Energy Conservation Becomes Critical to Resiliency and Community Readiness
Few consumers would argue with the notion that energy conservation is, conceptually, a good thing. Whether we’re motivated to reduce our energy bills or to protect the environment, most people agree that using less energy is something we should strive for. But beyond turning off the light when we leave the room, few of us know exactly what we can and should do to meaningfully conserve.???
That conservation education gap is suddenly a matter of great urgency for utilities. As transportation and household beneficial electrification scales rapidly, the deficit between supply and demand is increasing fast, requiring an all-of-grid-management approach to ensure resiliency.
Many utilities are focused on shifting peak load, which is unquestionably an important part of the solution. But the more we can reduce load in the first place, the less load we need to shift. In fact, one might argue that negawatts or (megawatts not used) are the most attainable “energy supply” booster -– transforming energy conservation from an aspirational but intangible goal to a critical call to action.?
Leveraging Data to Boost Conservation Participation?
When record-breaking global heatwaves struck in 2022, utilities and governments asked consumers to curtail their energy consumption to prevent outages. They did so with flex alerts in the form of mass text and email messages and social media posts that asked every customer to conserve.?
Thankfully, for the most part, it worked. Over the course of a few days, customers made what amounted to educated guesses as to how they could reduce their load, trying to determine for themselves which appliances they should shut down to have the necessary "load-shed" impact. Cooling? EV charging? Laundry? Pool pumps?
Those of us in marketing know that blanket calls for non-specific actions rarely have a meaningful or lasting impact on consumer behavior. Consumers need ongoing coaching, personalized messaging and actionable insights.?
If we want consumers to become active stakeholders in energy conservation efforts, we must explain the advantages of doing so in specific and relevant terms –- such as with a personalized estimate of the savings a household is expected to realize based on their unique energy usage and appliance ownership.?
It’s also important to provide ongoing feedback about the success of their efforts. For example, it wasn’t unusual during that period of extreme weather to see utilities publishing the total megawatts consumer conservation efforts saved — but only in the aggregate. The conservation metrics didn’t tell individual customers what contribution they made personally to the overall effort. Consumers need to know the results they achieved and understand what they might do differently next time to realize even more savings for the greater good.
Understanding and engaging customers on an individual basis may seem unattainable, but data science and AI makes it not only possible but much easier to achieve.
Household meter-derived household energy use data can now provide the missing link for building accurate, comprehensive and cost-effective profiles for every residence. AI-enabled meter data analytics can help energy providers determine:?
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In addition to appliance and technology intelligence, applying sophisticated machine learning and statistical solutions to raw energy consumption data also reveals essential attributes that describe each customer's behavior, lifestyle and other personal characteristics.?
With such precise targeting, it’s possible to create individualized energy efficiency journeys that yield greater overall participation.
Inspiring Community Action?
We need community-wide action to ensure lasting grid resiliency. Household-level insights and engagement both enable more successful energy conservation for individual customers as well as serve as the foundation for a broader, inclusive community conservation movement.?
As with individual engagement, community engagement also? requires education and coaching play a pivotal role. Implementing awareness campaigns to help consumers understand the impact of their conservation efforts during peak events creates a community bond and a shared goodwill about individual and collective contributions to help scale the grid.?
Plus, when individuals become educated and empowered to conserve more energy, they are also more likely to become stakeholders with the potential to serve as? energy efficiency advocates who encourage others to participate. I’m doing my part to ensure we’re community-ready, are you?
Here too, rather than promoting aggregate energy savings measures, utilities are able to break down savings into more relevant and engaging behind-the-meter-informed metrics, such as the percent savings achieved by EV owners, by people living in multi-family homes or the savings achieved during particular hours of the day. These sorts of relatable analytics improve energy conservation awareness in the community and how everyone’s efforts play a role.?
The Time is Now
Energy conservation must play a critical role in bridging the gap between supply and demand, especially as beneficial electrification continues to accelerate. Engaging consumers and communities as partners in reducing load makes it possible to achieve the future grid
Historically, utilities were only able to look at usage at the substation or feeder level. But now, the ability to look at usage at the per-home, per-appliance level allows much more granular and impactful approaches to conservation and grid management. Household data enables more meaningful consumer and community engagement — helping to realize greater and long-lasting grid benefit.
Always learning.
1 年Excellent article Gautam M. Aggarwal!