We're Hiring a Summer Intern: Join WattTime in Making Global Clean Energy Choice a Reality
As the world's workforce navigates the never-before-experienced economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the outlook for those in search of new jobs is discouraging. We are lucky to be one of the organizations out there that is still hiring at full force, and we feel grateful that we have the resources to continue our work without missing a beat.
As an energy and technology nonprofit, we offer a unique opportunity to work for an organization that functions like a startup, but is driven by mission over pure dollar signs. This enables us to optimize for impact—and it’s working. Our Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology is getting regulatory adoption in the U.S. in April, we’re launching in more countries through our Google.org-funded satellite work, and we have even more exciting projects going public later this year. All of these things put us closer to our vision of making AER available everywhere for everyone in the next 3–5 years, and we need more folks onboard to get there.
New report from WattTime and First Solar explores how two key factors can determine the emissions impact of solar projects
If you’ve ever been on either end of a real estate deal, you’ve probably heard this old saying: “location, location, location.” This potentially overused adage imparts some obvious but useful lessons. For example, if you’re a small business owner investing in a new store, buying in one part of town versus another can be a complete game changer for how much money you’re able to make and how many people your business can reach, even if the service you’re providing in either location is identical.
The same concept holds true for solar projects and potential avoided carbon emissions. In fact, our research has shown geographic location to be the most important factor in determining the emissions impact of a new renewable energy project.
The idea is fairly simple: If you build a new solar farm in a region that’s already saturated with—and maybe even curtailing surplus—solar energy, it won’t reduce grid emissions nearly as much as a solar farm built in a region still mainly reliant on coal-fired electricity. What you displace matters, and our goal is to displace high-emissions electricity generators. At WattTime, we call this concept “emissionality,” and according to our research, using the practice of emissionality when siting new renewables projects can help us avoid up to 380 percent more greenhouse gas emissions.
While location is clearly the heavy hitter of solar project optimization, there are other aspects to factor into the equation. One that we’ve recently taken a closer look at, along with our partners at utility-scale solar company First Solar, is the idea of “embodied emissions.” Different types of solar generation hardware cause different quantities of carbon emissions during production, deployment, and over their lifespans. For example, silicon technologies—especially monocrystalline—result in a higher emissions impact because of more emissions-intensive material and manufacturing requirements. But thin film technologies have a much lower emissions impact throughout their lifespans. By calculating the amount of avoided emissions achieved through strategic siting minus the emissions created through the lifespan of the technology deployed, we’re able to consider the overall net emissions impact of various projects.
A new report from WattTime and First Solar explores the net emissions impact of four common solar PV technologies in three different regions of the world with vastly different grid mixes—France, North Carolina, and California—across a typical 25-year lifespan. Spoiler alert: all the systems we tested had a net emissions reduction impact over a period of 25 years, but some were much better than others. The most dramatic swings in avoided emissions, as expected, were found when solar projects were placed in fossil-fuel-heavy grids compared to cleaner grids. Projects in North Carolina—where the marginal power generator is usually coal or natural gas—displace nearly 15 times more emissions than projects in France, where marginal generators are usually low-carbon.
But when working in relatively clean grids, using solar technologies with lower lifecycle embodied emissions helped make a great thing into an even greater thing. If we look again at France, using cadmium telluride technology instead of monocrystalline amplified net emissions reductions by a factor of nearly three.
As more of our electricity grids make the gradual transition from fossil fuels to renewables, thinking strategically about what technologies we use and where we put them can help us meet carbon reduction goals on or ahead of schedule. For more takeaways, as well as a deep-dive into lifecycle analysis and the concept of displaced emissions, download the full report.
Major California utility tests automated emissions signaling, affirms it can reduce device-level emissions from associated electricity use
At this very moment, even the most-efficient appliances are sucking up energy indiscriminately from their local grid—clean, dirty, whatever’s on tap at the moment. Until recently, there’s been little choice in the matter. Now however, it’s possible to get choosy about how we power up the machines and devices we depend on, from electric vehicles to smart thermostats. And major utility providers are taking note.
Here at WattTime, we’ve been advancing a capability we call Automated Emissions Reduction (AER). It provides a software signal that allows smart energy-using devices, from EVs to thermostats, to sync with clean energy and avoid dirty energy. By operating with the intelligence of real-time marginal emissions data, our software tells devices if using power now (or later) will in-turn cause a high-emitting power plant to respond, or maybe zero-carbon wind or solar, and it automatically opts for those low or no-carbon moments. All this takes place with zero negative impact for the end user. The technology has increasingly been battled-tested and -proven.
