Energy Management Newsletter April

News and Updates:

New Smart Park in Dallas
EV-Ready Building Standards Working Group
Reopening the Call for Applications from North Central Texas Cities for Developing City-wide Greenhouse Gas Inventories
SECO Releases a Notice of Loan Fund Availability called "Cool School & More"
The 2021 Energy Star Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence Award Winners in Texas
Department of Energy Presentation to Water Resources Council on Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future Initiative (SWIFt)
SolSmart 400 Community Announcement
The 2021 Clean Energy Jobs America Report
Experts Predict 50% Lower Wind Costs than they did in 2015
COBRA Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool
White House asks Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Study How EVs Could Create Renewable Fuel Credits
Explore the Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit
Equity Initiative Updates from ACEEE
Workforce Development Opportunity: Energy Savings Performance Contracting Foundational Training
The Department of Energy (DOE) Awards $27.5 Million to Decarbonize
U.S. Water Infrastructure
AEE 2021 Advanced Energy Market Report Released
Renewables Aggregation Cohort Opportunity
Mark Your Calendars – 2021 Energy Efficiency Day Is October 6

Events:

Regional Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Local
Government Roundtable
Equitable Engagement and Access to Electric Vehicles
Texas Industrial Energy Efficiency Program TIEEP Water Forum
Better Buildings, Better Plants
Electrification 2021
T5: PACE – A New Financing Option for Industrial Energy, Water and Environmental Projects
Getting to Net Zero Energy through Strategic Building Operations and Plug Load Management
Energy Efficiency Finance Forum
North Texas SolSmart Roundtable
CLEANPOWER 2021

New Smart Park in Dallas

A new park in the heart of the West End Square has been deemed a "smart park," utilizing technology in an urban design. The design of the park is by Field Operations, the New York-based studio founded by James Corner, and best known as the landscape architects of the High Line. The park has Wi-Fi for guests to connect to, a fifty foot long worktable underneath a pergola and has wireless charging stations along with traditional outlets. To conserve energy, at night the

lighting in the park will drop to 10%, saving electricity and respecting the nearby households. If motion is detected, lights will flick back on to illuminate the park for convenience and safety. These sensors that are installed in the park will also monitor the landscape plants, controlling irrigation levels, keeping track of soil hydration, and remotely notifying the city if there are problems in the system.

Read More: DallasNews.com

EV-Ready Building Standards Working Group

As adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to grow drastically in the next few decades, there are opportunities to minimize the cost of developing future EV charging infrastructure by designing it into new construction from the beginning to avoid higher cost of retrofits in the future. This can also help support broader adoption of EVs. A variety of measures ranging from EV-Capable to EV-Installed are illustrated in a presentation provided to the Energy and Green Advisory Board meeting on April 7. NCTCOG is assembling a working group of North Texas electric vehicle and building industry stakeholders to help with guidance and development of regional resources to provide consistency in EV-Capable and EV-Ready construction. To join the working group, email Bailey Muller at bmuller@nctcog.org by May 15.

Reopening the Call for Applications from North Central Texas Cities for Developing City-wide Greenhouse Gas Inventories

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) will be reopening the call for applications from cities in the North Central Texas 12-county Metropolitan Planning Area to participate in a regional cohort to produce city-wide greenhouse gas emission (GHG) inventories. In partnership with the Regional Integration of Sustainability Efforts (RISE) Coalition, and with the generous contribution from Burlington-Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad, NCTCOG is providing 20 cities in the North Central Texas 12-county Metropolitan Planning Area access to Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), formally known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, ClearPath software tool at no cost. There are currently eight cities in our region that have joined the cohort, and two additional cities that have partnered in the effort by doing their own GHG study concurrently. All participating cities will be able to use ClearPath to produce their own city-wide GHG inventories. Cities interested in participating must submit an application by July 30, 2021 and will need to commit to attendance of ICLEI and cohort trainings/meeting/check-ins and collaborate with NCTCOG to provide necessary data inputs. ICLEI’s ClearPath software tool has been used to complete GHG inventories in over 475 jurisdictions in the United States and is considered the leading online software platform for completing GHG inventories, forecasts, and monitoring at the community-side scale.

The Call for Applications from cities will reopen from May 31 and closes July 30, 2021. Cities interested in submitting an application need to be a current NCTCOG member, commit to attendance of ICLEI and cohort trainings/meeting/check-ins and collaborate with NCTCOG to provide necessary data inputs.

