Filters
Topic: Programs, Products & Services 
(remove) Topic: Generation & delivery (remove) Content type: Research (remove) Results
Making Backup Generators Pay Back
January 26, 2012
What are the costs associated with natural gas and diesel backup generators for commercial applications? Under what conditions can we expect a reasonable payback on that investment?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: CEMC-AskES-14 | Author: Bryan Jungers
Planning for Renewable-Based Energy Security and Prosperity in Humboldt County
May 1, 2011
The project team will develop and implement an energy‐optimization model to determine a renewable‐based energy portfolio for Humboldt County that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, maximizes local economic benefits and maintains grid stability.
Content type: Fact Sheet | Document ID: CEC-FS-3 | Author: California Energy Commission/Public Interest Energy Research
The Virtual Power Plant: An Introduction
March 24, 2011
What is a virtual power plant? Can you summarize its characteristics?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: IGS-AskES-28 | Author: Dulcey Simpkins
Efficiency and Air Quality Implications of Distributed Generation and Combined Heat and Power in California
March 1, 2011
This project is investigating the efficiencies of distributed generation power combined with heating and cooling usage. Specific market sectors were identified as having the highest potential for wide‐scale urban implementation of distributed generation/combined heat and power in the near future.
Content type: Fact Sheet | Document ID: CEC-FS-4 | Author: California Energy Commission/Public Interest Energy Research
The Power Workout: Energizing Your Body, Mind, and . . . Building?
April 22, 2010
Two new devices that turn exercise equipment into mini power generators provide opportunities for energy-efficiency education and outreach as well as a small contribution to a building’s energy needs.
Content type: Research Brief | Document ID: TAS-RB-18 | Author: Kitty Stevenson
Environmental Benefits of Smart Grid: Energy Efficiency and Conservation
September 22, 2009
Smart grid technologies have the potential to boost the energy-efficiency and conservation effects of utility programs through enhanced data feedback, customized information and promotion of efficient technologies, and improved measurement and verification.
Content type: Research Brief | Document ID: IGS-RB-1 | Author: Philippe Bouchard
Communicating with Customers About AMI Deployment
July 20, 2009
We are planning an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) deployment. What’s the best way to tell our customers about AMI?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: UCS-AskES-6 | Author: Alexandra Behringer and Matthew Burks
Piloting the Smart Grid
Lessons Learned from the Front Line
April 2, 2009
Leading-edge utilities are exploring smart grid and launching pilot projects to assess new technologies, benefits, and uncertainties. This report offers in-depth review of product performance as well as important insight on pilot design, systems integration, and innovative business strategy.
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: IGS-F-2 | Author: Philippe Bouchard
Small Steps Forward: 2005 Micro-CHP Roundup and Outlook
March 1, 2006
Micro-CHP (combined heat and power) is still on a path to move from niche markets in Europe and early market growth in Japan toward mass markets, although current market growth is relatively modest. In 2005, global sales increased by around 20 percent. Five products were commercially available at the ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-8 | Author: Jon Slowe
Housing Developers: Open Door or Long Shot for Micro-CHP Vendors?
January 1, 2006
The private-sector new-build market offers opportunities and challenges for micro-CHP. Opportunities arise because a single housing developer could be responsible for specifying several thousand boilers per year, and installing micro-CHP in new-build homes prevents any retrofit difficulties. But challenges ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-7 | Author: Jon Slowe
Little or Large? The Economics of Electricity Supply from Micro-CHP Versus Central Power Plants
November 1, 2005
A utility’s core business is generating power in large, central power plants and supplying it to customers via transmission and distribution grids. However, the emergence of micro-CHP (combined heat and power) provides a different approach—generating electricity within residential buildings. Using ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-6 | Author: Jon Slowe
The Beginning of a Power Generation Revolution: 2004 Micro-CHP Roundup and Outlook
March 1, 2005
This report looks back at micro-CHP developments in 2004 and discusses what lies ahead over the next three years. In all, we estimate that 25 megawatts of micro-CHP (combined heat and power) capacity, comprising units sized at 5 kilowatts or less, was installed in 2004, with product manufactured by six ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-4 | Author: Jon Slowe
Utility-Owned PV and LEED Points
February 8, 2005
If a utility funds the installation of a photovoltaic (PV) system for a building that's attempting to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) status, does it affect the awarding of LEED points for on-site renewable energy?
Content type: Ask E Source | Document ID: TAS-TN-1-05c | Author: Peter Criscione
Micro-CHP: Threat or Opportunity? Utility Strategies in an Emerging Market
January 1, 2005
Utilities have some stark choices to make about micro-CHP (combined heat and power). Do they ignore it, hoping that micro-CHP markets remain small and insignificant? Do they make investments in micro-CHP product developers? Or do they get involved in micro-CHP field tests with a view to take product ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-3 | Author: Jon Slowe
Utility Standby Generator Programs: Building Distributed Generation Businesses
November 1, 2004
Several utilities have launched DG initiatives in the past few years, using standby generators to provide customers with increased power reliability. Typically, these programs offer to install, own, and operate generators at customers’ sites, while customers pay a monthly fee in return. In some cases ...
