Turning Policy into Performance: Measuring Equity to Achieve Restorative Justice

As utility regulators contemplate major infrastructure investments to keep pace with pockets of growing peak demand throughout the region, less costly non-wires alternatives (NWA) solutions are looking all the more attractive in transmission and distribution system planning — especially given the potential for dramatically lower price tags for ratepayers. Showcased as a key component of the New…

Rhode Island has long been a leader in the field of energy efficiency policies, consistently landing in one of the top five positions on ACEEE’s scorecard in recent years. Looking through National Grid’s proposed 2017 Energy Efficiency Program Plan, we’ve pulled out three distinct components that we believe program administrators in other states may look towards in the near future, and…

Last month’s annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) was notable for several reasons. In the days leading up to the meeting, NARUC released a final version of its Distributed Energy Resource Rate Design and Compensation Manual, and at the meeting members elected a new President, who happens to be from the NEEP region. Yet, from an energy…

Yes, it’s already mid-December; that time of year best known for office holiday parties, well-deserved vacation time, and — perhaps most importantly — the big push to make end-of-year deadlines. Just in case the holiday season has you either with your head in the clouds or your nose to the grindstone, you can read on for a summary of the latest on energy efficiency policies in…

Here’s a hypothetical situation (perhaps a strictly hypothetical one if you’re a millennial like me): Imagine you want to buy a home. You know you want A bedrooms, B baths, and about C square feet (which is just enough room for yourself and D, plus E and F, and maybe a guest, G). You have your heart set on features H, I, and J in your kitchen and living room. And to ensure that getting to…

With a harsh, divisive election season behind us, the voters have spoken, and change is a coming to America. But what kind of change? What will a Trump administration mean for our children, our nation and for the clean energy future that so many of our region’s state and local leaders have committed to? Like many of you, I spent the days after November 8 pondering how the election results will…

“The Internet of Things” (IoT) is a term coined in 1999 to describe the vast array of connected devices like refrigerators, blenders, cars, cameras, light bulbs, thermostats, pacemakers, and yes, even Barbie.  Smart objects as a whole have been valued as a $19 trillion industry with billions of individual objects being connected to the internet at any given moment. While these numbers may…

This article first appeared on Efficiency Vermont's blog on October 26.    The home automation market has taken off in recent years. Whether it’s smart thermostats, voice-activated assistants like Siri or Alexa, or smart lighting, new technologies are being developed quickly by both big industry players and small innovators. Home Energy Management System (HEMS) hubs, sometimes referred to as…

Tucked away at the bottom of page 81 in Con Edison’s recent 120 page settlement agreement lies a sentence that will likely alter the course of energy efficiency programs in the state: “Electric rates are designed for the Company to recover the costs of the Energy Efficiency Program, system peak reduction program and the equipment portion of the EV Program over ten (10) years, including the…

While completing my Masters of Science in Environmental Science and Policy at Clark University, I had the opportunity to work as a Smart Energy Ambassador at the National Grid Sustainability Hub (the Hub). Energy became my concentration in grad school; I look at it as the central point in environmental issues, as well as the solution. During my time at the Hub, I was able to interact with…