For more information and the application, including slides and recorded presentation from the NCTCOG Cohort Informational Session: GHG Inventories & ClearPath information session, please visit North Central Texas Council of Governments - Local and Regional Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (nctcog.org).

The 2021 Energy Star Partner of the Year for Sustained
Excellence Award Winners in Texas

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Region 6 and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring 19 ENERGY STAR partners in Texas for their outstanding leadership in reducing American energy bills and tackling climate change. This year's winners for the DFW area are:

CBRE in Dallas, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management
Celanese Corporation in Irving, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management
Cenergistic in Dallas, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Service and Product Provider
JCPENNEY in Lewisville, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management
Lewisville Independent School District in Lewisville, Partner of the Year for Energy Management
Mansfield Independent School District in Mansfield, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Energy Management
RealPage, Inc., in Richardson, Partner of the Year for Service and Product Provider
Texas-New Mexico Power Company in Lewisville, Partner of the Year in Sustained Excellence in Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
U.S. Eco Logic, Inc. | TexEnergy Solutions in Irvin, Partner of the Year for Sustained Excellence in Home Energy Rater/Provider

Learn More: EnergyStar.gov

Department of Energy Presentation to Water Resources Council on Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future Initiative (SWIFt)

In January, the Department of Energy (DOE) provided a presentation on the Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future Initiative (SWIFt) to the NCTCOG Water Resources Council. DOE representatives covered the SWIFt 1.0 program outcomes, emphasizing that the participating plants during the first round achieved an average energy intensity reduction of 8.1% and a total energy reduction over the baseline of 8.1%. The goals of the Phase 2 (SWIFt 2.0) are to engage 100 facilities in a voluntary partnership to achieve 5% short-term and 25% long-term facility-wide energy savings, in addition to working with 25 facilities to implement at least one next-generation technology. A link to the presentation can be found here.

If your organization is interested in learning more about this opportunity to receive no-cost assistance from DOE for your wastewater treatment plant or water treatment plant facility, please contact DOE here to learn how to become a partner.

SolSmart 400 Community Announcement

Over 400 municipalities, counties, and regional organizations in 41 states, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have now achieved designation under the SolSmart program! SolSmart is helping local governments adopt best practices to make it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar.

SolSmart is a national program led by The Solar Foundation and ICMA - International City/County Management Association, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. Learn how your community can get involved today!

Learn more: SolSmart.org

The 2021 Clean Energy Jobs America Report

Texas remains as one of the nation's leading states for clean energy jobs. While roughly 3 million Americans worked in clean energy at the end of 2020, over 300,000 jobs were lost -- roughly a 9% decline from the previous year -- in wind, solar, energy efficiency and other clean energy sectors due to the pandemic. The largest energy sector, energy efficiency, took the biggest hit. Despite this there is good news:

Clean energy jobs rebounded quicker than overall nationwide workforce and clean energy jobs grew about 11 % since May
Texas remains a clean energy leader
Clean energy remains the biggest job creator across America’s energy sector, employing 3x more than fossil fuel workers in extraction and generation
Median hourly wages for clean energy jobs are roughly 25% higher than the national median wage
Nearly 400,000 Americans in rural areas are employed by clean energy

Read More at: E2.org

Experts Predict 50% Lower Wind Costs Than They Did in 2015

Over the last five years wind energy accelerated cost reduction. Recent research funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) found that experts now expect land-based and offshore wind costs to decline ~35–50% by 2050, resulting in costs 50% lower than predicted in 2015. According to the findings, turbine scale is a key driver for cost reduction. Wind turbines are expected to be 2–3 times larger by 2035, with a median of 5.5 MW for land-based turbines and 17 MW for offshore turbines. As costs decline, industry focus will turn to enhancing the value of wind in energy markets, e.g., through hybridization with storage, and to overcoming deployment barriers. If realized, these expected advancements, cost reductions, and value-enhancement measures will enable wind to play a larger role in energy supply and power-sector decarbonization than previously anticipated.

Read More at: Nature.com

COBRA Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) EPA has released a new, cloud-based version of the CO-Benefits Risk Assessment (COBRA) Health Impacts Screening and Mapping Tool, known as the COBRA Web Edition. COBRA, which has been available as a downloadable software program since 2006, allows users to quantify and monetize the health impacts of changes to air emissions, specifically fine particulate matter.

