A program to help finance green energy for commercial buildings is nearing approval from the Board of Supervisors, pending an attorney general’s opinion expected next month.
The Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Program allows building owners to take out loans secured by a voluntary lien against their property to finance clean energy projects, such as installing solar panels on the roofs of buildings. The program is intended to provide more financing for clean energy projects, which typically take longer to pay for themselves than the typical commercial real estate loan that owners might use. While commercial real estate loans may be paid off over five to 10 years, Louduon’s PACE loans will have 30-year terms.
Those loans are made by private lenders, administered by a third party, and backed by a special lien against the property, which carries with the property if it is sold. Supervisors are waiting for an opinion from Attorney General Mark Herring on whether the county may legally delegate the billing, collection and enforcement of those loans to a third party before moving ahead.
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Have you ever seen one of those big yellow cards on refrigerators, washing machines and other new appliances? These government-mandated notices indicate about how much energy the average U.S. consumer will save by replacing their older model at home with one of these shiny new things.
Trouble is, different people use their appliances very differently — so most of us aren’t average consumers.
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Strategic energy management (SEM) programs are expanding beyond the industrial sector to commercial and institutional customers. These programs and data management technologies are two of the biggest opportunities to reduce energy use at large facilities. Not only do they save energy and decrease carbon emissions, they also help utilities build long-term relationships with clients and introduce them to additional efficiency programs.
In a new report, released today, ACEEE analyzed 26 programs in the United States and Canada to evaluate how they are merging these opportunities to maximize energy savings. Our report finds that such programs help organizations identify effective capital projects as well as operations and maintenance actions. It explores the potential for more programs and lays the foundation for accelerating their adoption across North America.
But what exactly do SEM programs do? They give organizations structure and methodology to discover opportunities, implement projects, and maintain practices that save energy. Energy management information systems (EMIS) help customers increase energy savings by automating data collection, integrating analysis of energy and manufacturing process information, thereby enabling data-driven process control. Integrating EMIS into SEM programs can boost the effectiveness of both approaches and ensure the persistence of energy savings by embedding standard practices in facilities.
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More than 40 organizations, utilities and companies are pushing Congress to support new energy efficiency incentives and prioritize the issue in broader infrastructure, climate and transportation legislation.
In a letter to congressional leaders today obtained by E&E News, companies including DuPont and Intel Corp. argue that energy efficiency represents a “rare” bipartisan opportunity to address climate change. Congress should reinstate expired tax incentives for energy efficiency and fund research at the Department of Energy, they say.
“Energy efficiency is by far the largest sector in the clean energy industry, supporting more than 2.25 million jobs,” states the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Utilities and groups such as Southern California Edison and the American Public Transportation Association also signed.
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While governors across the country are setting innovative energy policies, energy efficiency can help them go even farther toward meeting state goals. Saving energy creates jobs, develops the workforce, grows state economies, improves public health, promotes technological innovation, protects the environment, and saves taxpayers money. This toolkit lays out steps governors can take to increase energy efficiency in homes, businesses, and transportation. It includes foundational policies, current state practices, and many useful resources for policy and program development.
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Utilities face increasingly ambitious energy efficiency and pollution reduction targets or goals. In many cases, meeting these targets will require moving beyond traditional efficiency programs – such as providing rebates for upgrading specific equipment – and instead carrying out programs that focus on broader building systems. While energy service companies (ESCOs) have broad experience in delivering these types of systems-level energy efficiency solutions, utilities rarely partner with them on projects. What prevents utilities and ESCOs from closer collaboration? The Alliance will tackle this question by convening utility and ESCO stakeholders in a series of roundtables in 2019, to help find ways to align policies, programs and incentives that will facilitate a symbiotic partnership between these two large and influential efficiency stakeholders.
There is a strong case for increased ESCO-utility collaboration. While component-based efficiency measures are still important for energy savings, systems-level measures are necessary to achieve greater levels of efficiency. ESCOs have decades of experience applying a “systems approach” to building retrofits, which considers the interactions of components within and among various building systems (e.g., HVAC, lighting), as well as interactions among multiple buildings, and between the building and the electric grid. From building system retrofits to integration of renewable energy and energy storage, ESCO projects run the gamut of energy-saving solutions. There is opportunity for ESCOs to lend their systems-level knowledge and expertise in closer partnership with utilities and, in return, to benefit from the utilities’ access to building and grid energy data and their unique relationships with customers, including those in energy assistance programs and underserved markets.
