand and more than 200,000 MWh/year usage. In a study with the Department of Energy, the utility was able to demonstrate peak reduction of over 20 percent on a circuit in the FortZED area during the demonstration period. Read more. Source: Public Power Daily, 11/12/12