Read More: EPA.gov/COBRA

White House Asks Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to Study How EVs Could Create Renewable Fuel Credits

In the past month, the White House has asked the EPA to create a study on if using reusable fuels to power electric vehicle charging could generate tradeable credits under the nation's biofuels program. Currently, under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), oil refiners must blend biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into their fuel mix or buy tradable credits, known as RINs. If the program were expanded to include EVs, the RINs would come from charging the vehicle using electricity produced by a renewable source of methane. This transition could give the electric vehicle industry a big boost by the creation of new incentives and a new revenue stream.
More information on how to apply: Retures.com

Explore the Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s new Benchmarking and Building Performance Standards Policy Toolkit is a resource that aims to help communities in creating policies to reduce the energy and carbon footprints of existing buildings. It is meant to inform and support state and local government decision makers exploring policies to reduce energy use and carbon emissions from existing commercial and multifamily buildings in their jurisdictions. The toolkit covers how to:

Plan and implement effective building benchmarking and transparency policies
Learn about the emerging policy area of building performance standards
Understand opportunities for cross-jurisdictional coordination on benchmarking and Building Performance Standards policies
Access utility data critical to complying with benchmarking and building performance standards reporting requirements
Connect with EPA experts who can deliver direct support for EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® tool, share best practices across governments, provide access to helpful resources, and offer technical assistance related to quantifying the benefits of energy efficiency and other policy support.

Access the Toolkit: EPA.gov

Equity Initiative Updates From ACEEE

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has launched the Leading with Equity Initiative to ensure that everyone has equitable access to and benefits from clean energy investments. By developing better metrics that capture progress towards equity-centered clean energy policies and programs outcomes, communities will have better data to benchmark progress. Sign up here to receive bi-monthly newsletter updates about the initiative and provide input on equity metrics.

Read More: ACEEE.org

Workforce Development Opportunity: Energy Savings Performance Contracting Foundational Training

As part of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) and the National Association of State Energy Officials' (NASEO's) Return-to-Work Initiative, NASEO and the Energy Services Coalition are offering a no-cost training course, Foundations of Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC). The training is ideal for state and local governments, and other stakeholders from universities, K-12 schools, and hospitals looking to understand the basics of ESPC. The training covers how state and local governments can facilitate investments, and how facility managers can begin the process of enhancing their facility’s energy performance with ESPC.

View the Recorded Training At: Register.GoToWebinar.com

The Department of Energy (DOE) Awards $27.5 Million to Decarbonize
U.S. Water Infrastructure

The DOE recently announced awards amounting in $27.5 million for 16 water infrastructure projects. Modern technology has the potential to reduce energy use in aging water infrastructure, particularly in wastewater treatment, which demands up to 2% of domestic electricity use each year. These projects, operating in 13 states, have the potential to reduce carbon emissions and water-treatment costs while improving water quality and equity of distribution nationwide.

Learn more: Energy.gov

AEE 2021 Advanced Energy Market Report Released

Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) recently released their 2021 Market Report of global and U.S. markets. This report looks at 2011-2020 revenues and key trends in advanced energy growth. The report continues AEE’s coverage of the main trends in advanced energy markets that they’ve been tracking since 2011. The 2021 edition also contains U.S. and global revenue for 2019 and 2020 – two very different years in the U.S. and world economies.

Several quick facts from the 2021 Market Report are:

Despite COVID, Building Efficiency grew in 2020.
Wind energy soared in 2020 while solar revenue crested in 2019.
2020 saw a 19% revenue growth in electric vehicles and 139% in energy storage.

Learn more: Info.AEE.Net

Renewables Aggregation Cohort Opportunity

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and RMI are developing a cohort to offer free workshops, tools, resources, and peer learning opportunities to help small groups of local governments (and/or other local institutions) procure large-scale renewables at economies of scale. The WRI/RMI team will be walking participants through the aggregation process and facilitating group alignment on key elements of a joint RFP for a physical or virtual power purchase agreement (PPA). The cohort will combine plenary sessions - on topics like legal and accounting challenges and risk mitigation - with small group discussion.

The cohort will run between May 2021 and June 2022, include monthly webinars, and feature about 10 groups from regions across the country. There are no commitments required to join but attending the monthly virtual workshops is needed to be successful.

