Alliance Participates in Energy Efficiency EM&V Work Groups
November 11, 2009 – Alliance staff participated in two EM&V work groups created at the November 2, 2009 meeting of the North American Energy Standards Board’s (NAESB) Demand Side Management/EE Subcommittee in Baltimore, Md.
NAESB is an official standards-making body serving the electric and natural gas industries. The Subcommittee, which reports and recommends standards to the NAESB Executive Committee, established four work groups to address EM&V topics for wholesale demand response (DR), retail DR, wholesale energy efficiency and retail energy efficiency. The work groups will address such topics as measurement and verification approaches, estimation of baseline conditions, monitoring and measurement technical matters, statistical sampling, data validation, and verifications and auditing. Alliance staff will participate in both the wholesale and retail energy efficiency work groups.
The meeting included a presentation from the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) on its EM&V Forum. The Alliance also participates in this initiative, which is working to develop common definitions, methods, reporting guidelines and other elements of an EM&V system to serve the Northeastern states. Common or consistent EM&V protocols are critical as the possibility of regional and national trading of energy savings certificates, energy efficiency within renewable energy standards systems, and carbon allowances and offsets arise.
Why EM&V
The Alliance's activity in this field is especially pertinent given the growing visibility of energy efficiency programs and requirements at the state level. Moreover, the potential for a national energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) has increased awareness of EM&V. Policymakers, regulators, utilities, and energy consumers seek assurances that programs deliver energy savings, are cost-effective, and will provide benefits including emissions avoidance, energy reliability, and reduced stresses to the electric grid.
The Alliance is also in the late stages of preparing a paper, “Energy Savings Credits: The Measurement Challenge” under a U.S. Department of Energy State Energy Program grant from Pennsylvania.
How Associates Can Get Involved
The Alliance invites Associates’ feedback and support on this topic, including suggestions on the most effective avenues for participation. Please contact Rodney Sobin, Senior Policy Manager at 202-530-2234 or rsobin@ase.org for more information or to share your views.
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