Now, California utility PG&E has conducted a rigorous analysis of WattTime's AER software. The results? In short: AER works. The 50-plus-page assessment is no light read, but it indicates growing industry interest in effective new ways of meeting emissions-reduction targets and driving other strategic goals, like demand response programs and renewable integration. Four device-level examples of AER in action To understand how AER supports broad utility strategy, it’s useful to consider first how AER works for the average device. PG&E’s analysis looked at four everyday appliances, in a laboratory setting, concluding that WattTime software effectively supports control of end-use energy consumption for each. By using AER technology to control their own versions of these appliances, people can…
Curb heating and cooling emissions with smart thermostat controls. Global energy demand for air conditioning is expected to triple by 2050, making AC one of the top drivers of global electricity demand in the years ahead, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In California, for instance, PG&E notes that AC usage often coincides with higher GHG intensity on the grid. Meanwhile, the EIA residential energy survey reports that space heating accounts for roughly 15% of an average home’s annual energy use. So it’s meaningful that utilities can take more ownership over the kind of power people use to heat or cool their homes. With WattTime’s AER solution, PG&E simulations found that the average homeowner could trim HVAC-related emissions by 7.5–13.2% per year.
Maintain a water heater’s warmth, while cutting back on associated emissions. Water heating makes up 15% of a home’s energy use, according to the EIA survey cited above. With AER water heater load control, homeowners can make sure they’re using more of the clean energy that’s available from their utility. Per PG&E’s assessment, the water heater load controller “performed well” in controlling temperature and, in some cases, could reduce emissions by as much as 20% per day while maintaining desired water temperature.
Ease up on the refrigerator’s carbon footprint with an AER-powered smart plug. Refrigerators may be a quiet but steady energy suck, constituting about 7% of the average home’s energy use. But it’s a myth that they’re always consuming power. In fact, refrigerator compressors only have to consume power in little bursts of cooling that happen about every 30 minutes or so—during which time, the grid’s supply can vary greatly. AER can help find the cleanest five-minute period within that window, supporting demand-response programs while enabling homeowners to keep both food and appliance in good shape. In PG&E’s simulation, this approach cut carbon emissions by 1.3% on average per day.
Give EVs an instant ‘MPGe boost’ with AER service equipment. WattTime research shows that smart timing of EV charging can reduce associated emissions by as much as 20% annually, and up to 90% on some days. This will vary by location and grid. For example, PG&E’s California-based simulation team found they were able to shift charging time to achieve a 13% per day average reduction in GHG emissions.
The big picture: AER can help utilities achieve climate goals
Utilities working toward ambitious carbon emissions targets are increasingly seeing the broader benefits of adding AER to their toolbox.
For starters, AER aids renewable energy grid integration—and helps avert undesirable renewable energy curtailment—by using more surplus renewable energy. It does this not only by shifting flexible demand to windy and sunny times, but by especially targeting times when renewable energy is on the margin and at risk of being wasted.
AER also gets more out of demand response programs, especially when emissions rates and electricity prices are aligned. With AER, utilities can turn DR offerings into a year-round feature that truly appeal to customers. Our research shows AER boosts DR program enrollment and retention.
As California’s largest electric utility, PG&E’s report is another major affirmation that AER works not just for the individual devices people depend on everyday—but for the larger utilities that bring them to life, too. In a world of ever-more sophisticated demand response and renewable energy efforts, AER is proving a game-changing tool that grid operators can increasingly appreciate, and adopt.
WHEN renewables produce electricity will become increasingly important for how much carbon emissions they displace
Once upon a time, when renewables produced a negligible amount of electricity and fossil-fueled power grids were essentially “always dirty,” adding new renewable energy wherever and whenever was a reasonable strategy. You could be more or less assured that your new renewable generation would be displacing emissions from a polluting power plant somewhere.
But we’re increasingly seeing that when renewables generate their electricity is beginning to matter, and sometimes a lot. The coincident timing of tons of daytime solar PV generation is behind California’s infamous Duck Curve. Likewise, coincident timing is also behind ERCOT’s curtailment of surplus overnight wind generation in Texas and occasional dips into negative wholesale power prices.
(Annual wind curtailment in ERCOT peaked in 2009 around 17%. Transmission expansion helped bring that number down to an estimated ~2% in 2019, but that number was expected to start creeping upward again into 2020 as a large amount of new wind capacity came online at the end of last year.)