At the request of the North Texas RISE Coalition, an informational webinar for the region regarding this opportunity was held on April 23, 2021. To view the recording of the webinar visit, https://www.nctcog.org/envir/development-excellence/rise-coalition. For more information regarding the cohort, reach out to Zach Greene, Clean Energy Associate at WRI (zach.greene@wri.org) or fill out the following cohort application.

Learn more: wri.org

Regional Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Local
Government Roundtable

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is hosting a Regional Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Roundtable on May 3, 2021, from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. This Roundtable will provide an opportunity for your city leaders to learn more about what PACE is and how it has been implemented by cities and counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Date: Monday, May 3, 2021
Time: 10:30 pm - 12:00 pm CST
Registration: Here

Equitable Engagement and Access to Electric Vehicles

This webinar will address strategies to encourage equal distribution of the benefits of transportation electrification across all communities. Speakers will touch on engaging with traditionally underserved and diverse communities. They will share how they approach community concerns about electric vehicles (EVs), such as cost and potential neighborhood impacts. The webinar guest speakers are eager to address questions on this topic and encourage participants to submit questions at registration.

Date: May 6, 2021
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CST
Registration: Here

Texas Industrial Energy Efficiency Program TIEEP Water Forum

In Texas; and globally, access to clean water is a major sustainability concern. Water is also inextricably linked to energy: We need energy to pump and to manage water, and we use large amounts of water in our energy systems – for example, steam and cooling water. In this water forum, tools and technologies for reducing water use in manufacturing plants will be explored. This includes presentations from two vendors on innovative processes and equipment, and one presentation on a Department of Energy (DOE) software package to aid understanding, managing, and improving water balances. Not only can these resources save water; they can also lead to energy savings, space savings, quality improvements, and reductions in capital and operating costs for new plants and revamps.
Confirmed speakers are:

Joe Tardio – Aqua-Aerobic System
Kiran Thirumaran – Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Josh Summers – Voltea

Date: May 6, 2021
Times: 4:20 pm - 5:50 pm CST
Registration: Here

T5: PACE – A New Financing Option for Industrial Energy, Water and Environmental Projects

Texas PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing enables industrial site owners to obtain affordable, long-term financing covering up to 100 percent of the cost for energy efficiency, water conservation and on-site generation technologies. PACE secures private, cash-flow-positive financing for terms that match the projected useful life of the improvements, resulting in savings that exceed the amount of the repayment.

Date: Thursday, May 20, 2021
Time: 2:00 pm CST
Registration: Here

Getting to Net Zero Energy Through Strategic Building Operations and Plug Load Management

Properly managing plug loads was key in the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) transitioning its headquarters from a LEED Platinum office building to the first Net Zero Energy certified office building in Texas. Join this webinar to learn more about the technologies used and strategies adopted to manage and reduce plug loads and overall building energy consumption.

Date: May 25, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm CST
Registration: Here

Energy Efficiency Finance Forum

Curious about how financing can help drive a clean energy future? Join the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for the 13th Energy Efficiency Finance Forum to explore cutting-edge initiatives and major opportunities to finance projects that save energy, reduce costs, and create jobs. At this virtual forum, you can network with leaders in finance, government, utilities, and energy service companies and participate in interactive sessions and dynamic plenaries to learn about successful projects and innovative models. You will discover ways to overcome barriers, scale the industry, and deliver deep energy savings.

Dates: May 25 - 26, 2021
Registration: Here

North Texas SolSmart Roundtable

SolSmart is a national designation program recognizing communities supporting solar growth and helping to reduce the barriers to solar adoption. Join the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for the North Texas SolSmart Roundtable and learn about the SolSmart designation process and hear from SolSmart designated communities in the region about their experience in becoming designated. Anyone interested in learning more about the SolSmart designation process or has questions about becoming designated is invited to attend!

Dates: May 28, 2021
Time: 9:30 am - 11:30 am (CST)
Registration: Here

CLEANPOWER 2021

The American Clean Power Association will host CLEANPOWER 2021, which will feature topics related to utility-scale wind, solar, storage, and transmission in a two-part series: virtual and in person. CLEANPOWER will feature a virtual education and collaboration event June 7–10 plus an in-person conference and exhibition December 7–8 in Salt Lake City, UT. The focus for these events is to bring together the different technologies that make up the renewables mix—land-based wind, offshore wind, solar, storage, and transmission—as well as the different segments within the industries: manufacturers, construction firms, owner-operators, utilities, financial firms, and corporate entities.

Date: June 7 - 10, 2021
Registration: Here