Demand matters! That was the theme of this year's National Renewable Energy Laboratory Innovation Showcase, held in Avon, CO.
Top three demand signals driving energy refrofits in the U.S.:
1?? Regulations: More states and local municipalities are signing up for the National Building Performance Standards Coalition. Because of this the real estate industry is faced with some of the strictest and most punitive building performance standards that it has seen in decades (e.g. NYC's LL97). A real outcome of not acting fast enough to considerably reduce onsite emissions and/or getting to net-zero in 6 to 11 years is to be faced with a stranded asset - insights from Steven Oyer, Ramsay Huntley, Julieta Moradei.
2?? Federal Incentives: The investment tax credit (ITC) has made it possible to reduce the cost of energy retrofits by 30% - insights from Robert O'Connor, Brandon Hurlbut, Kerry Rippy. In some cases, involving the use of energy retrofits that leverages thermal energy storage (TES) and grid-interactivity to decarbonize and electrify exisitng buildings in #Justice40 communities, this credit may be used to reduce COGs by up to 50%. To sweeten the deal, these credits are transferable and can be shared and monetized among organizations.
3?? Energy Insecurity: The annual energy needs for running data centers and training AI models is expected to increase by 2X and 10X by 2026 and 2028, respectively. This is equivalent to running 417,000 homes in the U.S. in one year - insights from Martin Foltin, Principal Engineer, Hewlett Packard Labs AI Research Lab. We simple cannot plug in more EVs and high energy intensive applications to the grid without substantially reducing energy consumption. Furthermore, it is prudent that we do so without exacerbating energy insecurities within the built environment. Moving forward, it appears like technologists, built environment professionals, regulators and utility companies would need to work together to determine the economically rational pathway to balance the energy needs of the built environment while freeing up space on the grid to accommodate some of our most promising, high growth markets (e.g. data centers and artificial intelligence).
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?? What are some of the more recent demand signals you are seeing for energy retrofits?
I can think of several other direct and indirect demand signals: $7.1B in federal SLFRF investments for expanding housing affordability, $1.52B in federal investment for reopening the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, 85% increase heat-related hospitalization and deaths for people over 65 years of age, compared to 2004 baseline.
#energy #retrofits
#buildings #electrification
#justice40
