Utility Strategies for Energy Efficiency: Measurement & Verification (M&V) and Ongoing Commissioning senseware.co, July 10, 2018 The world energy consumption is constantly rising. According to the US Energy Information Administration, the increase is well over 28% between 2015 and 2040. It is important to note that in commercial buildings, this number is even higher at nearly 40%. … Read more
Lucy Neiman, ERS, for Zondits The International Energy Program Evaluation Conference (IEPEC) will be held August 7‒10 in Baltimore, MD, with presentations and workshops focusing on the topic “Making Ambitious Reductions Real: Accurate and Actionable Evaluation.” On Thursday, August 10, Amaury De La Cruz of Con Edison and Lucy Neiman of ERS will present a … Read more
Matt Golden, Open EE January 4, 2017 Billing analysis, Bayesian statistics, randomized control trials, phone polls — with the advent of EEMetering, smart meters, and pay-for-performance, one of the most important questions we have to answer as an industry is how do we measure energy efficiency? Turns out, it depends on the purpose. While the … Read more
Jon Maxwell and Brian McCowan for Zondits, June 8, 2015. Image credit: PixShark “Thank you. Your evaluation has helped us greatly with improving our program.” How often do evaluators hear that phrase? The answer is, of course, not very often. The reasons are many and varied, but the overriding reason is that evaluators, program administrators, … Read more
Sue Haselhorst, ERS, and Joe Dolengo, National Grid, presented at ACEEE Summer Study, 2016 ABSTRACT It has become clichéd that implementers want evaluation results sooner and with actionable recommendations; however, impact results often arrive two to four years after the measures are installed and paid, for and the evaluator recommendations are stale. National Grid’s (NGrid’s) … Read more
An In-Depth Look at What Data Is Useful for the Utility of the Future Isaac Wainstein, Ryan Bossis, ERS, Presented at the 2016 ACEEE Summer Study It is often recognized that gathering large and robust data sets is a critical component for the utility of the future to successfully integrate energy efficiency as a grid … Read more
Max Ma, ERS, for Zondits In the utility M&V and evaluation world, persistence is generally defined as the change in expected savings relative to the baseline.[note]ERS, “Measure Life Study Prepared for Massachusetts Joint Utilities,” 2005[/note] Persistence is the little brother to the end-of–useful-life (EUL) metric. Frequently, persistence factors are built into the deemed values of … Read more
Ryan Pollin for Zondits, January 26, 2016. Image credit: Skitterphoto Last month I wrote an article titled The Potential of Remote Building Audits, which outlined some inventive methods for deciphering building energy consumption patterns and identifying energy efficiency measures without entering the building. Like autonomous vehicles, remote audits are being used today in simple and predictable … Read more
Measuring and Verifying Energy Efficiency ACHR News, July 13, 2015. Image credit: DomenicBlair Accurately measuring and verifying energy efficiency not only ensures a job was done correctly, but it also shows customers they’re getting exactly what they paid for. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), providing evidence of real and reliable savings … Read more
An excerpt from Gary Epstein’s paper for ECEEE Summer Study 2015. For many energy efficiency and demand management programs, determination of immediate results can support the effort toward strategic planning and monitoring for infrastructure planning and emission reduction and mitigation. Impact and process evaluations on the traditional time scales (i.e., after the program cycle is … Read more