Energy Efficiency Markets Podcast

Energy efficiency spending has jumped from $5.5 billion to $11.5 billion over the last five years, and 40% of that is commercial and industrial customers, says Swap Shah, CEO of energy use intelligence provider FirstFuel. What's driving the increase? Shah provides some insight in this podcast.

Call them the outliers–the buildings that are massively inefficient. With energy efficiency, you can take these outliers and reap savings as high as 300% to 400%, says Barun Singh, CTO and cofounder of WegoWise. The company is now helping these energy users and others better understand big-picture trends with a new visualization tool. Listen to this podcast to learn more about the tool and the trends.

What's one way to avoid high peak usage charges? Vic Shao, CEO of GreenCharge Networks, says in this podcast interview that energy storage can solve the problem, especially when it's combined with predictive analytics. By predicting peak usage, and using energy storage to change energy usage during peak usage, customers can save money and utilities can avoid building peaking plants. He also addresses legislation affecting energy storage, noting that Hawaii, New York and California are at the forefront of energy storage.

Energy data analytics company Bidgely says it can reduce energy consumption in homes by 6%, which is 300% better than other home energy platforms, the company says. This is based on a survey of 500 users, says Abhay Gupta, CEO. How is this happening? The company uses "whole house data," providing information about what air conditioners, lights, and other electricity users are consuming, he claims. This allows residents to see where they need to cut back. Listen to our podcast interview with Gupta and visit our LinkedIn page if you're curious about or have questions about this study: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Energy-Efficiency-Markets-5095376

Seattle, one of the first cities to implement benchmarking, has released a report about the initial results of its benchmarking efforts: A retirement home focused on behavioral changes and cut energy bills by 12 percent. What's more, of the 8,000 buildings that needed to be benchmarked, 90 percent have benchmarked. The city expects $90 million a year in savings from its benchmarking. Corey Weathers, principle of Catalyst 2030, outlines the city's benchmarking successes in this podcast.

In Massachusetts, consumers aren't exactly racing to get their hands on efficient bulbs, even though some incandescents are no longer available. They're likely to purchase any incandescent instead of one of the newer, non-incandescent, efficient bulbs. A podcast interview with Wendy Todd, lead analyst with National Grid, reporting from the AESP conference.

In a pilot project with the Southwest Research Institute and ERCOT, a fleet of electric powered trucks is making money by helping stabilize grid frequency. Electric trucks stop charging quickly and automatically when the grid's frequency is unstable, and the un-named fleet owner gets paid for doing this. In this podcast, Sean Mitchem, a project manager for the research institute, explains this "fast response regulation service" project.

Think about all the people who fill up at a water cooler every day. With a new product provided by Aqwastream--stations that allow people to fill up their own bottles with water--the company flashes the water fillers with energy efficiency messages. In addition to providing energy efficiency education--especially to college students--the company aims to help cut the energy used in producing plastic bottles. In 2006, a whopping 17 million barrels of oil were used to produce plastic bottles by avoiding the use of them altogether. In this podcast, Mare Van Dyke, Aqwastream's Co-Founder, also talks about the advantages of managing such systems remotely.

Utilities will need to change their business model and offer new services and products next year, says Jill Feblowitz, vice president, IDC Energy Insights in this podcast interview. This is due in part to the new power coming into the grid from microgrids, solar and other sources. Because the grid was designed for one-way traffic, there's a need for balancing, and this creates new business opportunities, including demand response opportunities, she says. Listen to learn more about the company's predictions for utility spending next year.

Submetering helps commercial and industrial companies understand where they're using the most energy and gives them critical information, which, combined with controls, can cut energy use by up to 30%. In this podcast interview, Mark Straton, senior vice president for GridPoint, outlines this and other benefits of submetering. The company provides energy management solutions for leading enterprises and government agencies, including seven of the top 10 retailers nationwide and seven of the top 20 quick serve restaurants, plus the U.S Postal Service.

What keeps utility CFOs from embracing energy efficiency and demand-side management? What convinces them to invest in energy efficiency and demand-side management? Ward Eames, president, NTC, which provides educational content for utilities, provides tips based on his new ebook, "7 Strategies to Power Up Your CFO's Support." Listen to the podcast interview to learn about how NTC helps utilities reach their customers--by providing education in the schools that trickles up to parents. Eames says this strategy has proven a successful way to entice residential homeowners to embrace energy efficiency.

While cleantech investment in general has dropped over the past five years, investment in energy efficiency is booming, says Sheeraz Haji, CEO of the market intelligence firm Cleantech Group. In its latest report–about third quarter 2013–the energy efficiency topped the investment charts in clean tech, with 33 investment deals in energy efficiency. In addition, there was a 33 percent jump in the number of energy efficiency companies on the Global Cleantech 100 list. The trend is due to the convergence of data, software, the web and energy, which has yielded companies like Opower, says Haji in a podcast interview.

Automated energy management software from BuildinIQ cuts energy use by 12 percent in one casino, and is expected to slash energy use in other casinos by 12 percent to 18 percent, says Pete Bickinson, CTO of BuildingIQ in a podcast interview. The software, provided to NV Energy, the utility that supplies energy to the city of Las Vegas, provides both energy efficiency and demand response. The automated system responds to pricing, weather conditions, market conditions, and comfort levels. The software yields immediate cash flow, he says. Users are seeing $1.50 to $3 in savings for every $1 they spend on the software.

United Technologies Research Center (UTRC), the research and innovation arm of United Technologies Corp. (UTX), has won an innovation award for its PureStorage flow battery energy storage technology. The award comes from industry experts and the editors of R&D Magazine, and is listed among the 100 most technologically significant products introduced during 2012. In this podcast interview, Sri Divakaruni, director, innovation business development, and Mike Perry, project leader for UTRC, explain how much less expensive the technology is and how it could be best used. UTRC is now talking to potential partners who could bring the technology to market.

In a draft report, Michigan revealed that it has surpassed its 1 percent annual electricity savings targets by 116 percent to 124 percent. That was achieved at a cost of $20 per megawatt-hour, much less than the $60 per megawatt-hour for electricity from gas-fired units, said Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman John Quackenbush in this podcast interview. Now, the commission wants to achieve 10.8 percent to 14.7 percent savings for gas, and 14.5 percent to 16.1 percent savings for electricity over the next 10 years. Is that possible? Listen to learn more about Michigan's incentives for utilities and its problems with its de-coupling efforts.