Opinion Dynamics

Join Erin Kempster at Smart Electric Power Alliance and Solar Energy Industries Association's RE+ 24 in Anaheim! RE+ 24 brings the modern energy industry together to foster a cleaner future and marks its 20th year as the largest and most comprehensive event in North America for the clean energy industry. Join Erin next Tuesday for the session: WISE Up: Insights from the California Solar and Electrification Customer Experience. California's climate aspirations rely on millions of customer choices about solar and electrification. Opinion Dynamics’ evaluations conducted with TECH Clean California heat pump customers yielded important insights about the role of solar in-home electrification. These findings can focus sales prioritization, marketing efforts, and manufacturer investment. This session will highlight three insights around solar and heat pumps, the "so what" for our grid, and anyone hoping to influence customer decision-making. Find details online at: https://lnkd.in/dfQipZms #anaheimconventioncenter #electrification #evaluation #presentation

Our work on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission for the transformative TECH Clean California initiative has recently received wonderful online media coverage, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Our Executive-in-Charge of this work, Ellen Steiner, Ph.D., commented, “The findings shared by these news outlets point to the benefits of a WISE? model of evaluation where we are able to feed insights back into the program and into policy conversations while the program is still running. With the speed at which California aims to transform the home heating and cooling marketplace, this form of iterative feedback is crucial for understanding progress and supporting sound decision-making.” Make sure to follow us to keep up to date on upcoming findings! (New report coming soon!) Check out the press release and article at the following links:? https://lnkd.in/gGnQQajT https://lnkd.in/grKEjXU7 Learn more about our WISE? model online at https://lnkd.in/gpsg953z #pressrelease #opinion #surveyresearch #heatpump?

Check out our latest podcast over on our SoundCloud channel! Jen Loomis, PhD and Sarah Naiman, Ph.D. discuss their recent work providing recommendations on how to evaluate the outcomes of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Competition Programs. In this podcast, they discuss how equity is integrated into competition program designs, opportunities to collect data during program implementation, and what to do with the information once it’s been collected. Stream at https://lnkd.in/ebWA6zqw Transcript available at: https://lnkd.in/em9YkTF7 #podcast #equity #DEI #SolarDecathlon #RaceToZero #CollegiateCompetition #DataCollection

Introducing our newest Principal Consultant, Lauren Bates! Lauren brings nearly two decades of experience in research and evaluation, with specializations in formative evaluation, market transformation, and heat pump research. She spent part of her career in the education evaluation sector, designing and conducting applied research and program evaluation studies for clients, before transitioning into the energy sector. Over the course of her career, Lauren has gained invaluable experience serving as a technical advisor for policymakers, presenting evaluation results at conferences or to stakeholders, and mentoring and training new staff members. We’re especially excited to involve Lauren in our electrification and decarbonization work!

Welcome to the team, Kathleen Ward! Kathleen joins Opinion Dynamics as a Lead Data Scientist. With expertise in econometric modeling, flexible load impact evaluation, experimental and quasi-experimental design, and data analytics, Kathleen brings a range of experience and technical skills that will bolster our data analytics capabilities. She has ten years of experience in the utility demand-side management industry, leading impact evaluations of demand response, EV/EVSE managed charging, and behavioral energy efficiency programs. She is also experienced in developing and implementing company data strategy, building dashboards and data visualizations, and collaborating with engineers and product designers to bring products to market. Kathleen is a proven thought leader in data science and DSM program evaluation, and we are thrilled to have her on our team.

Welcome to the team, Julia Linder! Julia recently earned her Master of Science in environment and natural resource studies from the Ohio State University. With a focus in environmental social science, her graduate research examined the structural and social barriers to climate adaptation, specifically in the realm of agriculture. She is well-versed in mixed methods research and data analysis, and she will apply her skillset to administer participant surveys and provide data analysis support on various projects.?We are so excited to have her join our team!

Also, next Wednesday at PLMA's EV Symposium, you can catch Kessie (Ksenia) Avseikova, Co-Chair, as she moderates Break Out 4: ConEd Case Study—Energizing Medium Duty/Heavy Duty Fleet Depots with Existing Infrastructure. Distribution system constraints mean that delivering energy for large, location-specific, new medium- & heavy-duty fleets is a big challenge for utilities. Join this session for key project learnings resulting from an electric school bus depot in the Bronx in which ConEd has leveraged load management technologies to speed up EV adoption. Plus, highlights from the grid edge innovation technologies that support this depot and how these can benefit utilities and fleet owners/operators in the future. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/ermukJqX #HeavyDutyEV #MediumDutyEV #ElectricBus #FleetOperators #EVEvent

If EVs are your passion, PLMA's EV Symposium is for you!?On day two, you can catch Hilary Polis for the session - The Motherload: EV Load Management in Non-Residential Contexts. This session discusses how residential charging that takes place “away from home” at public, multifamily, and commercial facilities results in higher demand and more grid strain, which is an ideal opportunity for load management! Learn about the utility programs managing EV load beyond the single-family residential context, plus a path forward for managing EV charging away from home, including an understanding of the relevant customer, grid, and technology considerations for effective load management offerings. Agenda available at: https://lnkd.in/ermukJqX #EVloadmanagement #EVmanagedcharging

Join our staff at PLMA's EV?Symposium next week in Chicago! Tami Buhr will be presenting 'Exploring the Ins and Outs of a Managed Charging Program' next Tuesday. Portland General Electric is using an industry-leading experimental design for its Residential Charging Program that randomly assigned 5,000+ participants to treatment and unmanaged control groups, providing a valid counterfactual. This design allowed Opinion Dynamics to conduct the most rigorous evaluation of managed charging program impacts to date. This presentation will share insights from the testing of several interventions, including technology type (EVSE hardware vs. telematics), stacking of time-of-use rates and direct load control, time of day when events are called, length of the event, and event season. Event information available at: https://lnkd.in/ermukJqX #EVcharging #symposium

Join our staff at the 2024 Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. This event will bring together professionals from around the globe to collaborate, debate and advance the technologies, practices and research necessary to equitably decarbonize the building sector in a manner that addresses the urgency of the climate crisis. Opinion Dynamics is a proud sponsor of this event. Catch our staff at the following panels: Panel 4: Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation with leaders: Megan Campbell, Opinion Dynamics and Marta Schantz, Urban Land Institute Panel 4: Wed 8/7 Session 2: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm?? When in Rome: Successful Commercial Programs at the Region Level? Commercial EM&V in Illinois with Malena Hernández Arregoitia, Opinion Dynamics Panel 8: Capturing Savings through Behavior Wed 8/7 Session 2 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Empowering Success using Behavior Frameworks Increasing Participation in Demand Response Programs – A New Customer Engagement Model with Ellen Steiner, Ph.D., Opinion Dynamics Details online at https://lnkd.in/eQk2_UG4