Now, a new WattTime analysis shows that the timing and overall generation shape of new renewable energy capacity can have a big impact on the avoided emissions staying power—or not—of various renewable technologies (see Figure 1). This in turn can have a big influence on how rapidly we’re able to decarbonize U.S. electricity grids.
Solar’s diminishing returns vs. wind and geothermal’s staying power
WattTime analysts Christy Lewis and Henry Richardson looked at California’s grid out through year 2044 to better understand the avoided emissions rates of solar PV, wind, and geothermal technologies. In other words, when you looked at the grid’s carbon emissions rate vs. their respective generation shapes, how much emissions would they displace at any given point in time.
Spoiler alert: not surprisingly, the emissions rate during midday hours eventually sunk toward zero, as solar energy saturated the grid. For that same reason, the avoided emissions value of building yet more solar also sunk over time. It was a classic case of diminishing returns. The more that previously installed solar already reduced daytime emissions, the less value adding yet one more megawatt of solar would have for that grid. It’s a kind of merit order effect, only for emissions rather than economics.
On the other hand, when Lewis and Richardson looked at geothermal and wind, they found that both of those renewable technologies had real staying power when it came to avoided emissions. In the case of wind power, it was a byproduct of serendipity. Wind generation in California happens to naturally peak at the same time as grid emissions, so adding more wind capacity continues helping to chop that emissions peak down. For geothermal, it was about its always-on and/or dispatchable nature. Geothermal is able to generate during all those “forgotten,” overlooked times of the day and night when solar and wind aren’t producing. It covers critical gaps in the generation profile of a 24-hour day, and thus also has staying power (see Figure 2).
Is it geothermal’s time to shine in the U.S.?
Think “geothermal energy” and you probably think of a place such as Iceland. And for good reason: it’s a world leader, with geothermal accounting for fully two-thirds (66%) of the nation’s primary energy use and 25% of electricity production. Compare that to the U.S., where geothermal accounted for just 0.4% of electricity generation in 2018.
But although geothermal is small in the U.S. today—and although wind, solar, and storage capture much of the spotlight—geothermal could play a much larger and crucial role in the country’s future electricity system as a vital part of a broader renewable portfolio.
The U.S. currently has about 2.5 GW of operating geothermal capacity. Compare that to a whopping 105 GW of installed wind capacity and 71 GW of installed solar capacity. Some 95% of the geothermal capacity is in just two states: CA and NV. And nearly half the capacity came online in the 1980s. However, that all could change. A 2008 USGS survey identified nearly 40 GW of hydrothermal potential for electricity generation. And half of U.S. states specifically allow for geothermal as an approved way to meet RPS targets.
Moreover, a number of promising startups gaining momentum, including Fervo Energy, backed by heavyweights such as Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Berkeley’s Cyclotron Road, U.S. Department of Energy, and Stanford University.
Geothermal vs. “mainstream” renewables solar and wind
Like wind, solar, hydro, and other renewable energy technologies, geothermal is a form of emissions-free electricity generation. But that’s about where the comparison to other renewables stops.
For starters, U.S. geothermal electricity production has boasted an average capacity factor around 76%, while newly constructed plants can approach 100%, only furthering the juxtaposition vs. wind and solar.
Second, there’s the issue of generation shape. Because of geothermal’s high capacity factor, some think of it as a kind of always-on baseload renewable generation. Others instead characterize it as dispatchable renewables that can be ramped up or down (without the need to pair it with an energy storage system, as in the cases of wind and solar).
Finally—and to the point of the recent WattTime analysis—there is the matter of avoided emissions, a topic that becomes even more important in the years ahead as the U.S. adds more renewables to the power grid en route to a low-carbon electricity system. Because geothermal can generate electricity pretty much continuously, and perhaps more importantly, because geothermal can produce energy when wind and solar can’t, it retains its avoided emissions value out to 2030 and likely beyond.
Renewables and the climate crisis
As we collectively look ahead to renewable energy project pipelines, there remains the issue of where to build new renewable capacity (a concept WattTime calls emissionality). But increasingly, there will be growing importance on paying attention to generation shapes and when a particular renewable technology can inject clean energy into the grid and help slash the fossil-fueled emissions rate.
This suggests a strong growing role for geothermal and a continued important role for wind, as solar’s diminishing returns on avoided emissions in places like California mean we’ll have to look elsewhere for “getting more of the carbon out” of our power grid. That’s not to say by any means that the sun is setting on solar. It will continue to play an important role in today’s and tomorrow’s electricity system.
