Full Title: Distributional Equity Analysis for Energy Efficiency and Other Distributed Energy Resources: A Practical Guide
Author(s): Tim Woolf, Alice Napoleon, Natalie Mims Frick, Lisa C. Schwartz, Julie Michals
Publisher(s): Energy Technologies Area - Berkeley Lab
Publication Date: May 1, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The burdens of the energy system do not fall equally on all electricity and gas utility customers. The production, delivery, and consumption of electricity and gas causes disproportionate social, health, and economic costs and benefits for low-income communities, communities of color, indigenous people, and rural customers, among others.
State legislators and regulators are establishing new goals and processes to promote energy equity. With rapid changes in consumer technologies like energy-efficient heat pumps, rooftop solar and battery storage, equity goals related to distributed energy resources are increasingly important.
Berkeley Lab’s new report, “Distributional Equity Analysis for Energy Efficiency and Other Distributed Energy Resources: A Practical Guide,” describes a seven-stage framework for answering the question, What are the distributional equity impacts of utility resource investments in the context of cost-effectiveness evaluation? A companion document provides a summary of the framework proposed in the DEA Guide and an overview of the key steps needed to conduct a DEA. The report builds on the conceptual distributional equity analysis frameworks developed by the National Energy Screening Project and the Energy Equity Project.