“Hey Alexa, when is a good time to run my air conditioner?” This is the future of demand response (DR) Mark Martinez, senior portfolio manager of emerging markets and technology at Southern California Edison (SCE), describes in episode two of PowerTalking.

Sharing this vision of the future with Mark are podcast host Bryan Jungers and Rachel Reiss Buckley, vice president of Enterprise Strategy and Product Development at E Source. Together, they deliver a brief history of DR, explain how data science is improving program participation, and describe some of the largest hurdles in the DR space today. Rachel and Mark’s combined decades of DR knowledge help to paint a complete picture of how the strategy works and where it’s headed in the future.

Interested in learning more about our DR work? Visit www.esource.com/demand-response.

CLICK HERE to read more.

TORONTO – June 15, 2021 – Today ecobee announced it is partnering with select utility companies across the U.S. to offer a free or discounted ecobee3 lite to residents to help them stay cool, save energy, and reduce their energy bills this summer. Residents with the below utility companies can take advantage of the offer now by visiting their utility marketplace and enrolling in their demand response program upon checkout.¹

“We’re pleased to partner with utilities across the country to offer customers a free or discounted ecobee smart thermostat and help them save on energy without sacrificing comfort this summer,” said Chris Carradine, EVP of ecobee Energy. “By enrolling in a demand response program, customers can also help make their homes more responsive and take pressure off the electric grid to prevent power outages, making this offer a win-win for residents.”

Valued at $169.99, ecobee’s ENERGY STAR-certified ecobee3 lite smart thermostat helps customers save up to 23% annually on heating and cooling costs.² ecobee’s app also helps residents stay in control of their home’s temperature settings, even when they’re away this summer.

ecobee’s smart thermostats are equipped with eco+, a free thermostat optimization feature that adapts to each household’s schedule for enhanced comfort and reduced energy use. Last summer, eco+ helped customers save 5% more energy than those who used the smart thermostat alone, despite the increase in American household energy sales caused by many residents staying home more often.³

CLICK HERE to read the full press release.

Transactive energy (TE) remains the top use case in the energy blockchain space, but blockchain-enabled demand response (DR) projects present an opportunity for growth. Guidehouse Insights measures DR as the total capacity of load reduction that is aggregated to help offset peak demand. DR programs can facilitate the balance between energy supply and energy demand to reduce peak energy demand.

In North America, DR programs have been in place for several decades but began to expand globally only after 2010. It was not until 2015 that Guidehouse Insights identified the first energy blockchain project with a specific DR use case. Blockchain-enabled DR programs have the potential to expand globally by addressing common challenges confronting DR programs, such as a lack of security and trust.

This Guidehouse Insights report tracks global energy blockchain project deployments, use cases, and vendor activities around the world. It covers 278 vendors and 361 projects across five global regions. This report provides a broad and representative view of the energy blockchain market.

CLICK HERE to read more or purchase the report.

PLMA Members receive a 10% discount on this report. If you are interested in purchasing and are a PLMA member, contact Brett Feldman at [email protected].

Do you get excited about helping utilities achieve efficiency, load management, and decarbonization goals through distributed energy resource (DER) and energy-efficiency programs? Do you have a passion for making complex programs and concepts simple and clear? We're seeking a technical research analyst with experience in electric vehicles (EVs) and beneficial electrification to provide actionable, data-driven advice to our utility clients. This position will join the Customer Energy Solutions team within the Research and Advisory division.

At E Source, our passion for sustainability and energy efficiency fuels our work. We provide research, data science, and advisory services to electric, gas, and water utilities with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of their operations, customer programs, and customer relationships. We're on a mission to help our clients evolve into customer-centric organizations that make data-driven decisions. And we have fun while we do it!

Our ideal candidate has:

• A passion for digging into technical details and making them clear and easy-to-understand.
• Demonstrated expertise with engineering principles governing energy-efficiency, renewable-energy, and EV technologies.
• Experience with utility energy-efficiency and end-use electrification programs and technologies, with an emphasis on EVs.
• A strong understanding of customer-centric electric, gas, and/or water utility demand-side management programs and how programs best meet the needs of customers.
• Exceptional writing, verbal, and analytical skills. E Source differentiates itself through readable, clear, and concise reports and presentations. Applications without cover letters may be given lower priority in our review.
• Creativity and openness. You aren't afraid to share your ideas for how we might do things differently.
• Rigor and discipline. You manage your time well and your coworkers can count on you to do what you say you'll do.
• Humility and a collaborative attitude. You know there are things you don't know, and that energizes you. You work well in a team environment, and you proactively seek support, advice, and guidance from others, and are happy to provide support to others.

CLICK HERE to read the full job posting and to apply.