Reimaging Energy Efficiency Resource Standards
Energy Efficiency Resource Standards (EERS) are a long-standing policy used to advance state goals and priorities, such as reliability, affordability and decarbonization. They ensure cost-effective energy efficiency is used to lower energy consumption, reduce peak demand, and enable grid flexibility. Adapting EERS through strategic design, and integrating EERS into broader energy plans and policies, can help states optimize their approach to meet modern and evolving power system needs and achieve sustainable energy outcomes.
Berkeley Lab’s new report, Reimagining Energy Efficiency Resource Standards, examines how states consider energy efficiency in the context of four policy priorities: providing grid benefits, addressing load growth, reducing emissions, and promoting affordability.
Actions that states can take to advance energy efficiency and other policy priorities that are discussed in the report include:
- Allow demand reductions to contribute toward efficiency goals
- Quantify the time and locational value of efficiency in planning
- Plan for efficiency and electricity load growth together
- Encourage efficiency, regardless of the fuel source
- Establish fuel neutral utility performance metrics
- Allow utilities to pursue efficiency to achieve emissions reductions goals
- Account for the cost of emissions in electricity planning and cost-effectiveness analysis
- Align efficiency metrics with emissions reduction goals
- Create or participate in air pollutant emissions reductions markets
- Consider affordability when evaluating efficiency
- Prioritize efficiency that achieves affordability
The report includes examples from a variety of states for each action. The examples in this report can help states seize each opportunity to use energy efficiency to improve the effectiveness of the solutions deployed to meet their policy priorities. Decision makers, policymakers, and stakeholders can draw directly from the examples and lessons in this report as models as they consider efficiency policy change.
The authors are Natalie Mims Frick, Angela Long, Grace Relf, Ted Light and Anthony Sandonato. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Policy supported this work.