October 22
BGE Sets Goal of Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050
Top consumer smart energy news hand-selected and brought to you by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative.
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Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its operations by at least 50 percent by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. To achieve net-zero emissions from operations, BGE is taking several actions, including converting 50 percent of its vehicle fleet to electric by 2030. Further, it focuses technology and infrastructure investments on increasing energy efficiency, utilizing clean electricity for operations, and modernizing its natural gas infrastructure.
A new report released last week by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) outlines how better energy efficiency and a robust demand response program using distributed energy resources (DERs) already on the grid could provide up to 11 GW of “flexible generation” to ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, when the grid is strained.
Woodruff Electric Cooperative has signed a software agreement with Landis+Gyr for Advanced Grid Analytics to maintain accurate meter-transformer mapping, assess transformer loading performance, identify abnormal meter consumption trends and event sequences, and get periodic system-level loading and loss reports.
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) issued its 2021 Sustainability and Climate Report this week, with updates on the company’s achievements and in a variety of areas, including air emissions, energy efficiency, transportation and waste minimization. Among the highlights, PSEG reported that its emission rates throughout its portfolio for nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) were down 58 percent and 77 percent in 2020.
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Industry News
Sharon Gold loves her Chevy Volt, but charging it is hardly convenient. The condominium complex where she rents in Jamestown, Rhode Island, does not have a charging station. And the only public charging station in town is more than a mile away. An outspoken advocate for anti-idling ordinances, Gold, 74, said that although her Volt can also run on gas, “I try to keep it on electric most of the time.”
The world will need lots of fast-charging stations to support the massive growth in electric vehicles as we move to clean up transportation systems. And for those fast-charging stations to be connected to the power grid quickly enough to meet rising demand, they’re most likely going to need some batteries alongside them. This marriage of fast chargers and batteries is starting to happen at highway rest stops, fleet vehicle depots and urban charging hubs across the world.
Portland General Electric has outlined a path to net-zero emissions that relies on tripling clean energy assets and utilizing customer-sited distributed energy resources for grid resiliency. The Oregon utility shared plans last Friday to reduce emissions by at least 80 percent by 2030, 90 percent by 2035, and to reach zero emissions by 2040.
Missouri’s largest gas and electric utilities are all forging ahead with new programs that will finance customers’ energy efficiency upgrades and, in many cases, even decrease their monthly bills. Evergy is the state’s latest utility to launch a Pay As You Save (PAYS) program, in which the full upfront cost of energy efficiency projects — along with their savings — are rolled into the customer’s monthly bill.
