Takeaways from Conferences Our Team Attended This Fall

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Clean Energy Works participated in ACEEE’s 2024 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, held from August 4-9 in Pacific Grove, California. This year’s theme, “Equity and Climate Action: Time to Deliver,” brought together thousands of energy practitioners and scholars to discuss pressing issues in the field.

Treating energy as a commodity has led to a widespread distrust of energy institutions.

Dr. Tony Reames’ powerful keynote plenary set the tone for the conference, where equity took center stage for the first time in the conference’s history. Opening with a compelling reframing of energy justice practitioners as public health advocates, Dr. Reames addressed how treating energy as a commodity has led to widespread distrust of energy institutions, citing challenges from high bills and disconnections to evictions and health impacts. As a renowned expert who has deployed $16 billion in energy efficiency measures and spearheaded the Justice40 Initiative at the Department of Energy, Dr. Reames highlighted how achieving equitable outcomes requires system-wide changes. This aligns with Dr. Reames’ previous assessments of inclusive utility investments as a breakthrough mechanism that achieves distinctly higher levels of participation compared to traditional debt-based approaches.

Understanding distributional equity impacts of utility resource investments in the context of cost-effectiveness evaluation.

Synapse Energy Economics presented their report, Distributional Equity Analysis for Energy Efficiency and Other Distributed Energy Resources, co-authored by our colleague Camille Minns, Associate of Just Energy Transition. This guide provides an analytical framework for utility regulators, state energy offices, utilities, consumer advocates, environmental justice advocates, and other stakeholders to evaluate the equity impacts of utility investments in energy efficiency and distributed energy resources (DERs) by assessing their distributional equity impacts alongside cost-effectiveness, supporting informed, equitable decision-making.

The full set of papers from the equity panel (and the other 14 panels) can be found in the proceedings here: 2024 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.

RE+ is the largest clean energy event in North America, bringing the modern energy industry together to foster a cleaner future. Taking place from September 9-12, 2024, this year  marked the event’s 20th year and featured panel sessions on a wide array of clean energy transition topics.

Inclusive utility investments can expand solar access and resilience for low-income communities.

Matt Flaherty, Director of Building Decarbonization, shared insights from our work during a panel titled “Reaching the “L” in LMI: Exploring Financeability of Low-Income Clean Energy Projects.” He highlighted how an inclusive utility investment model can help overcome persistent barriers to on-site solar energy access for renters, debt-averse households, those facing credit barriers, and more. Flaherty cited examples of successful solar deployment by Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corporation and emphasizing emergent opportunities with larger investor-owned utilities like ComEd in Illinois and Duke Energy in North Carolina—including to broaden the impacts and benefits of state Solar For All awards. Finally, he noted the policy solution’s expansive potential, especially in pairing solar and storage in virtual power plant applications that also provide household- and neighborhood-level resilience. 

Accessible financial solutions are essential for a transition to an inclusive clean energy economy.

The RE+ event highlighted major shifts in energy production and management, emphasizing the need for more dispatchable demand to handle variable clean-energy supply. Widespread, equitable deployment of distributed clean energy upgrades are critical for a cost-effective transition.

EPA’s annual Product Partner meeting was held in Minneapolis, MN from September 17-19. It brought together industry experts, state and federal officials, and other stakeholders from around the energy efficiency industry to discuss the potential impact of Inflation Reduction Act incentives and rebates on energy efficiency program delivery. Sessions also aimed to discuss opportunities to address barriers to program participation for customers. 

Kai Palmer-Dunning, Senior Associate on the Building Decarbonization Team presented about inclusive utility investments on a panel, titled “Miding the Gap: Funding Home Upgrades for Low to Moderate Income Households Beyond Rebates”  alongside Amanda Warwood from ICF and Annika Brindel from ACEEE. Kai provided insights about how inclusive utility investments could be braided with other funding solutions to improve the cost effectiveness of building upgrades and help overcome the upfront cost barrier for customers.

Taking place from September 24-26, 2024, our Transportation Decarbonization team attended the Forth Conference in Detroit, MI. Conference attendees gathered to explore the future of transportation electrification, from emerging technologies to policies and programs that can increase the scale and adoption.

Small rural school districts can leverage the benefit of electric buses through Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) integration technology, which has the potential to enhance grid resilience and reliability.

This session was led by our Director of Transportation Decarbonization, Margarita Parra. She emphasized the importance of engaging utilities early in the electrification process and starting with small-scale projects to prove feasibility. She recommended that schools assess route demands and collaborate with utilities on charging infrastructure development. While e-buses are significantly more expensive than diesel models, Margarita shared that EPA grants and innovative financing solutions can help offset costs. Streamlining regulatory processes and considering third-party leasing models are critical for wider adoption, especially as battery costs continue to decline.

There is a need for greater support and awareness for minority-owned businesses in accessing federal incentives.

Many minority-owned businesses do not apply for federal incentives, such as the Department of Energy’s $45 billion energy efficiency loans, or grants due to challenges in navigating the application process, lack of proposal-writing expertise, or simply being unaware of the programs. 

There is a pressing need for fast charging in rural areas, but uptake of electric vehicles is low due to upfront costs.

Rural communities face high costs of electricity due to imported petroleum and insufficient Level 2 charging infrastructure, resulting in hindered EV adoption. 

Lack of awareness about EVs is still considered a major barrier to adoption.

According to a UC Davis survey, only 20% of respondents considered battery electric vehicles (BEVs). However, organizations like Generation 180 are organizing campaigns to promote EVs. Personal testimonials from friends and family can strongly influence consumer decisions as well. Finally, boosting EV perceptions can be done by offering test drives and using simpler language in communications.