New Report Finds Demand Response-Green Building Partnership is Off to a Great Start
By Jamie Fine
New Report Finds Demand Response-Green Building Partnership is Off to a Great S…
Buildings account for 40% of our nation’s electricity use. In 2012, power plants spewed about 2 gigatons of global warming pollution into our air, which was about one-third of total U.S. emissions. That’s why EDF and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) teamed up to launch the Demand Response Partnership Program (DRPP) aimed at enrolling LEED-certified commercial buildings in host utility demand response (DR) programs. Since the program’s inception over 2 years ago, the preliminary results of this collaboration are now available. Our 2013 DRPP Year End Report details how the program is educating building energy managers to drive adoption of demand response programs for commercial buildings.
DR is used to reduce energy use by rewarding utility customers who use less electricity during times of “critical,” peak electricity demand. The DRPP asks LEED buildings that are already quite efficient to operate in low power mode when the grid is stressed. The DRP Program used the USGBC’s newly posted LEED ‘Pilot Credit 8: Demand Response’ as an implementation guideline and leveraged its relationships with the building community to foster adoption and participation in existing utility and solution provider demand response offerings.
