Amazon Harnesses WattTime to Enable Alexa and Smart Thermostat Users to Reduce GHG Emissions Impacts

Oakland, Calif. — 14 June, 2023 — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced it is working with Amazon to bring greenhouse gas emissions insights and emission reduction capabilities to the Alexa app and Amazon Smart Thermostat. The Alexa Energy Dashboard now offers emissions insights powered by WattTime. In addition, the Amazon Smart Thermostat can now automatically optimize HVAC energy consumption to align with lower emissions moments on the power grid. 

“We are always searching for those partnerships and applications that will drive more impact faster when it comes to reducing emissions and tipping the climate scales in favor of our planet, and this work with Amazon is a prime example,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “We’re excited to offer simple — and in some cases automatic — tools to help reduce electricity-related emissions impacts. Today’s news is just the beginning when it comes to the difference we can make with collaborations like this.” 

The Alexa Energy Dashboard, housed within the Alexa app, helps users understand their device’s energy consumption. It works with a selection of water heaters and thermostats to help track the usage of devices that consume the most energy. Using historical data aggregated by WattTime, Amazon calculates a median value of CO2 emissions in each user’s area. Looking at estimated carbon dioxide emissions over the course of 24 hours, it categorizes values above that median as “Higher” and below that median as “Lower,” which is then displayed in the dashboard. This data can help users choose when to run their dishwasher, dryer, or other inherently flexible electricity-consuming appliances.

With new improvements to the Amazon Smart Thermostat, emissions reduction capabilities go a step further. Customers in the U.S. can now choose to opt-in to a feature to help limit HVAC use during times when electricity may cause more emissions by having Alexa use estimations provided by WattTime and automatically adjust the temperature by one degree. The Amazon Smart Thermostat’s new feature leverages WattTime’s marginal emissions rates, which assess the real-world impacts of consuming power at a specific time and location. 

"We're very excited about this energy feature update for Amazon Smart Thermostats that enables Alexa to try to reduce a household’s carbon impact proactively," said Maiken Moeller-Hansen, Director of Energy and Sustainability at Amazon. "Now Alexa can automatically adjust temperature set-points to reduce usage during high emission times, based on real-time emissions data from the user’s local power grid." 

For more information on WattTime and its technology, visit www.watttime.org.  

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About WattTime 

WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.

Media Contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com

Hourly carbon data enables smarter emissions decisions for industrial operations

Hourly carbon data partnership between Ndustrial and WattTime allows companies to drive authentic emissions reductions

RALEIGH, NC AND OAKLAND, CA – March. 14, 2023 – Ndustrial has announced it is incorporating hourly carbon emissions data from WattTime into its Nsight™ Energy Intensity Platform to enable smarter emissions decisions for its industrial customer base.

“Most companies measure their greenhouse gas emissions on an annual basis,” says Ndustrial’s Founder and CEO Jason Massey, “but that doesn’t account for the fact that using electricity can have vastly different emissions impacts at different times of day. Our platform will now highlight these variations.”

Marginal emissions data measures the real-world consequences of consuming electricity at a certain time and location within an ever-changing power grid. Availability of hourly marginal carbon emissions data for local electricity grids around the world now allows companies to achieve bigger carbon reductions and better quantify the emissions impacts of their actions.

Ndustrial helps businesses drive down Energy Intensity, reduce energy costs and increase sustainable operations. One way customers drive down energy spend is by responding to Nsight’s real-time suggestions to avoid critical peak periods via peak avoidance algorithms and demand response signals.

Through the partnership with WattTime, Ndustrial’s Nsight™ Energy Intensity Platform can now incorporate estimates of the avoided carbon emissions expected from various operational suggestions. During peak periods of demand on the grid, for example, users may see substantial cost savings as well as carbon emissions savings from curtailing or shifting the time of their energy use. All of this can be scheduled hours in advance, with a 72-hour forecast of emissions rates.

