Next Generation Efficiency Programs Can Help Utilities

A recent report found that next generation efficiency programs have the potential to sustain high utility savings – 27 percent of forecasted electricity use and 19 percent of forecasted natural gas use by 2030.

The next generation of energy efficiency programs can meet the aggressive savings targets being set by many states find a new report. Released from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), the report found that new technologies and innovative program designs have a large role in savings.

Frontiers of Energy Efficiency: Next Generation Programs Reach for High Energy Savings found that these technologies and programs have the potential to sustain high savings – 27 percent of forecasted electricity use and 19 percent of forecasted natural gas use by 2030.

“Energy efficiency opportunities are abundant,” said Dan York, ACEEE utilities program director, “We continue to dig deeper and find new technologies and practices plus new program approaches to unlock further opportunities to achieve large energy savings.”

Energy efficiency programs have experienced unprecedented growth, but over the next two decades, achieving and sustaining high savings levels could present challenges for energy efficiency programs. But it’s clear that current programs are successfully serving customers in markets that historically have been difficult to reach.

“Another clear trend across program portfolios is an emphasis on better understanding customer behavior and motivations in order to design programs that engage greater numbers of customers to take actions that save energy.”

The report also found that the greatest potential of savings opportunities were for renovations and retrofits of homes and commercial buildings.

Source: American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy