Possibilities to Improve the Economic Efficiency of Interconnection Processes

• DOE i2X Program + Roadmap Overview
• Panel Presentations: Improving Economic Efficiency of
Interconnection
• Fritz Kahrl (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
• Tyler Norris (Duke University)
• Mario Hayden (Enel)
• Jeff Billinton (CAISO)
• Open facilitated discussion
• Future i2x Activities & Upcoming Events…

Data Update: City Energy Burdens

In cities across the country, many low-income families and other disinvested communities struggle with high energy burdens, including many homeowners. In this data update, the authors find that 25% of all low-income households in the United States have an energy burden above 15.2%. In many cases, low-income homeowners in particular experience very high energy burdens, with 25% of low-income homeowners having energy burdens over 17.2% and half having burdens over 9.4%.

Owner-occupied housing (especially in single-family homes and buildings with four units or fewer) makes up a significant portion of housing in cities. To reach their goals for climate action …

Energy After Fire: The Shift From Primitive Heat to Modern Work

Our energy system is stuck in the past. Fire has been our primary source of energy for over a million years, providing the essential heat needed to survive. This reliance on fire made sense when our principal energy needs were purely for heat. However, today’s energy demands have evolved far beyond this primal necessity. Unlike in past millennia, we now require more work than heat: we desire mobility, motors, electrical appliances, and data processing in greater quantities than we do warmth. Despite this transformation over the past century from heat demand to work demand, our fundamental energy supply methods have …

United States Energy and Employment Report 2024

In 2023, clean energy investments powered strong overall growth of jobs in the energy sector. Unionization rates in clean energy grew to their highest level yet, driven by large increases in union-dense construction and utility employment. Energy employers reported less difficulty in hiring qualified workers than in the previous year.

The U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) allocates energy employment to five technology areas: electric power generation; energy efficiency; fuels; motor
vehicles; and transmission, distribution, and storage. Employment increased across all five of these technology areas in 2023. …

How Rising Electricity Demand Can Support Liftoff of Clean Energy Solutions

As outlined in DOE’s Clean Energy Resources to Meet Data Center Electricity Demand, the United States is returning to a period of rapid electricity demand growth. Electricity demand is expected to grow ~15-20% in the next decade and could double by 2050 to meet net-zero emissions targets – driven by economic development (manufacturing and industrial growth, data center expansion) and beneficial electrification (transport, building, industrial). This level of growth is comparable to historical U.S. demand growth rates that grew rapidly through the mid-2000s. The Department of Energy (DOE) has been anticipating and planning for increasing electricity demand as part of …

Why Efficiency Matters: Unlocking Benefits Beyond Climate for All

Today’s energy system is inefficient, wasting two-thirds of global energy production. That means about $4.5 trillion in economic losses every year as well as major health, climate, and other environmental damage that deepen inequities. How do we reduce these impacts?

A large part of the solution will be replacing fossil fuel technologies with rapidly scaling renewable energy and electrification solutions, which are often two to four times more efficient. However, delivering fully on the promise of energy efficiency also means creating more efficient products, buildings and factories, and broader systems.

A whole systems approach to energy efficiency, coupled with a …

Electric Vehicle Efficiency: Unlocking Consumer Savings and Environmental Gains

This white paper outlines the benefits of improved electric vehicle (EV) efficiency for drivers, the environment, and the electricity grid. More-efficient EVs would save drivers money upfront and over time, reduce emissions produced upstream during electricity generation, and limit the strain EVs have on the grid. These benefits should be supported by policymakers because they can increase the benefits of electrification and make EVs more attractive to drivers. The paper offers guidance to automakers for improving EV efficiency and presents data on efficiency levels of current models. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential policy solutions to incentivize greater …

Assessing Alternatives to the Proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC)

On behalf of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), this report critiques the Virginia Electric and Power Company’s proposed Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC)—a 1,000-megawatt gas-fired combustion turbine facility—in Chesterfield, Virginia. AEC presents an assessment of an Alternative Portfolio—composed of solar, wind, and storage resources—that would provide the same energy and capacity needs as CERC, but at a lower cost. AEC finds that the midpoint of the range of likely levelized costs of the Alternative Portfolio is 52 percent less expensive than that of Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed CERC: $263 million versus $544 million. The combination of solar, wind and …

Analyzing The Impact Of Energy Efficient ASHRAE Guideline 36 Control Sequences On Demand Flexibility Potential Of Commercial Buildings: A Multi-Region Analysis

Traditional control sequences for HVAC systems in large commercial buildings have historically led to poor energy efficiency. To overcome this issue, ASHRAE has recently published Guideline 36 (G36), a collection of high-performance control sequences aimed at reducing energy consumption and cost for building owners. While these sequences are effective in increasing energy efficiency, their influence on a building’s capacity to deliver demand flexibility remains uncertain. Prior research suggests a potential trade-off between energy efficiency and demand flexibility because permanently reducing energy use negatively impacts the available amount of load that can be reduced when responding to grid signals. To investigate …

Energy Systems Transitions Require Systems Thinking, Innovation, and Collaboration

GTI Energy is a technology development organization with 80 years of experience demonstrating solutions at the intersection of tradition and innovation in energy systems. GTI Energy have executed more than $1 billion in energy research, development, and demonstration over the past decade as GTI Energy works to advance the innovations needed to enable low-carbon and low-cost energy systems—economy-wide.

The community of experts is focused on solutions that shape energy systems transitions across low carbon gases, liquids, infrastructure, and efficiency. GTI Energy take technologies and operational solutions from concept through to design, testing, piloting, demonstration, and commercial deployment.…