But as more grids mature in their transition from fossil fuels to renewables, getting the carbon emissions out of the system as quickly as possible will require a more careful look at when renewables generate their electricity and how much emissions they’re displacing when they do.
Support our work: WattTime can make global energy choice a reality with your help
As 2019 comes to a close, we want to take a minute to express gratitude for all the partners that supported WattTime in achieving more in one year than even we thought possible. This year we launched a project to monitor carbon emissions from every large power plant in the world. We helped the state of California arrive at new policy measures that will bring emissions from energy storage to zero in an instant—using our technology. We continued to show how marginal emissions data—made actionable through AER—can clean up everything from IoT device usage to EV charging and far beyond. We doubled the size of our team and grew our base of volunteers, bringing in new perspectives and talent to help us create a future where energy choice is simple. WattTime knows firsthand the power of well-placed generosity and the will to make a difference. We’re an organization built by volunteers. From our modest beginnings at a U.C. Berkeley hackathon and all the way through our growth, our work has been driven forward by kindred spirits with a shared vision of what the world can be and the work ethic to move things forward. Every one of us is passionate about what we do and dedicated to scaling our solutions, and our work is infinitely stronger because it’s done in collaboration. We thank you in advance for considering one of the many ways you can further our work. Whether it’s an individual donation, a recommendation for a grant that aligns with our mission, or a connection to an organization that can positively leverage AER, we appreciate your support of WattTime as we work to bring AER to everyone, everywhere. Here’s to a great 2020! Donate and learn more about how to support WattTime here.
Liberty Access Technologies and WattTime partner to bring green charging to EV fleets
Smart charging technology will allow schools and workplaces to charge electric buses, vans, and more with clean energy
Santa Barbara, CA and Oakland, CA, October 22, 2019 — Today electric fleet charging technology company Liberty Access Technologies (Liberty) and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime announced a new clean charging partnership to support schools and workplaces in their transition to all-electric fleets. WattTime’s Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) software will integrate with Liberty’s charging technology to allow buses, vans, and more to automatically charge with clean power. Liberty offers electric vehicle charging systems for the new generation of electric school buses and delivery vans. Their current clients hail from the utility space, government, the private sector, and include names such as San Diego Gas and Electric, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Los Angeles County. Expanding to support school districts’ electrification of transportation is the next step in the company’s growth. Liberty’s core offering is the HYDRA-RX AC Fast Charger Controller, which produces quick charging times at a fraction of the cost of DC Fast Chargers, enabling schools to convert more quickly to electric buses. “As firm believers in a clean mobility future, we feel it’s imperative to support schools and workplaces as they make the switch to all-electric fleets,” said Chris Outwater, CEO of Liberty. “By incorporating WattTime’s AER software with our cost-saving charging technology, we can ensure they benefit from both financial savings and carbon savings. We’re excited to help these groups reach their sustainability goals without sacrificing quality of service.” WattTime’s recently-released EV charging report—How Emissions-Optimized EV Charging Enables Cleaner Electric Vehicles—highlights just how powerful their AER-enabled smart charging can be. In the report, WattTime finds emissions-optimized EV charging can further reduce associated EV-charging emissions nearly 20 percent annually and up to 90 percent on individual days. This is above and beyond standard emissions savings that come from choosing an electric vehicle over a gas-powered alternative. “School buses and corporate fleets represent a perfect opportunity for AER to drive emissions reductions; these vehicles are only used a fraction of the day and can otherwise remain plugged in to optimize charge times for the cleanest electricity,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “The added bonus is that—instead of exposing schoolchildren or employees to tailpipe emissions—we’re helping make electric vehicles the norm.” Electric mobility is just one of many sectors that technology provider WattTime is involved with. Their solutions make it easy for anyone to choose clean energy and achieve emissions reductions without compromising cost and user experience. WattTime’s AER software enables smart devices of all kinds—from EV chargers to smart thermostats to water heaters—to automatically opt to use clean energy. AER monitors power generation and marginal emissions rates in real-time, then uses that data to optimize energy use based on the environmental impact of consuming electricity at a given moment. Liberty’s announcement to team up with WattTime comes soon after another partnership launched with electric company PG&E. The two will work together to support the electrification and clean energy goals of a school district in Northern California by collaborating on eco-friendly charging options for electric buses. Their pilot will be a test case for PG&E’s new FleetReady program.