Content type: Focus Report | Document ID: DE-F-2 | Author: Gerald Cler
Today's and Tomorrow's Micro-CHP Purchasers
July 1, 2004
One day, micro-CHP (combined heat and power) developers hope to be selling their products to mass, rather than niche, markets. Our interviews with micro-CHP purchasers and analysis of market research with field trial participants show that micro-CHP users in Europe are primarily innovators keen to seek ...
Content type: Focus Report, Research | Document ID: MCHP-F-1 | Author: Jon Slowe
Micro-CHP: Coming to a Home near You?
June 1, 2004
Combined heat and power (CHP) appliances no bigger than a dishwasher are being sold to homeowners in Europe and Japan. In addition, products the size of air-conditioning units have been sold to thousands of homeowners and small businesses, including a number in the U.S. In this study, we examine how ...
Content type: Market Study | Document ID: MCS-04-1A-MCHP | Author: Jon Slowe
Topics: Utilities Launch Commercial Sales of Micro-CHP to Households; An Update from Sulzer Hexis' Field Trials
April 1, 2004
Features: Utilities Launch Commercial Sales of Micro-CHP to Households An Update from Sulzer Hexis' Field Trials MCHPCurrents-1; April 2004; 13 pages
Content type: Currents, Research | Document ID: MCHPCURRENTS-1 | Author: Jon Slowe
Incentives for Premium-Efficiency Motors: The Role of Prescriptive Rebates in the Post-EPAct Era
May 1, 2003
Minimum U.S. efficiency standards for induction motors enacted in the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) took effect in October 1997. In July 2001, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) adopted a voluntary premium-efficiency (PE) standard, and most motor manufacturers now offer numerous ...
Content type: Core Report, Research | Document ID: ER-03-09 | Author: Dan Greenberg
Microturbines: Lessons Learned from Early Adopters
December 1, 2002
This E Source Multi-Client Study explores the experiences of early adopters of microturbines, highlighting what’s worked and what hasn’t in the early commercial market phases of this new technology. We’ve included field experiences with microturbines from all the major manufacturers. The Interview ...
Content type: Market Study | Document ID: DE-MCS-02-1A | Author: David Van Holde, PE, Gary Cler, Christine Hurley, Jon Slowe
Moving Beyond Pilot Projects: Utility Business Models for Distributed Energy
July 1, 2002
The market conditions for distributed generation have drastically changed in the past year, but distributed generation still has a role in helping utilities profitably meet customer needs. In this report we examine some of the most common and some of the most creative business models for regulated utilities ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-19 | Author: Christine Hurley
Economic Evaluation Tools for Distributed Generation
December 1, 2001
Back-of-the-envelope cost calculations are insufficient for any more than a single, simple distributed generation project. E source has identified nearly a dozen software or Web-based tools that help evaluate the economics and perform feasibility studies for distributed generation. These tools range ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-16 | Author: Christine Hurley
Dynamic Market Opportunities and Barriers for Standby Generators
December 1, 2000
Distributed energy is increasingly being used by utilities and independent companies as a means to meet peak demand and to provide profit in energy, delivery, and ancillary service markets. This report provides an overview of the issues that are driving the use of distributed energy, such as price volatility ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-13 | Author: Joan Gregerson
Renewable Technologies for Green Electricity Programs
May 1, 2000
Shopping for green generation? The available renewable technologies vary widely in cost, consumer perception, technical performance, and political appeal. This report looks at the pros and cons of wind, photovoltaics, hydropower, landfill methane, and biomass. Although there is no one best technology, ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: GE-4 | Author: Paul Komor
Six Ways to Sell Power Quality
March 1, 2000
Despite the apparently huge market for PQ solutions, and the fact that power quality is considered to be an essential core competency of an electric utility, selling power quality to end users has become one of the most vexing challenges for electric utilities. In this report, E Source presents six ways ...
Content type: Core Report | Document ID: ER-00-5 | Author: William Howe
Strategic Market Assessment for Distributed Energy: Scenarios from a Venture Capitalist
March 1, 2000
Past efforts to scope out the size of distributed energy markets have failed to accurately portray just how much and how fast markets will develop. This report reviews past efforts to size the market, explains why such efforts failed, and employs a scenario approach to anticipate future market developments ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-10 | Author: Dominic Geraghty
Dynamic Pricing and the Future of Distributed Generation
September 1, 1998
Although it is too early to say how dynamic pricing in a restructured U.S. energy marketplace will affect the economics of distributed generation, it appears that distributed generators may find their largest opportunity in displacing purchases of conventional network power, particularly as price volatility ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-4 | Author: David Armstrong, Laurence Kirsch, Cara Lee Mahany Braithwait
Distributed Generation: Markets and Technologies in Transition
December 1, 1997
The development and commercialization of small power plants is quickly gathering momentum. Two microturbine manufacturers are accepting commercial orders, as is one fuel cell company. More than two dozen companies in the U.S. alone are poised to commercialize new small power plant technologies, including ...
Content type: Research, Service Report | Document ID: DE-1 | Author: Gerald Cler, Nicholas Lenssen
