New Active Efficiency Tool Assesses Value of Demand Flexibility

WASHINGTON – The Active Efficiency Collaborative, an initiative of the Alliance to Save Energy, on Wednesday, Dec. 15 released the Demand Flexibility Valuation Report in partnership with the Brattle Group. This digital report features a new, interactive tool that serves as a one-stop hub for those seeking to understand and evaluate the benefits of demand flexibility. The tool provides customized information based on decisionmakers’ interests on how demand flexibility can help reduce costs, meet capacity needs, and decarbonize the grid.

“Decarbonizing our energy system is a two-part process – it’s not just about clean supply, but better managed demand,” said Alliance President Paula Glover. “Unfortunately, the potential of demand-side solutions is often stymied by how difficult it can be to quantify their value – what’s the dollar value of a family choosing to run their dishwasher at 5 p.m. versus 8 p.m.? The Active Efficiency Collaborative’s new tool will help decisionmakers in the industry understand and evaluate the full range of benefits that demand flexibility can provide.”

Demand flexibility – which is the capability to reduce, shed, shift, or modulate electricity consumption in real time – is crucial for ensuring that the energy transition can take place rapidly without compromising on reliability or energy affordability. For example, time-of-use rates, which may incentivize customers to use energy when it is cheap and abundant and disincentivize use during times of high demand, are increasingly popular among utilities. But calculating the value of demand-side resources is notoriously complex, particularly when it can vary based on factors such as market type or program goals – a challenge the tool addresses by allowing users to specify their interest in demand flexibility and instantaneously receive customized resources.

The Active Efficiency Collaborative, a community of industry leaders, NGOs, and public sector institutions, was founded by the Alliance to Save Energy in 2019 in recognition of how new technologies are broadening the role of efficiency in the energy system. Explore the tool and learn more about Active Efficiency at ActiveEfficiency.org.

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE TO SAVE ENERGY

Founded in 1977, the Alliance to Save Energy is a nonprofit, bipartisan alliance of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders working to expand the economy while using less energy. Our mission is to promote energy productivity worldwide – including through energy efficiency – to achieve a stronger economy, a cleaner environment and greater energy security, affordability, and reliability.

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