In addition to the operational insights enabled by hourly marginal emissions rates, Nsight will use hourly average emissions rates for more granular Scope 2 emissions accounting. The most commonly used emissions accounting approach relies on an annual emissions rate from the EPA that is almost two years stale by the time it is published. Nsight will provide an emissions accounting option that is up to date throughout the year, is no more than a few days old, and shows variation throughout the day.

Many leading companies are leveraging marginal emissions data from WattTime to accelerate the electric grid’s transition to zero carbon. WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit founded by UC Berkeley researchers to increase environmental and social good. Through this partnership, Ndustrial and WattTime will empower a new and large portion of the industrial sector to make faster climate progress.

“Industrial companies are some of the biggest consumers of electricity out there, so they have a huge opportunity to help bring down global emissions simply by making smart choices about when they use that power,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “This partnership with Ndustrial is an exciting opportunity for us to help their sizable client base bring down global emissions at scale, fast.”

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About Ndustrial
Ndustrial exists to accelerate the optimization of Energy Intensity in industrial facilities and has helped avoid over $100 million in energy spend. Their production-first approach helps clients find – and automate – the energy-saving opportunities that make sense for them. Their Energy Intensity platform integrates over 40 different systems into a single view, processing over 100 million data points every day to enable smarter energy decisions in real time. Ndustrial’s motto, “We help you find energy,” focuses the team to drive down Energy Intensity, decrease costs and increase sustainable operations inside the walls of every industrial facility. Learn more at ndustrial.io.

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet. Learn more at www.WattTime.org.

WattTime unveils new health-focused power grid emissions signal, partners with Toyota and Lexus for first implementation

Oakland, Calif. — January 11, 2023 — Environmental tech nonprofit WattTime and Toyota Motor North America (Toyota) today announced a partnership enabling electric vehicle (EV) drivers to further reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and human health impacts from vehicles. The ECO Charging feature integrated into Toyota and Lexus apps as part of Remote Connect is currently available for customers with eligible plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

“Through our partnership with WattTime, we are providing customers an easy and accessible way to identify when they can charge their vehicle while also helping reduce environmental impacts,” said Steve Basra, group vice president, Connected Technologies, Toyota Motor North America.

WattTime’s emissions data provides the information necessary for smart devices such as EVs and thermostats to align their energy usage with moments of cleaner energy and avoid moments of dirtier energy. This is possible because not all power plants are on or running at full capacity at all times. More- and less-emitting power plants turn on or off, or ramp up or down, at different times. 

Until now, WattTime’s emissions data has focused solely on timing energy use to moments when power plants produce less carbon emissions. Today’s announcement signals a new way for WattTime data to be used to reduce the human health impacts of electricity consumption, specifically for owners of EVs. This is particularly important for disadvantaged communities where high-emission power plants are clustered in a particular area, thereby causing a disproportionate burden to those communities.

For example, on the New York grid, ramping up a power plant upstate can cause significantly less harm to people’s lungs than getting the same amount of electricity from all the fossil-fueled peaker plants in the middle of Queens, where the power plants — and their emissions — are surrounded by densely populated communities.

“The key is knowing which power plants will respond — which will turn on or off — based on when people use electricity,” explained Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “Now, Toyota and Lexus EV owners can use their app to prioritize charging during moments that better protect people’s lungs. We are thrilled to be launching this updated application to multiply the good work the innovators at Toyota have already done in slashing pollution.”

The Toyota and Lexus app software, as part of the Remote Connect ECO Charging feature, combines the customer’s own charging needs with electricity emissions data from WattTime to propose a charging schedule that is likely to reduce both the health impacts and carbon emissions of charging with electricity from the grid.

Even before emissions-optimized charging, EVs cause less pollution than traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) automobiles. Smart charging powered by WattTime’s emissions data can increase that beneficial impact even further to make EVs up to 20% cleaner annually versus normal charging, according to a 2019 WattTime analysis. Those emissions reductions and cleaner air can benefit both people and planet.

“Our electrified vehicle customers select our vehicles not only to enjoy a best-in-class customer experience, but also to make a positive impact on our environment and society,” said James George, general manager, Toyota EV Charging Solutions. “We will continue to provide solutions both now and in the future in support of Toyota’s goal of creating a carbon neutral society.”  

