Enhancing Community Resilience through Energy Efficiency August 15, 2016
Housekeeping
Who We Are www.cleanegroup.org www.resilient-power.org 3
Resilient Power Project • Increase public/private investment in clean, resilient power systems • Engage city officials to develop resilient power policies/programs • Protect low-income and vulnerable communities • Focus on affordable housing and critical public facilities • Advocate for state and federal supportive policies and programs • Technical assistance for pre-development costs to help agencies/project developers get deals done • See www.resilient-power.org for reports, newsletters, webinar recordings 4
www.resilient-power.org
Today’s Panelists • David Ribeiro , Senior Analyst, Utilities, State, and Local Policy Program, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) • Seth Mullendore , Project Director, Clean Energy Group
Enhancing Community Resilience Through Energy Efficiency Dave Ribeiro Senior Research Analyst, ACEEE Resilient Power Webinar August 15, 2016
American Council for an Energy- Efficient Economy (ACEEE) • 35 year old, nonprofit dedicated to advancing energy efficiency through research, policy, and technical assistance • Focus on end-use efficiency in industry; buildings and equipment; utilities & transportation; economic analysis; behavior; and finance • Policy program working at national, state, and local levels and some international work • Local policy work focused on: • City Energy Efficiency Scorecard & related Self-Scoring Tool • Projects on energy efficiency in multifamily housing; community resilience; and energy affordability • Technical assistance to local governments and community organizations • Local Policy Toolkit, policy calculator, and best practice research • www.aceee.org/portal/local-policy 2
Presentation outline • Benefits of energy efficiency • Efficiency’s role in increasing community resilience • Focus on energy-efficient buildings and other efficiency activities • Assessing the uptake of efficiency as a resilience resource • Overview of technical assistance opportunity for communities 3
Why focus on cities? Tokyo, Japan Light Emissions. Richard Florida, “The London, UK World is Spiky” The Atlantic, Oct 2005 • Where most energy is used – • 80% of US consumption in cities, 66% globally • Actions by cities are important – • Cities have considerable influence over energy use, especially in buildings and transportation • Efficiency makes cities better – • All aspects of city life can be improved through efficiency, but it is currently underused for local economic and community development 4
Why energy efficiency? Energy efficiency… • Is the cheapest, lowest risk energy resource • Creates jobs and supports economic development • Lowers customer energy bills and improves energy affordability • Reduces pollution and improves health 5
Lowest cost, lowest risk energy resource for utilities http://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/practicing-risk-aware-electricity-regulation-2014-update 6
Energy efficiency is a job-creator See our fact sheet, “How Does Efficiency Create Jobs”, available at http://aceee.org/files/pdf/fact-sheet/ee-job-creation.pdf 7
Energy burden 10% 12% 14% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% Memphis Birmingham Atlanta New Orleans Median energy burden of low-income households Providence Pittsburgh compared to the overall median for each city Dallas Philadelphia Low-income median energy burden Kansas City Cleveland Cincinnati St. Louis Hartford Columbus Fort Worth Detroit Phoenix Charlotte San Antonio Indianapolis Jacksonville Louisville Orlando Virgina Beach Oklahoma City Metro area median energy burden Tampa Baltimore Milwaukee Houston New York City Chicago Boston Denver Richmond Nashville http://aceee.org/research-report/u1602 Miami Las Vegas Washington, DC Riverside Austin Sacramento Portland Minneapolis Los Angeles Seattle San Diego San Jose 8 San Francisco
http://www.aceee.org/research-report/e1401 9
Approach to community resilience • Community resilience = risk reduction in communities • Reducing vulnerability to acute hazards and reducing chronic stressors that reduce capacity to cope Elements of risk Hazards Threats to a community. They can be natural (e.g. flooding, heat, fire), human-made (e.g. disruptions from human error), or some combination of both. Vulnerability The susceptibility of a community to the damaging effects of hazards. Capacity to Ability to respond to or bounce back from impacts in a way that cope decreases negative consequences to households, businesses, and communities. http://aceee.org/research-report/u1508 10
Energy efficiency and community resilience • Energy efficiency’s myriad benefits means it has significant implications for community resilience • Energy efficiency strengthens energy systems and the communities those energy systems serve • Opportunity for including efficiency measures in resilience planning processes is significant http://aceee.org/blog/2015/10/many-ways- energy-efficiency-can-boost 11
Resilience benefits of energy efficiency Benefit type Energy efficiency outcome Resilience benefit Reduced electric demand Increased reliability during times of stress on electric system and increased ability to respond to system emergencies Backup power supply from Ability to maintain energy supply during combined heat and power and emergency or disruption Emergency microgrids response and recovery Efficient buildings that maintain Residents can shelter in place as long as buildings’ structural integrity is temperatures maintained. Multiple modes of transportation Several travel options that can be used and efficient vehicles during evacuations and disruptions Reduced greenhouse gas Mitigation of climate change emissions from power sector Climate change mitigation and Cost-effective efficiency More leeway to maximize investment in adaptation investments resilient redundancy measures, including adaptation measures http://aceee.org/research-report/u1508 12
Resilience benefits of energy efficiency (cont.) Benefit type Energy efficiency outcome Resilience benefit Local economic resources may Stronger local economy that is less stay in the community susceptible to hazards and disruptions Reduced exposure to energy Economy is better positioned to price volatility manage energy price increases, and households and businesses are better able to plan for future. Social and economic Reduced spending on energy Ability to spend income on other needs, increasing disposable income (especially important for low- income families) Improved indoor air quality and Fewer public health stressors emission of fewer local pollutants http://aceee.org/research-report/u1508 13
Energy-efficient buildings • Maintain interior temperatures longer ( response and recovery ) • Reduce annual spending ( socioeconomic ) • Reduce net emissions ( climate change ) http://aceee.org/files/proceedings/2014/ data/papers/1-439.pdf http://urbangreencouncil.org/babyitscoldinside 14
Combined heat and power (CHP) • Provides backup power and allows facilities to double as shelter ( response and recovery ) • Potentially increases cost savings ( socioeconomic ) • Reduces overall net emissions ( climate CHP facility at BCUA’s Little Ferry Water Pollution change ) Control Facility. 15
Other energy efficiency technologies and activities that increase community resilience 16
Planning opportunities for increasing resilience • Local government-driven resilience planning • Leveraging federal programs • Energy assurance planning • Hazard mitigation plans • Local government-utility partnerships and utility planning 17
Assessing resilience planning • Reviewed resilience planning materials from finalist communities participating in National Disaster Resilience Competition 18
Energy saving activities considered by NDRC finalists City/county EE in EE in public Green EE in Transit-system Transportation CHP private buildings infrastructure water improvements efficiency buildings services • • Chicago • Cook County Dauphin County • • Jefferson Parish • • • Minot Moore • • • New Orleans • • • • • • • New York City • • Shelby County • • • • • Springfield • • St. Tammany Parish • • • Tuscaloosa 19
Concluding thoughts • Energy efficiency can strengthen energy systems and provide more-reliable, affordable energy. • By doing so, it can reduce vulnerability to acute hazards, and increase communities’ capacity to cope with the impacts of those hazards. • Because efficiency is a vital resilience resource, it should be acknowledged as such in resilience planning. 20
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