About Liberty Access Technologies LAT specializes in access control systems for electric vehicle charging in the parking industry, fleet EV and multi-tenant dwellings. LAT’s patented Synchronous Code Generation technology enables secure charging without expensive networks, and the Hydra Multi EVSE Control system enables cost effective large scale EV charging solutions for workplace and multi-tenant. Our mission is to use our patented technology to enable our customers to control access, costs and carbon emissions via our "grid-aware" technology. Find out more at www.libertyaccesstechnologies.com or www.linkedin.com/company/liberty-access-technologies
About WattTime WattTime is a nonprofit with a software tech startup DNA, dedicated to giving everyone everywhere the power to choose clean energy. Our Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology can shift the timing of flexible electricity use to sync with times of cleaner energy and avoid times of dirtier energy. We sell solutions that make it easy for anyone to achieve emissions reductions without compromising cost and user experience. WattTime is a subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Institute. For more information, please visit WattTime.org.
Media Contact Nicole Arnone Client and Media Relations Manager nicolearnone@inflectionpointagency.com
Could ‘Emissionality’ be the next big thing to disrupt corporate sustainability and renewable energy procurement?
In the ancient past of corporate sustainability initiatives—like, say, five whole years ago—the concept of “additionality” gained traction and fundamentally disrupted the long-standing practice of companies buying unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) as the leading way to demonstrate their commitment to clean energy. Additionality came along and set a new bar: corporations could sign power purchase agreements (PPAs), whether direct/physical or virtual, that enabled new large-scale wind and solar energy to get built and added to the U.S. power grid. It has undoubtedly been an overwhelming force for good. Between 2015 and August 2019, corporations signed contracts for a staggering 17.7 GW of new renewable energy, according to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance Deal Tracker. And the investments continue. Just last month, telecom major T-Mobile announced a quintet of contracts for solar and wind projects in three U.S. states: Virginia, Illinois, and Texas. Meanwhile, also last month tech giant Google announced perhaps the largest corporate renewable investment ever: $2 billion invested in 1,600 MW of wind and solar projects spread across 18 projects in the U.S., South America, and Europe. All of which begs the question: Is new “steel in the ground” the end game ? Or do some investments mean more than others? A new wave of innovation reaches corporate renewables purchasing RECs bundled with PPAs that pass additionality muster remain the standard, especially for the largest buyers that have the demand, credit worthiness, and resources to source such contracts. But with the climate crisis only deepening, we’re now seeing a new wave of innovation to make renewables drive even more impact. As with the decommoditization of electricity, which looked beyond treating all raw kilowatt-hours the same and started to differentially care about the source of those electrons (e.g., coal, natural gas, wind, solar), we’re now arguably seeing a decommoditization of the PPA. In this unfolding new era of corporate renewables procurement 2.0, we’re starting to see some buyers look beyond the raw PPA. There’s an increasing understanding that all renewable PPAs are not created the same. And I’m not merely talking about common contractual details: price, term length, wind vs. solar. More importantly, I’m talking about location. Where new renewable energy projects get built matters, not in terms of proximity to a corporate buyer’s facilities, but rather in terms of the positive impact a new wind or solar farm will have on grid emissions. And those impacts can be significant: Holding all else equal (e.g., project budget, MW build side, interconnection possibilities), the practice of emissionality, according to WattTime research, can achieve up to a 380% increase in avoided GHG emissions. “Here at WattTime, we’ve started calling this concept ‘emissionality,’” says co-founder and executive director Gavin McCormick. “Like additionality, it’s a way for renewable energy buyers to ensure their purchases are really driving impact. But it’s a more quantitative way of thinking about impact: by directly comparing the real-world drop in fossil fuel emissions that different renewable energy projects cause.” The idea is straightforward: Although renewable energy itself is by definition always emissions-free, where such projects get built greatly influences their true net impact on overall grid emissions. For example, yet another wind farm in a region of the country already saturated with—and perhaps even curtailing surplus—wind energy isn’t going to reduce total electricity sector emissions as much as a solar farm built in a region of the country where its output will displace coal-fired electricity. Emissionality was the driving force behind Boston University’s wind power purchase announcement in September 2018. The university looked beyond the New England region and ultimately signed a contract for a project in South Dakota. That’s because BU’s 2017 Climate Action Plan targeted carbon neutrality by 2040, which included a focus on buying wind and solar energy to offset its electricity