2009 CERTs Conference
February 10, 2009
Accelerating Residential Energy Efficiency:
An Introduction
Carl Nelson
Center for Energy and Environment

Overview
• Sources of residential energy demand
• Challenges of achieving residential energy
efficiency
• Key drivers for recent resurgence in interest
• Characteristics of successful approaches

Residential energy use
Source: US DOE EIA 2001 Residential Energy Consumption Study (cold climate dataset)
Note: Not including transportation

Challenges in achieving savings in
residential sector
• High transaction costs.
• Individual consumer behavior plays a large
role in household energy consumption.
• Information and logistical barriers to decision‐
making process.
• Factors other than economics are primary in
consumer decision‐making.
• Financial barriers.

Key drivers in resurgence of interest
• Increasing interest in energy/climate issues
• Increasing energy costs
• Minnesota’s 1.5 percent savings goal

Energy Efficiency:
fastest & cheapest way to achieve carbon
reductions AND create jobs
Source: ACEEE 2008 Study of Maryland Energy Efficiency Potential

Minnesota’s 1.5% EE goal
• Requires all utilities to run conservation
programs that will reduce demand by 1.5
percent per year (every year)
• Applies to both gas and electric utilities
• Currently, conservation programs achieve
about 0.6 percent savings, so efforts will need
to more than double
• Currently over 90% of savings is in commercial
and industrial sector

Current residential EE efforts vs. state goals:
Electricity
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
Savings Goals
1,000,000
MWh
800,000
Savings
600,000
Shortfall
400,000
Current Efforts
200,000
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Current residential EE efforts vs. state goals:
Gas
12,000,000
10,000,000
Savings Goals
8,000,000
MCF
6,000,000
Savings
Shortfall
4,000,000
Current Efforts
2,000,000
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Characteristics of successful
approaches
• Address behavioral as well as technology
replacement issues
– Historically this is not been a generally accepted
approach – hard to measure
• Oriented towards actions that are simple and
achieve energy savings
• Provide efficient delivery of services
• Find new ways to reach customers

Questions?