News

2020 Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit Recorded Presentations

Recordings and slide decks for each session at the 2020 Better Buildings Summit are now available on the Better Buildings Solution Center website, including the following topics of interest to public-sector stakeholders:

  • Education Sector Meetup
  • Local Government Sector Meetup
  • The Road to Resilience: Setting Energy Savings as a Strategic Priority for Wastewater Treatment Plants
  • Measuring Up to the Equity Challenge: Energy Affordability and Equity Planning.

This year’s Better Buildings Summit was held as a Virtual Leadership Symposium June 8–11, and featured interactive online sessions, workshops, plenaries, and sector meet-ups with market leaders and industry stakeholders and experts. Over 2,000 participants attended and explored emerging technologies, resilience, workforce development, and much more. Learn more about the 2020 Summit on the Better Buildings Beat Blog.

REopt Lite Evaluation and Project Feedback

This is the REopt Lite logo.

Have you implemented (or are you considering) a distributed energy project based on REopt Lite™ results? We want to hear from you! What worked, what didn’t? How can we improve REopt Lite to better inform your future projects? Fill out the REopt online evaluation and share your REopt Lite experience.

The REopt Lite web tool helps commercial building managers:

  • Evaluate the economic viability of grid-connected photovoltaics, wind, and battery storage at a site
  • Identify system sizes and battery dispatch strategies to minimize energy costs
  • Estimate how long a system can sustain critical load during a grid outage.

Battery Project Makes Room for More Rooftop Solar in Decorah, Iowa

Jointly supported by Alliant Energy, DOE’s Office of Energy, and the Iowa Economic Development Authority, an innovative battery-storage solution in Decorah, Iowa, looks to seamlessly connect customer-owned solar while maintaining reliable electrical service across the community.

The 2.5-megawatt, 2.922-megawatt-hour battery will serve as an “electron bank” to store excess solar power. It will also provide valuable insight into the challenges of providing reliable and affordable electricity in areas with a concentration of customer-owned solar. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2020 and lessons learned will inform similar, future battery projects.

The battery will sit on land Alliant Energy leases from Decorah. Sandia National Laboratories, which administers the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership, is providing technical support for the project and will collect operational data.

Recent EERE Success Stories

The following success stories highlight how several states have used financial assistance from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) State Energy Program to achieve energy efficiency leadership success:

Southeastern State’s Roadmap to a Clean-Energy Market: Four southeastern states—North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia—worked with local nonprofits to support and advance clean energy market opportunities in the Southeast by developing a collaborative energy roadmap. The North Carolina-led coalition worked to advance the southeastern clean-energy market and examined clean-energy assets, opportunities, and challenges in the region. In North Carolina, the findings of the roadmap project were useful in the development of their 2019 Clean Energy Plan, which involved several of the same stakeholders and set key goals to transition the state to a clean-energy economy.

New Hampshire SEED Funds Help Advance Energy Efficiency in Small Town Schools: New Hampshire created the School Energy Efficiency Development (SEED) Grant, a competitive grant award of $100,000 aimed at achieving energy efficiency in schools. The first recipient of the SEED Grant was Jennie D. Blake Elementary School in Hill, New Hampshire. The grant allowed the school to install energy efficiency improvements that save an estimated $10,000 in energy costs, 34,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and 2,200 gallons of oil in the first year after the installations.

Infrastructure Investments in the News

Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank closes $2.5M C-PACE loan: Through a $2.5 million loan with the Rhode Island commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) program, the Providence Marriott Downtown in Providence, Rhode Island, installed a highly efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system; new controls; and light-emitting diode lighting that will reduce the hotel’s annual energy expense by almost 40%.

Central Ohio PACE investments surpass $100M: Since the program launch five years ago, $22 million of PACE financing has leveraged over $100 million in total investment, yielding a 32% average utility bill reduction and annual energy savings of $1.4 million for completed projects.

$9.3M in energy efficiency and solar projects accelerated by school shutdown in West Milford, New Jersey: The New Jersey Energy Savings Improvement Program, a lease-purchase method of financing local government energy conservation measures, has made $9.3 million available to the West Milford school district for solar installations and energy efficiency upgrades that are expected to pay for themselves by 2039.