use and, crucially, seeking out projects that would reduce emissions as much as possible. In other words, BU didn’t just want renewable energy; it wanted renewable energy that could deliver the greatest emissionality benefits, too. Clearloop is putting the spotlight on emissionality Until now, examples like BU’s have accounted for only a minority of the corporate renewable PPA market. But there are signs that emissionality is gaining momentum. For one, new entrant Tennessee-based startup Clearloop—which is already getting a fair amount of buzz—is the first to make it core to their offering. Rather than offer renewable PPAs against a corporation’s overall electricity consumption, Clearloop is offering renewables-based emissions offsets at the product level. As a hypothetical, imagine that a shoe company wants to offset the carbon emissions associated with producing a particular line of sneaker. Once the company has calculated that emissions number, it can go to Clearloop to source an equivalent amount of avoided emissions, rooted in new renewable energy projects built around the country. It’s an intriguing twist on corporate renewables procurement. Corporations are typically accustomed to buying renewable energy on a MWh basis. Through Clearloop, they’re instead essentially buying renewables on an avoided emissions basis. This naturally lends itself to putting emissionality into practice. In order for Clearloop to offer its customers the biggest bang for their buck, it will naturally seek to build new renewable energy projects in those regions of the country where they can achieve the biggest avoided emissions. “The grid is not equally dirty across the country, so we saw opportunities to build renewable energy in places where it can have the best impact,” says Clearloop co-founder Laura Zapata. “Rather than tying carbon offsets to something less tangible and less connected to everyday actions, like trees planted, we’re basically leveraging companies’ desire to invest in carbon reductions and connecting it more directly to tangible renewable energy projects.”Accounting for emissionality of a project still has a way to go before it becomes a central factor in corporate renewable investment decision-making. But it clearly is making inroads. There’s growing recognition that better siting of new wind and solar projects can achieve deeper reductions in grid emissions, rather than adding yet more renewables to those regions that already have it in spades.
WattTime’s AER shortlisted for 2019 IoT Global Awards
The clean energy choice-enabling software was named a shortlist nominee in the category of ‘Connected Consumer and Smart Home’
OAKLAND, October 9, 2019 — Last month WattTime’s Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) software solution was included on the shortlist of nominees for the 2019 IoT Global Awards. AER was named a finalist for the “Connected Consumer and Smart Home” category.
"AER supercharges a wide range of IoT devices, including those found in smart homes, such as thermostats, refrigerators, and electric vehicles," said Wattime’s founder and executive director Gavin McCormick. "It slashes the environmental impact associated with their energy use, while simultaneously attracting the eco-conscious consumer segment of the market and helping differentiate IoT products in a sea of competitors."
Many of the connected devices found in today's homes are inherently flexible—they don't need to consume energy at a specific time. For example, a refrigerator's compressor can cycle at different times, without ever compromising how cold the temperature stays inside. That's an opportunity for AER to work. The software is able to tell when electricity is cleaner versus dirtier and sends a signal to smart devices so they can time their energy use accordingly. It's like having an automated airfare alert for Expedia in order to get tickets when they're cheapest. Except with AER, devices are told when energy is cleanest and the change is made automatically—this can happen as often as every five minutes.
“This is only the second year of the IoT Global Awards and it is inspiring to see so many new and exciting Internet of Things innovations already in action,” says Jeremy Cowan, Editorial Director of IoT Global Network, the headline sponsor behind the 2019 IoT Global Awards.
“We have been truly impressed by the hard work and ingenuity that has gone into the IoT solutions and applications submitted to us by organisations worldwide. The shortlisted entries met our strict selection criteria and will now be assessed by an unrivalled panel of independent experts.”
The IoT Global Awards, organized by WeKnow Media Ltd, aims to recognize innovation and excellence in the IoT sector, which encompasses smart devices, internet-connected technologies, and related softwares. IoT Global judges hail from companies like Amazon Web Services, Vodafone, IoT Global Network, Navispace, and more.
Also included in the list of finalists for the “Connected Consumer and Smart Home” category are: Amazon Web Services, McAfee, Control4, ON Semiconductor, and others.
WattTime is a nonprofit with a software tech startup DNA, dedicated to giving everyone everywhere the power to choose clean energy. Our Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology can shift the timing of flexible electricity use to sync with times of cleaner energy and avoid times of dirtier energy. We sell solutions that make it easy for anyone to achieve emissions reductions without compromising cost and user experience. WattTime is a subsidiary of Rocky Mountain Institute.
