May 25
Xcel Energy Cuts Carbon Emissions 35 Percent
Top consumer smart grid news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Xcel Energy cut carbon emissions 35 percent, according to its newly released Corporate Responsibility Report. This puts Xcel Energy on track to reach or exceed its ambitious goal of reducing carbon emissions 60 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels. Xcel Energy surpassed the U.S. commitment under the Paris Climate Accord in 2016, which called for a 26 to 28 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2025.
Ameren Illinois is offering customers a $100 rebate if they install smart thermostats in their homes and businesses. After customers purchase a smart thermostat, they can apply online to receive a $100 discount in the mail for a limited time. Rebates are being provided through energy efficiency program funding approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission under the landmark Future Energy Jobs Act.
PSEG Long Island chose Tendril to serve as its behavioral energy efficiency and customer engagement partner of choice. PSEG Long Island deployed several Tendril solutions that help customers understand their home energy use, provide personalized, actionable recommendations to improve energy efficiency and position PSEG Long Island as a trusted advisor for home energy management.
Con Edison CEO John McAvoy discussed the impact of smart meters on customer energy usage, the integration of renewables and distributed energy resources, efforts to improve public safety and investments in electric transmission during a shareholder meeting recently. Con Edison is in the second year of smart meter installation that enables customers to monitor energy usage in near real-time. The company plans to complete smart meter rollout across its service areas by 2022.
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Industry News
Contested regulatory proceedings are the foundation of the utility business in the U.S. Utilities, power providers and advocates all engage regulators with public comments and testimony, hoping to persuade them on a pending rate case, generation investment or grid upgrade. It's the model that built the largest machine on the planet — the North American electric grid. But sometimes, the public nature of the regulatory process can impede negotiations among utility stakeholders.
California’s recently approved solar roof mandate for all new homes came as a surprise to many people – even though stakeholders have been working on the rule change for roughly two years. That’s likely because CEC passed the requirement earlier this month as an update to the state’s 2019 Title 24, Part 6, Building Energy Efficiency Standards. Not quite everyday reading.
Picture this... While leaving work to go out to dinner on a hot evening, Jane receives a personalized text message on her smartphone from her utility, offering a rebate to cut back her air conditioning five degrees for two hours, because at this time, energy usage is high and clean energy cannot be secured. After accepting the offer, Jane receives a second message, asking if she would be interested in a plan to regularly reduce her energy usage.
Building on an agreement with Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan, the state’s major energy companies — DTE Energy and Consumers Energy — have announced an acceleration of clean energy plans, setting a 50 percent Clean Energy Goal to be reached by 2030. As a result of this agreement, Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan has set aside plans to submit more than 350,000 signatures they collected in support of a clean energy initiative for the ballot this year.
