Cambridge Energy Initiative Charrette

• Welcome
• About
• Download Full Report
• How to Register

• Topics

  • Innovation Challenge Goals
  • How to Achieve Cambridge’s Energy Reduction Goals
  • Using Energy Service Companies to Meet Reduction Goals
  • Additional Measures to Reduce Peak Energy and Fossil Fuel Consumption
  • Combined Solutions Total Potential
  • Increasing Efficiency Potential through Utility Programs and Policy
  • Transportation Fuel Use Reduction Strategies
  • Next Steps
  • Appendix A: Charrette Participants
  • Appendix B: Energy Supply and Use in Cambridge
  • Appendix C: Utility and Policy Ideas from the Charrette
  • Appendix D: Boston Innovation Challenge Breakout Group Ideas

• Co-sponsoring Organizations

  • Barr Foundation
  • Cambridge Energy Alliance
  • Harvard University
  • Henry P. Kendall Foundation
  • M.I.T.
  • Rocky Mountain Institute

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Next Steps

There are a variety of options that will move the City of Cambridge towards its goals to reduce peak energy load by 50 MW and reduce fossil fuel consumption by five percent in the next five years. There are four “next steps” that RMI believes that the City of Cambridge and the CEA should follow to begin moving towards meeting their goals:

1. Implement Now
2. Seek Additional Funding Options
3. Maintain Baseline
4. Develop New Goals for After Five Years

Each of these steps will be discussed in more detail below.

Implement Now

The City of Cambridge only has five years to meet their goals, so it is important that implementation begin immediately. The first steps are to use the ESCO model to achieve all of the low-hanging fruit first and achieve the easier reductions as fast as possible. As shown in Table 4, it is likely that the City will need at least twenty percent annual penetration rate to meet its goals only using the ESCO.

Seek Additional Funding Options

Currently, the CEA’s plan does not include additional funding for the enhanced ESCO, new construction and institution options that will be necessary if the City cannot achieve high enough penetration rates to meet the goal with only the ESCO. The CEA and the City should begin looking for other funding sources to ensure there is enough money to install more energy reduction measures than what the typical ESCO implements.

Maintain Baseline

While the City and the CEA are actively working towards reducing peak energy consumption and fossil fuel consumption, it is imperative that they also maintain the baseline energy consumption that the City and Peregrine are working on establishing. Peregrine’s access to NSTAR data pre and post work should provide an excellent source from which the City may measure its successes.

Develop New Goals for After Five Years

While the City of Cambridge’s current goals require an aggressive peak reduction and fossil fuel use reduction over the next five years, it is important to also consider extending and enhancing those goals after the 5-year time horizon. Beginning to consider new goals now and setting those goals prior to the end of the 5-year time horizon is critical in ensuring continuity of efforts, providing advanced notice to key players such as ESCOs, campuses, foundations, and city government, and maintaining momentum.Possible considerations for extending and enhancing Cambridge’s goals include:

• Electricity consumption reduction - In addition to the existing peak reduction and fossil fuel reduction goals, Cambridge should consider implementing an electricity consumption reduction target. That is, while reducing the peak will likely reduce total electricity Cambridge Energy Alliance 27 Rocky Mountain Institute consumption to some degree, demand response could result in peak reduction without accompanying electricity reduction. However, as Cambridge looks forward to continuing its sustainability efforts and reducing the financial burden of energy to its community members, electricity reduction through end use efficiency should be seriously considered. End use efficiency is typically one of the most cost-effective means of reducing both climate impact and cost.
• Clean, distributed resources - Consider clarifying the peak demand reduction goal or supplementing with a goal of meeting some percentage of remaining energy demand by using clean, distributed resources such as combined heat & power or solar photovoltaics.
• Extend existing goals - Maintain and expand Cambridge’s existing peak reduction and fossil fuel reduction goals.

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