I am thrilled with the level of attention that non-utility incentivized savings has received in our region in the past few months. BPA’s Carrie Cobb has crowdsourced a new term (“momentum savings”) and along the way produced a handful of whimsical and informative videos and other online content. The latest video is from EE stalwarts Charlie Grist and Tom Eckman. (link below)
For the past two years I have met with dozens of utilities, regulators, EE advocates and stakeholders discussing the value of EE savings that occur without utility incentives. The implicit opportunities of these resources are abundant. Getting past conceptual barriers and status quo has been the root of the conversation. From a documentation standards standpoint it’s still the wild west. But with each reporting iteration, and with each head-nod of acceptance from utility regulators, community, stakeholders and the utilities themselves, I really feel like we’re making some headway. We’re starting to witness non-incented resources merge into the mainstream for the next generation of utility energy efficiency portfolios.
Between NEEA’s achievements measuring net market effects for specific initiatives, BPA’s market data research for targeted end-uses, and Seinergy’s site-specific verifiable savings documentation process – I think we’ll get our arms around this whole pie, proving yet again how strong a resource EE is in our region.
Check out Tom and Charlie’s video about how the region’s leading resource planners regard efficiency savings and how they are achieved:
