Energy Efficiency

Electricity Markets & Policy’s Energy Efficiency area conducts unbiased research, analysis, and technical assistance on energy efficiency markets and policies, as well as planning, designing, financing, implementing, and evaluating utility customer- and publicly funded programs. We also conduct research on the performance and market trends of the energy service company (ESCO) industry.

See the Projects tab for more information on the areas in which we work. 

Utility Customer-Funded Programs

The breadth and number of energy efficiency programs for utility customers continue to increase in response to policy and economic drivers. EMP analyzes trends in these utility programs and enabling policies and provides technical and policy support to regional authorities, state regulatory commissions, and program administrators.

    U.S. ESCO Industry Research

    Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) have proven their ability to achieve significant energy and water savings for their clients. EMP supports this work by assessing ESCO industry performance and market trends and by managing the largest database of ESCO projects in the world.

    Financing Energy Efficiency

    Rapid deployment of energy efficiency resources rests on a sound understanding and application of financing options. To support that understanding, EMP provides independent, interdisciplinary analysis of critical issues in energy efficiency financing.

    Determining Program Impacts (EM&V)

    EMP provides a range of technical and policy assistance to build state-level capacity and develop new and standardized methods for evaluation, measurement, and verification (EM&V) of energy efficiency programs.

    Technical and Policy Support for SEE Action Network

    Electricity Markets & Policy staff provide technical and policy support for the State Energy Efficiency Action Network (SEE Action), a state and local effort facilitated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency working to advance policy support and markets for energy efficiency.

    Technical Assistance to States

    The Office of Electricity (OE) provides independent and unbiased technical support to states, regions, and Tribes on their electricity-related policies through its Electricity Policy Technical Assistance Program. Types of assistance offered and activities supported include: analysis assistance; stakeholder-convened discussions; education and training through workshops and webinars; consultations with technical experts. Technical assistance is provided through national laboratories, regional and national associations of state decision-makers, and federal government staff. OE provides technical assistance in response to requests from eligible entities.

    Time- and Locational-Sensitive Value

    Distributed energy resources (DERs) — energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation and storage — are beginning to displace the need for some traditional utility infrastructure investments in some U.S. regions. However, the value of DERs to the electric system depends in part on DER characteristics — including where they are sited, when they generate or save energy, and their cost-effectiveness compared to traditional grid investments. The EMP Group has researched the time-sensitive value of energy efficiency in several states and regions.

    eProject Builder

    LBNL developed and maintains eProject Builder (ePB), a secure web-based data standardization and tracking system for energy projects across the United States. ePB was the recipient of a 2018 R&D 100 award.

    Energy Equity

    2023

    Murphy, Sean, and Natalie Mims Frick. "Estimating the Drivers of the Cost of Saved Electricity in Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs." Energies 16.5 (2023).

    2022

    Woolf, Tim, Alice Napoleon, Natalie Mims Frick, Lisa C Schwartz, Julie Michals, and Natalie Fortman. Distributional Equity Analysis: Advisory Committee. 2022.

    Related Files

       DEA Advisory Committee Meeting No. 1 (681.28 KB)   DEA Advisory Committee Meeting No. 2 (672.42 KB)
    Pigman, Margaret, Natalie Mims Frick, Eric Wilson, Andrew Parker, and Elaina Present. End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock: Practical Guidance on Accessing and Using the Data. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (1.88 MB)   Presentation PDF (8.93 MB)
    Langevin, Jared, Aven Satre-Meloy, Andrew Satchwell, Ryan Hledik, Julia Olszewski, Kate Peters, and Handi Chandra-Putra. "The role of buildings in U.S. energy system decarbonization by mid-century." One Earth (2022).
    Satchwell, Andrew, Brady Cowiestoll, Elaine Hale, Brian F Gerke, Paige Jadun, Cong Zhang, and Samanvitha Murthy. Assessing the Interactive Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response on Power System Costs and Emissions. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (6.68 MB)
    Deason, Jeff, Sean Murphy, and Greg Leventis. "Customer outcomes in Pay-As-You-Save programs." 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2022.

    Related Files

       ACEEE Proceedings PDF (659.23 KB)   Presentation PDF (391.67 KB)
    Pigman, Margaret, Jeff Deason, Nancy Wallace, and Paulo Issler. "How Does Home Energy Score Affect Home Value and Mortgage Performance?." 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2022.

    Related Files

       ACEEE Proceedings PDF (637.22 KB)
    Schwartz, Lisa C, David Nemtzow, and Natalie Mims Frick. "How to Build a Connected Community: Policies to Promote Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings and Demand Flexibility." 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2022.

    Related Files

       ACEEE 2022 Proceedings PDF (970.11 KB)
    Nemtzow, David, Cynthia Regnier, Kristina Hamachi LaCommare, Natalie Mims Frick, and Jason S MacDonald. "If One GEB is Good, a Community of GEBs is Better." 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2022.

    Related Files

       ACEEE 2022 Proceedings PDF (887.76 KB)
    Satchwell, Andrew, and Ryan Hledik. "Making Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings a “Win” for Both Customers and Utilities." 2022 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings 2022.

    Related Files

       ACEEE Proceedings PDF (669.75 KB)
    Schiller, Steven R, Jeff Deason, Greg Leventis, Lisa C Schwartz, and Kelly Parmenter. "The Future of Energy Efficiency for U.S. Buildings - Drivers and Market Scenarios." 2022.