Eligible Toyota vehicles include PHEVs such as the Prius Prime and RAV4 Prime, as well as BEVs such as the bZ4X, which debuted in North America as the global automaker’s first pure battery EV. Lexus’ all-new RZ 450e BEV will go on sale early this year. In addition, Lexus offers PHEV options in the NX 450h+ and the forthcoming RX 450h+. 

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to easily and effectively supercharge emissions reductions from electricity use. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven insights, software, and tools that multiply the beneficial impact of clean energy solutions and slash emissions from fossil-fueled electricity. For more information visit www.watttime.org. 

About Toyota 
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our nearly 1,500 dealerships. 

Toyota directly employs more than 39,000 people in the U.S. who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 32 million cars and trucks at our nine manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 10th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.  With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, a quarter of the company’s 2021 U.S. sales were electrified.

To help inspire the next generation for a career in STEM-based fields, including mobility, Toyota launched its virtual education hub at www.TourToyota.com with an immersive experience and chance to virtually visit many of our U.S. manufacturing facilities. The hub also includes a series of free STEM-based lessons and curriculum through Toyota USA Foundation partners, virtual field trips and more.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

About Lexus
Lexus’ passion for brave design, imaginative technology, and exhilarating performance enables the luxury lifestyle brand to create amazing experiences for its customers. Lexus began its journey in 1989 with two luxury sedans and a commitment to pursue perfection. Since then, Lexus has developed its lineup to meet the needs of global luxury customers in more than 90 countries. In the United States, Lexus vehicles are sold through 244 dealers offering a full lineup of luxury vehicles. With six models incorporating Lexus Hybrid Drive, Lexus is the luxury hybrid leader. Lexus also offers eight F SPORT models and one F performance model. Lexus is committed to being a visionary brand that anticipates the future for luxury customers.

WattTime Media Contact
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com 

Toyota/Lexus Media Contact
Josh Burns
Joshua.Burns@Toyota.com

REsurety and WattTime to make marginal emissions data widely available to support more impactful climate action

The two environmental technology organizations plan to greatly increase the availability of data that enables an impact-based approach to carbon accounting and decision making.

Boston, Mass. and Oakland, Calif. – January 10, 2023 – REsurety, Inc., a leading analytics company empowering the clean energy economy, and WattTime, an environmental tech nonprofit working to multiply positive climate impact, have today announced that both organizations plan to increase the availability of high-quality marginal emissions data. These data can support impact-based decision making and more accurate carbon accounting for climate-conscious corporations and other institutions that have committed to net-zero and science-based targets. REsurety and WattTime are collaborating to make this critical data available at no cost to qualified end users.

“We’ve heard the growing calls from the private sector for stronger climate action, which have emphasized the urgent need for access to transparent emissions data. As mission-driven organizations in this space, we feel it’s our responsibility to take meaningful action,” said Lee Taylor, CEO of REsurety.

On December 13, 2022, a group of leading global corporations and investors, including Akamai Technologies, Amazon, General Motors, Hannon Armstrong, Heineken, Intel, Meta, Rivian, Salesforce, and Workday, launched the Emissions First Partnership, calling for a shift in corporate carbon accounting standards away from megawatt-hour matching and toward an emissions impact-centric system. Their proposed principles for electricity accounting focus on maximizing greenhouse gas reductions. Marginal emissions data, which measures the carbon impact of consuming or generating energy at a given time and location, is a critical tool for maximizing and accurately measuring real-world carbon impacts.

“This year saw an extraordinary surge in the number of companies intentionally optimizing electricity use and renewable energy generation to slash emissions — an urgently needed climate trend that’s making a real difference,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “We and REsurety strongly agreed it’s important to share access to open, transparent, validated data from around the world that will empower organizations to more easily track and execute on emissions reduction goals.”