Nicole Arnone Client and Media Relations Manager nicolearnone@inflectionpointagency.com
EVs are Colorado’s biggest opportunity to reduce statewide emissions… and that’s just the beginning
In the wake of last Friday’s global climate strike, this week’s NYC Climate Week, and the forthcoming UNFCCC COP25 climate conference in Chile later this year, all eyes are focused on rapidly decarbonizing the worldwide economy. Of the many levers to pull, two in particular often sit front and center in the conversation: slashing power sector emissions with renewables and transportation electrification to get mobility off oil.
As the thinking goes, they are most effective when used together as a one-two punch: 1) electrify vehicles (EVs) to eliminate tailpipe emissions and adopt hyper-efficient powertrains and 2) charge those vehicles on cleaner grids to drastically reduce their associated emissions. It’s a powerful combo, exemplified by a recent study focused on the state of Colorado.
Electric vehicles are Colorado’s biggest emissions-reduction opportunity
Vibrant Clean Energy conducted the Colorado study, and Vox last month had a fabulous summary dissecting the findings. Vibrant modeled three scenarios through 2040:
–Business as usual: Colorado’s electricity grid and transportation sector look in 2040 much as they do today, and emissions remain essentially unchanged
–Cleaner grid: coal plants are shuttered and replaced with oodles of wind, solar, and some natural gas, slashing power-sector emissions 55% and statewide emissions 16% overall
–Cleaner grid + EVs: power-sector emissions fall a more modest 46% (thanks to natural gas generation meeting some of the increased demand from EVs), but statewide emissions overall drop an impressive 42%, thanks to an 80% decrease in transportation-sector emissions
These are exciting findings, to be sure. Yet they only scratch the surface of possibilities.
Emissions-optimized EV charging can further slash Colorado’s climate profile
For one, emissions-optimized EV charging can further slash transportation emissions above and beyond the electrification switch from gasoline- and diesel-burning internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to EVs. The idea is wonderfully simple in theory, though it takes some sophisticated software wizardry behind the scenes to implement in practice.
Several of the most-common EV charging scenarios—namely level 2 workplace charging during the day and overnight charging at home—don’t require the full charging time window in order to top off an EV’s battery. That difference between time needed to charge and time the EV remains plugged in to the grid allows an opportunity to optimize. More specifically, you can sync charging with moments of cleaner energy and pause EV charging during moments of dirtier energy.
A recently released WattTime analysis examined just how much cleaner EVs could be with smart emissions-optimized charging vs. traditional “dumb” charging. Two of the four representative grid balancing areas WattTime analyzed included WACM (a good proxy for historically coal-heavy western Colorado) and SPP (a good proxy for Xcel Energy’s wind-rich service territory up and down Colorado’s Front Range and High Plains).
The study found that EVs could be up to almost 18% cleaner annually and up to 60% cleaner on individual days. Remember: these are incremental additional emissions savings on top of the beneficial switch from ICE autos to EVs. That’s huge.
As Colorado’s grid gets more variable, emissions-optimized charging becomes even more important
For another, the Vibrant study’s view out to 2040 and Colorado’s potential grid mix reveals another key insight. As Colorado’s grid mix becomes dominantly wind and solar, supported by natural gas-fired generation, that grid will start to exhibit high emissions variability. To quote Vox article author David Roberts, Colorado’s “dispatch becomes much more volatile, with wind and solar providing almost 100 percent of energy at some points and natural gas almost 100 percent at others.”
This is highly consistent with WattTime’s findings in its study: “We should expect more grids across the country and around the world to exhibit emissions variability and emissions-reduction opportunities as they add more renewables to legacy fossil-fueled systems.”
That variability is a twofold opportunity for emissions-optimized EV charging: a) It enables even deeper emissions savings as the grid exhibits greater amplitude in its moment-to-moment swings from “very clean” to “dirtier.” b) It also presents opportunities for EVs to aid further grid integration of renewable generation, reducing curtailment and absorbing what would otherwise be wasted surplus wind and solar, helping to reduce the total need for natural gas to balance renewables’ variability.
Demand flexibility—whether from EVs or other smart technologies—is the crucial arbiter of tomorrow’s electricity grid supply and demand
At the end of the day, “emissions-optimized EV charging” is a transportation-specific name for a term that has gained increasing traction in recent years: demand flexibility. In a future world—whether within Colorado or beyond—in which we have a renewables-rich and variable grid supply and a robust fleet of electric vehicle demand, flexibility sits at the dynamic interface between them.
