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non-energy benefits

Jun 07
Love2

Jack Linked on Gasoline Markets

By Energy Rant No Comments
I drove the 3.5-hour route to see my mother last weekend. In preparation, I decided to fill my little tank the night before. And besides, I thought, prices are likely to be higher tomorrow. It was $4.149 per gallon. The next day, about 45 miles down the road on I-90 in Southern Minnesota, Love’s posted price was $4.599. WHAT? I thought I slept through a timewarp, but it was confirmed by sign after sign. Petty Games How are you dealing with high energy prices? I have filled my tanks on multiple occasions before I otherwise would in order to buy…
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Nov 25
Love0
ouiji board

Performance Programs, Ouija Boards, and Mark Twain

By Energy Rant No Comments
I could not compete with my former self and Gene Simons from last week, but I went back to the Gallup psychoanalysis barrel for more inspiration. I don’t want to write about myself unless it helps you understand why I’m so, uh, peculiar. Like Mr. Simons, I’m an insatiable consumer of information, maybe not books so much – although I’m sure I broke personal records since the Covid – but digital publications, interviews, conference papers, and journals. The psychoanalysis says, “It’s very likely that you rely, to some extent, on your passion for reading to help you launch conversations. Engaging…
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Oct 14
Love0

The Non-Energy Benefits of COVID, and Energy

By Energy Rant No Comments
Way back in April, I had generated a list of non-energy benefits of the COVID. One was the lack of traffic. That made driving easier and running a little safer with less hassle. Second, my, uh, wellness trainer stopped making trips to Europe, so rather than being gone a week a month, he’s never gone. As a result, my Feng and Shui have been in balance. Third, my car insurance company has credited my account a few times because they think I’m driving less – which reminds me of the fourth: gasoline prices are lower than ever, inflation-adjusted. Fifth, I’ve…
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Aug 29
Love0
NTG

Net to Eeeew, Gross – Pin the Tail on the Donkey

By Energy Rant One Comment
Anytime I listen to a net-to-gross (NTG) scrum, the philosophical gears in my brain ramp up to a smooth whir. This is what happened at ACEEE summer camp, also known as the ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. This post is inspired by a paper titled “Applying Gross Savings and Net Savings in an Integrated Policy Framework”, presented by Dan Violette (Navigant) and co-authored by Elizabeth Titus (Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships), Pam Rathbun (Tetra Tech), and our very own Teri Lutz. Since Dan referenced the SEE Action Energy Efficiency Program Impact Evaluation Guide, for purposes of saying the…
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Jun 27
Love0

Savings Persistence – Funner than a Barrel of Monkeys

By Energy Rant No Comments
Today, let’s consider a subject that is as squishy, subjective, and amorphous as net savings and non-energy benefits (see here and here). Today’s subject is savings persistence. Savings Persistence and Its Importance Even allowing for generous latitude, if I polled readers of this post, I would probably get a dozen definitions of savings persistence. For retro-commissioning, persistence is ensuring the measures aren’t undone. For the broader group of behavior programs, persistence is getting customers and their occupants (family or employees) to continue to value and manage energy over the long term.To the evaluator, savings persistence opens many cans of worms.…
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Feb 15
Love0
saved energy

Cost of Saved Energy – Drop it and Give Me Twenty

By Energy Rant 2 Comments
I was planning to write about industrial efficiency and the crimes of opting out this week, but while searching for supporting data, I found other interesting stuff; namely the cost of saved energy by state and by year. In 2009, ACEEE published a paper, Saving Energy Cost Effectively: A National Review of the Cost of Energy Saved Through Utility-Sector Energy Efficiency Programs (short titles are not one of their strong suits). A few years later they published an updated paper for the 2014 Summer Study For Energy Efficiency in Buildings. This one was called, Still the First Fuel: National Review…
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Nov 02
Love0
total resource cost test

Total Resource Cost Test – Less than Total is Better??

By Energy Rant One Comment
I spent considerable time a year ago figuring out the various cost effectiveness tests that are applied to energy efficiency programs.  Since they are so bizarre, it took me almost an hour again to relearn it.  Thankfully, I documented it in language I can understand, and no one squawked about anything being wrong, so I’m going to believe it was right.  For a refresher, that was Energy Efficiency Benefit/Cost Tests and a Handful of Excedrin. I won’t recycle all that information, but in this Rant I will advance the discussion to demonstrate that the usual benefit/cost test, the Total Resource…
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Aug 31
Love0

Distributed Energy; Batteries and Bread Machines

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 3 Comments
The Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP) Summer Conference included interesting bookend plenary discussions for this post.  The opening plenary featured motivational speaker, Murray Banks; not to be confused with Matt Foley: “eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river”.  Actually, if triathlons and mountaineering were auto racing, the Banks family would be the Andrettis. The closing plenary featured representatives from SolarCity, Opus One Solutions, and Enbridge, Inc.  SolarCity is the Elon Musk-owned photovoltaic manufacturer/installer.  Opus One is a smart grid software company with ties to Tesla as well.  Enbridge is a…
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Jul 06
Love0

Low-Income Programs; Kool Aid and Happy Face Rugs

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 2 Comments
Last week, we learned about lost revenue adjustment mechanisms, also known as LRAM.  I said, “Many people don’t seem to be that interested in the right answer in many jurisdictions.”  This week, I investigated another paper posted to the University of Chicago’s website, authored by two University of California-Berkeley economics professors and one University of Chicago professor.  Collectively, these flunkies have PhDs in economics from MIT, UC-Berkeley, and Princeton.  The paper drew hellfire from some in our industry, because, uh, they don’t like anyone messing with the Kool Aid punch bowl. The paper investigates the claimed savings for the Federal…
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Oct 06
Love0

Energy Efficiency Benefit/Cost Tests- And a Handful of Excedrin, Pretty Please

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant 10 Comments
Back in May I wrote that we need to explain the benefits of energy efficiency in simple terms – like our mothers would understand.  In that I explained that utilities serve a public benefit, like roads.  Since the dawn of energy efficiency, there have been cost effectiveness hurdles – that make little sense to this 20 year veteran, let alone my 80 year old mother.  Since this is not (thankfully) my normal area of expertise, it took me a couple hours to figure things out and I’m still not sure I have this all right.  That my friends speaks volumes,…
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All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

All things energy. That’s our jam.

We talk a lot about energy – from the serious to the satirical.

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