Appendix C: Utility and Policy Ideas from the Charrette
Utility initiatives and programs that were suggested at the charrette are:
- Existing residential
- Programmable Communicating Thermostat
- Real-time monitor /display two-way
- Conversional direct load control
- Critical peak pricing
- Demonstration retrofit to serve a model
- Utility program defense to not commit to future big loads (like plasma tvs)- Vendors
- Renewables
- Existing commercial
- Design assistance
- Real-time monitor/ display two-way
- Super-efficient chilled water (large commercial)
- Demonstration retrofit to serve as model
- Renewables
- New Commercial
- Super-efficiency chilled water plants
- District heating and cooling (future Northpoint community)
- Programmable communicating thermostat
- Real-time monitor /display two-way
- Use summer steam from Morant Plant for absorption cooling
- Renewables
- Institutional/Hospital
- Water treatment
- Co-generation
- District heating and cooling use and efficiency
- Summer steam in Morant Plant
- Super-efficient chilled water plants
- Avoid new central plants
- Existing campus buildings could be retrofitted and used as models for the rest of Cambridge/other institutes
- Renewables
- Community
- AC Load Shedding
- Water Billing for On-Bill Financing: tie financing for efficiency measures to a building instead of a customer’s personal credit
- Water utility revenue decoupling - remove incentives for utility to discourage efficiency so it can sell more water to pay off debts
- Water conservation and re-use program
- Draw from MWRA Water Supply - potentially less energy intensive system could supply Cambridge at peak times
- Off-Peak water pumping - use Payson Park capacity during the day
- Cambridge Wi-Fi network used as platform for demand response
- Co-gen and tri-gen reuse waste heat from distributed power generation
- Neighborhood customer aggregation to facilitate residential demand/response and smooth instantaneous demand on grid
- Fuel Oil efficiency package - couple aggressive efficiency programs to fuel oil sales or fuel oil distributor financing.
- Public Lighting: Wireless, dimmable street lamps
- District Heating and cooling
- District energy systems that eliminate individual building chillers and boilers
- Renewables
- Better scheduling of mass transit
- Integrate existing private shuttle routes (publish route info, coordinate schedules, open private buses to public)
- Auditing – to identify opportunities to reduce automobile useUse parking rates, new construction space requirements and cash-out programs, HOV lanes, and congestion charges as tools as disincentives for driving (or incentives for car-pooling)
- Real-time information: provide user friendly schedule and route information for public transit options through Cambridge wireless mesh network
- Close streets to cars and improve bike paths (to encourage walking and biking)
- One-card/One-payer system to improve convenience of public transit options
Policy ideas that were discussed at the charrette were:
- Existing Residential
- New Codes - performance based
- New Lighting Code: Performance standards, metrics, equivalence sphere illuminance, kWh metrics over LPD, require labelled products (LCA, toxicity, recyclability)
- Coordinate fire code with energy-efficiency strategies
- Trade in program for upgrade to more energy efficient appliances/holiday lights/etc. Trade ins de-manufactured to reclaim metals and other valuable materials.
- Operations and Maintenance Training
- “Green assistance” program to help people through the process of retrofits
- Building Energy Use Disclosure - provide energy use information at time of sale to give landlord benefit of efficiency improvements
- Certification program for contractors
- Potential to override historical precedent for design standards if 3x efficiency can be achieved
- Permit prioritizing/expediting for efficient designs (retrofits)
- Financial incentives - design $ award for confirmed performance
- Utility Program Defense to not commit to future big loads (like plasma tvs) -Incentive
- Existing Commercial
- Conduct audits and occupancy surveys
- New Codes - performance-based
- Coordinate fire code with energy-efficiency strategies
- Permit prioritizing/expediting for efficient designs (retrofits)
- Operations and Maintenance Training
- “Green assistance” program to help people through the process of retrofits
- Certification program for contractors
- Inspector Training
- Building Energy Use Disclosure - provide energy use information at time of sale to give landlord benefit of efficiency improvements
- Potential to override historical precedent for design standards if 3x efficiency can be achieved
- Reconcile existing historic building preservation standards with energy efficient retrofits.
- Establish an “Energy Efficiency Gap Financing” pool
- Financial incentives - design $ award for confirmed performance
- New Construction
- New Codes - performance-based
- Set standards for NorthPoint to Option A at minimum. Huge opportunity here (~2,500 homes in the next 10 years; a few million square feet of commercial) to reduce future loads
- Coordinate fire code with energy-efficiency strategies
- Permit prioritizing/expediting for efficient designs
- Leasing structure to align incentives between builders, developers, owners, renters to be energy efficient. Design awards; performance awards ($ awarded to confirmed performance)
- Financial incentives - design $ award for confirmed performance
- Metrics: Daylight autonomy, btu/square feet
- Programmable Communicating Thermostat
- Reconcile existing historic building preservation standards with energy efficient retrofits.
- Campus/Institution/Hospital
- Comprehensive city audit on use/opportunities (inspired by carma.org) - where are the big hot spots?
- Lab Building Standards: Low-flow hoods, reduced ACH, night-time setbacks, Demand-controlled ventilation
- Data Center Standards: best current design practice (i.e. separation between hot and cold isles, VSD on fans, water/air-side economizers), most efficient computing equipment, revamp standards to reflect actual energy needs, research of new design methods
- LEED for new construction or EB, with certain current optional credits instituted as required credits.
- Create position responsible for coordinating knowledge sharing between institutions (i.e. sharing Harvard University expertise)
- CEA charged with task to identify institutions for co-gen/tri-gen
- Policy for co-gen/tri-gen: Interconnection between buildings/institutions/utility/other parties; Decoupling
- Student participation to disseminate information
- Carbon credit financing program: One institution provides interest-free financing to another institution to provide carbon reductions so that the investing institution owns the CO2 assets
- Campus goals/LDRSP/2-30
- Building owner readiness/acceptance programs
- Community/Infrastructure
- Water utility revenue decoupling - remove incentives for utility to discourage efficiency so it can sell more water to pay off debts
- Water conservation and re-use program
- Online listserves to share information about energy efficiency retrofits. Use existing social networks and communities: (rotary, churches chamber of commerce, etc.)
- City could finance retrofits on citizen’s tax bills.
- Develop landlord/tenant process and sample contracts to align incentives for energy efficiency
- Public light pollution standards
- Bring in retail establishments (Best Buy, Home Depot, Sears, Lowe’s, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond) to emphasize efficiency and to offer affordable energy efficient selection of products, with possible incentives for swapping appliances
- Labeling and recognition for participants (ads in newspapers, plaques in houses, etc.)
- Establish an “Energy Efficiency Gap Financing Pool”
- Building owner readiness/acceptance programs
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