It is an elegant software-based solution that does more than complement renewables and EVs and other advanced energy technologies; it downright unlocks their fuller potential in a transformational turnover in hardware infrastructure—solar panels and wind turbines in lieu of coal and natural gas power plants, electrified powertrains in lieu of internal combustion engine automobiles and other light-duty vehicles.
Yes, a cleaner grid and electrified transportation can drastically reduce Colorado’s climate impact. But both can be even better versions of themselves if flexible demand, vis-a-vis emissions-optimized EV charging, is at the heart of their dance together.
National Drive Electric Week is here—as EVs grow in popularity, let’s make them even cleaner via smarter charging
It’s the 9th annual National Drive Electric Week (NDEW)! More than 300 events—mostly throughout the United States, but also in a growing number of locations around the world—will offer consumers a chance to learn about, test drive, and even buy an electric vehicle. Undoubtedly, electric vehicles (EVs) are surging in popularity right now. It’s a trend that shows little sign of slowing down.
There were already more than 1 million EVs on the road in the U.S. by the end of 2018. By 2030, that number is forecast to reach nearly 19 million, according to a report from the Edison Electric Institute. Similarly, Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s 2019 Electric Vehicle Outlook notes that annual EV sales totalled just a few thousand in 2010, and reached more than 2 million globally last year. BNEF forecasts global annual EV sales to hit 10 million by 2025 and 28 million by 2030.
Delivering against the green promise of EVs
Nearly two-thirds of prospective car buyers in America have interest in electric vehicles (EVs), according to a recent survey from Consumer Reports and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Not surprisingly, some 73% say that EVs can help reduce oil use and 72% believe EVs can help reduce pollution. Those are both true statements. But how much cleaner can EVs become vs. their internal combustion engine counterparts? UCS and others, including us here at WattTime, have looked at the emissions associated with charging EVs on various grids—some with more polluting fossil-fueled generation and others with more clean renewably-generated electricity. The good news is that, relative to the U.S. light-duty fleet average fuel economy of 22 MPG, EVs are cleaner everywhere. But it turns out that EVs can be even cleaner, and sometimes, much cleaner.
Emissions-optimized charging unlocks EVs’ full potential
At a time when annual changes in overall electricity demand are pretty much flat (thanks in part to the effectiveness of energy-efficiency programs), EVs represent a unique source of new demand for utilities and our power grid. Meanwhile, it’s pretty much common knowledge that from coast to coast we’ve been rapidly adding more and more renewable energy to the power grid. These two forces present a golden opportunity for EV charging.
First, as we add more renewable energy to electricity grids that are transitioning away from their legacy fossil-fueled generation, we’re seeing stronger and stronger variation in emissions rates from the grid. Sometimes the grid is cleaner, and sometimes it’s dirtier, depending whether polluting power plants or clean renewables are making up the mix.
Second, with new demand from EVs, every time you plug in an EV charge, the electricity grid has to ramp generation up or down to account for that change in load. But what power plants are responding? Does the utility have to turn on an inefficient, heavier-polluting, fossil-fueled peaker plant? Is surplus wind or solar generation being thrown away because there isn’t enough demand at that moment to absorb the emissions-free electricity?
With the right kind of insights into real-time grid conditions—and the ability to send that information via software signal to EVs—they could time their charging to sync with moments of clean electricity and avoid moments of dirty energy, making EVs cleaner than they already are.
A new WattTime report shows EVs’ emissions-saving capability
Just on the eve of this week’s NDEW, we released a new report that analyzed the emissions-saving capability of smarter EV charging. We looked at four representative grids across the country, and two common charging scenarios: daytime workplace charging and at-home overnight charging. Our findings were nothing short of exciting. Using an emissions-optimized charging cycle, such as WattTime’s Automated Emissions Reduction software, EVs could become up to 20% cleaner annually and 90% on individual days… incredibly through nothing more than smart software that modulates when an EV starts and stops charging within its allotted charge window (while still leaving you with a full battery, of course).
This is a gamechanger for EVs. Without ever touching their already-superefficient powertrains, it’s like giving them a big MPGe boost. They can drive just as far, but with fewer associated grid emissions. Which in the end delivers on one of the big reasons why drivers flocking to EVs in the first place: they’re green. Now, they can be greener still. With EV awareness on the rise—thanks in part to high-profile events such as NDEW—it’s good to remind drivers that EVs are a solid bet for reducing your eco footprint. With emissions-optimized charging, that bet can pay ever higher returns.