    Related Files

       2022 ACEEE Summer Study Paper (753.42 KB)
    Burton, Robin, Murali Baggu, Jill Rhodes, Nate Blair, Tom Harris, Manajit Sengupta, Clayton Barrows, Haiku Sky, Jaemo Yang, James Elsworth, Paritosh Das, Patrick Duffy, Gabriel Zuckerman, Jeremy Stefek, Prateek Joshi, Lawrence Paul Lewis, John Murphy, Peter Cappers, Jeff Deason, Margaret Pigman, Yilu Liu, Bandana Kar, Shih-Chieh Kao, Marcelo Elizondo, Xiaoyuan Fan, Patrick Maloney, Vishvas Chalishazar, Patrick Royer, Fernando BeretaDos Reis, Amanda Wachtel, Matthew Lave, Olga Epshtein Hart, Christian Birk Jones, James Ellison, Cody Newlun, Michele Chait, Harvey Cutler, and Martin Shields. Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100): Six-Month Progress Update. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (11.05 MB)
    Satchwell, Andrew, Ryan Hledik, Oleksandr Kuzura, Oluwatobi Adekanye, and Chioke B Harris. Valuing Residential Energy Efficiency: Analysis for a Prototypical Southeastern Utility. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (1.99 MB)   Technical Appendix PDF (2.21 MB)
    Schiller, Steven R, Jeff Deason, Kelly Parmenter, Greg Leventis, and Lisa C Schwartz. Future of Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Drivers and Market Expectations. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (2.67 MB)   Presentation PDF (1.36 MB)
    Gerke, Brian F, Cong Zhang, Samanvitha Murthy, Andrew Satchwell, Elaina Present, Henry Horsey, Eric Wilson, Andrew Parker, Andrew Speake, Rajendra Adhikari, and Mary Ann Piette. "Load-driven interactions between energy efficiency and demand response on regional grid scales." Advances in Applied Energy 6 (2022).
    Murthy, Samanvitha, Andrew Satchwell, and Brian F Gerke. "Metrics to describe changes in the power system need for demand response resources." Smart Energy 6 (2022).
    Deason, Jeff, Greg Leventis, and Sean Murphy. Long-Term Performance of Energy Efficiency Loan Portfolios. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (2 MB)   Overview PDF (311 KB)
    Deason, Jeff, Sean Murphy, and Charles A Goldman. Tracking the PACE of household energy usage: Energy usage impacts of projects financed through Property Assessed Clean Energy programs in California. 2022.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (2.31 MB)
    Frick, Natalie Mims, Juan Pablo Carvallo, and Margaret Pigman. "Time-Sensitive Value Calculator." 2022.

    Related Files

       User Manual PDF (2.44 MB)   Overview Presentation Slides PDF (3.83 MB)   2022 ACEEE Summer Study Paper (1.01 MB)

    2021

    Leventis, Greg, and Jeff Deason. "Deferred Payment Loans for Energy Efficiency: Case Study of a Low- and Moderate-Income Home Improvement Financing Model and Potential Application to Energy Efficiency Projects." 2021.

    Related Files

       Technical Brief PDF (459.97 KB)
    Deason, Jeff, Sean Murphy, and Charles A Goldman. "Empirical Estimation of the Energy Impacts of Projects Installed through Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing Programs in California." Energies 14.23 (2021).
    Frick, Natalie Mims, Juan Pablo Carvallo, and Lisa C Schwartz. "Quantifying grid reliability and resilience impacts of energy efficiency: Examples and opportunities." 2021.

    Related Files

       Brief PDF (1.31 MB)   Presentation PDF (397.14 KB)   ACEEE 2022 Proceedings PDF (611.98 KB)
    Schwartz, Lisa C, Chandler Miller, Sean Murphy, and Natalie Mims Frick. State Indicators for Advancing Demand Flexibility and Energy Efficiency in Buildings. 2021.

    Related Files

       Part I: Demand Response and Energy Efficiency Targeted to Reduce Peak Demand PDF (2.09 MB)   Part II: Traditional Energy Efficiency Indicators for Electricity and Gas PDF (2.62 MB)   Presentation for NASEO-NARUC GEBs Working Group (1.16 MB)
    Stuart, Elizabeth. "An Ally in Your Corner: Benefits of Using Owner's Representatives." 2021.

    Related Files

       Brief PDF (189.27 KB)
    Pigman, Margaret, Jeff Deason, and Sean Murphy. Who is participating in residential energy efficiency programs? Exploring demographic and other household characteristics of participants in utility customer-funded energy efficiency programs. 2021.

    Related Files

       Report PDF (3.83 MB)   Presentation PDF (1.97 MB)

    Pages

    eProject Builder

    LBNL developed and maintains eProject Builder (ePB), a secure web-based data standardization and tracking system for energy projects across the United States. ePB was the recipient of a 2018 R&D 100 award.

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    Recent Publications

    Estimating the Drivers of the Cost of Saved Electricity in Utility Customer-Funded Energy Efficiency Programs
    Distributional Equity Analysis: Advisory Committee
    End-Use Load Profiles for the U.S. Building Stock: Practical Guidance on Accessing and Using the Data
    The role of buildings in U.S. energy system decarbonization by mid-century
    Assessing the Interactive Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Demand Response on Power System Costs and Emissions

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