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Minnesota has been receiving well-deserved attention for its ambitious renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals, which aim for 25% of electricity from renewables by 2025 and an 80% reduction in GHG emissions by 2050. Indeed, its largest utility, Xcel Energy announced plansearlier this month to reduce carbon emissions by 80% from 2005 levels by 2030, and completely eliminate carbon emissions from its power plants by 2050.
While renewable energy is the ‘showhorse’ most talked about regarding Minnesota’s efforts, energy efficiency will be a key ‘workhorse’ in achieving those clean energy goals.
After all, any such goals (e.g., renewables % or GHG reduction) become easier if energy efficiency reduces the amount of energy required. Minnesota has long been among the national leaders in utility energy efficiency, which has helped enable its noteworthy renewable energy accomplishments to date.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Chelsea Harnish, Executive Director
804.457.8619
chelsea@vaeec.org
Virginia Energy Efficiency Council Elects New Officers of the Board
RICHMOND — The Board of Directors for the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council (VAEEC) elected new officers for the next two years:
- Chair: David Koogler, Vice President of Member Services and External Affairs, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative
- Vice Chair: John Morrill, Energy Manager, Arlington County
- Secretary: Mark Jackson, Vice President of CHP Energy Solutions, Community Housing Partners
- Treasurer: Bill Greenleaf, Individual Member (re-elected)
“I look forward to overseeing the Board’s efforts to continue progress that has been made to position the VAEEC as the leading authority on energy efficiency in the Commonwealth,” said David Koogler. “With the significant emphasis on energy efficiency recently provided by the Administration and the General Assembly, I am excited to be part of the board leadership team at a time when the VAEEC will have a significant role in engaging stakeholders to advance energy efficiency as a resource.”
This fall the Governor’s Administration released the Virginia Energy Plan, which included energy efficiency as one of five areas of focus, along with solar, onshore wind, offshore wind, energy storage, and electric vehicles/advanced transportation. The General Assembly also passed the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018, which included a commitment from Virginia’s two investor-owned utilities to spend more than $1 billion on energy efficiency programs over the next ten years.
“The combined expertise of our new slate of Officers shows the depth of energy efficiency qualifications that represent our combined membership,” said Executive Director, Chelsea Harnish. “We are pleased to have these talented leaders at the helm of the VAEEC at a time when Virginia expects to see expanding utility energy efficiency programs and growing interest by Virginia localities to implement their own programs in the coming year.”
The VAEEC Board and staff also recognize the outgoing Board Chair, David Steiner, D+R International, for his efforts over the last two years, which helped lay the foundation for where the organization is today.
“It has been a delight to see the advancement of energy efficiency in almost all realms of Virginia public life since the founding of the VAEEC in 2012,” said Steiner. “There is certainly more work to be done and this slate of leaders has the proven credentials to carry us forward.”
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Visit the VAEEC Press Room for images, information, and additional quotes.
About VAEEC:
Founded in 2012, the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council is the voice for the energy efficiency industry in the Commonwealth. We are a nonprofit headquartered in Richmond. Our members include Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, universities, nonprofits, local governments, state agencies, and utilities. The Council’s goal is to ensure energy efficiency is recognized as an integral part of Virginia’s economy.
Press Release_2019 Officers FINAL (PDF)
New data by Lazard, a financial advisory firm, shows that prices for renewable electricity declined again this year, continuing their downward trend. But the data, released last month, miss another critical clean energy resource. Energy efficiency–the kilowatt-hours we avoid by eliminating waste–remains, on average, our nation’s least-cost resource.
Efficiency also delivers a host of other benefits. It improves electric grid reliability and resilience, can target savings where and when needed the most, creates jobs, spurs other economic development, reduces customer utility bills, makes homes and buildings more comfortable, and reduces harmful pollution.
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Before the new year arrives, we want to share 2018 highlights for ACEEE and energy efficiency. We celebrated the third annual Energy Efficiency Day and released our highly anticipated state and international scorecards. We also analyzed potential federal freezes of fuel economy and light bulb standards, as well as advances – and setbacks – at the state and local levels.
In addition, we connected energy professionals at conferences across the nation, including our four inaugural events: the International Symposium, Rural Energy Conference, National Convening on Utilities and Electric Vehicles, and Conference on Health, Environment, and Energy.
The 2018 International Energy Agency’s Energy Efficiency 2018 market report called for accelerated energy savings to meet climate goals, making energy efficiency more important than ever. With that in mind, here are our top 13 blog posts and press releases of 2018 to prepare you for next year’s initiatives.
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