REsurety and WattTime will make historical marginal emissions data available to qualified end users including researchers, corporate sustainability practitioners for accounting, and other non-commercial end users at no cost within the next three months. This improves on the temporal and spatial granularity of the global annual country-level marginal emissions data already available from the UNFCCC.

Furthermore, the two organizations have committed to expanding the geographies covered by their high-quality marginal emissions data. Increased data coverage will enable the standardization of reporting and analytical frameworks, data integrations, and usage patterns for companies within the U.S. and around the world. By the end of 2023, REsurety will provide nodal marginal emissions data across all U.S. wholesale markets and WattTime will expand global data coverage to include parts of two or more additional continents.

“Salesforce has been procuring clean energy since 2013, and last year reached 100% renewable energy for its global operations. But we’ve also seen first hand that not all projects deliver the same impact. By shifting the focus from megawatt-hour matching to emissions reductions, we can focus on maximizing decarbonization impact in the regions where the world needs it the most. High-quality marginal emission data is critical to enable this work,” said Megan Lorenzen, senior manager of sustainability, Salesforce, and co-author of the company’s More than a Megawatt report.

Both REsurety and WattTime have published research and recommendations supporting the use of marginal emissions data for impact-centric carbon accounting. In September 2022, WattTime published a white paper focused on the concept of “impact accounting” to ensure emissions reductions counted on paper actually translate to changes in the real world. In October 2022, REsurety shared its analysis demonstrating that such an impact-based Scope 2 accounting approach is much more effective than alternatives in encouraging behavior that leads to real-world decarbonization.

“Addressing the impacts of climate change is the biggest challenge of our time, which is why Amazon is committed to reaching net zero carbon by 2040 and why we are on a path to being powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025 — five years ahead of our original commitment. Accounting for carbon emissions is an important part of this work, and we need to ensure the best data and methods are used to help accelerate the decarbonization of the electricity grid as quickly as possible. We welcome this commitment from REsurety and WattTime for increased accessibility and geographical coverage of electricity grid data and support their efforts to further strengthen this data,” said Jake Oster, director, public policy, AWS.

In November of 2021, REsurety and WattTime partnered to bring the strengths of their respective data sets together. Since then, the two groups have collaborated closely with corporates, investors, nonprofits, and other businesses in developing the data needed to support decisions focused on maximizing emissions impacts. Today’s announcement advances this growing data ecosystem.

For more information and to learn more about accessing the upcoming data inventory, contact carbon@resurety.com or go to www.watttime.org/contact.

About REsurety
REsurety is the leading analytics company empowering the clean energy economy. Operating at the intersection of weather, power markets, and financial modeling, we enable the industry’s decision-makers to thrive by providing best-in-class value and risk intelligence, and the tools to act on it. With the world’s most sophisticated clean energy investors, advisors, buyers, and developers as clients, REsurety empowers clients to thrive in the dynamic, complex, clean energy-fueled future. For more information, visit www.resurety.com or follow REsurety on LinkedIn.

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good, including Automated Emissions Reduction and emissionality. WattTime is also the convening member and cofounder of the global Climate TRACE coalition. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet. For more information, visit https://watttime.org.

Media Contacts
Tara Bartley, tbartley@resurety.com
Nikki Arnone, nikki@inflectionpointagency.com

Footsprint and WattTime partner on solution to decrease carbon impact of digital media campaigns

MONTREAL, CANADA AND OAKLAND, USA — 15 December 2022 —  Digital performance and sustainability firm Footsprint and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime today announced a partnership aimed at decreasing the carbon impact of digital media campaigns. Their recent integration incorporates historical and real-time marginal emissions data from WattTime into Footsprint reporting to pinpoint opportunities for efficiency and reduced energy usage.  

“Our mission is to equip businesses with the tools and expertise to steer their media investments towards sustainable performance,” said Elisa Boivin, founder and managing director of Footsprint. “In essence, this means eliminating waste from our media plans, which will mechanically improve carbon efficiency and media performance. To do this, we need sustainability sciences to work at the speed of digital, through new environmental KPIs that enable advertisers to take action in real-time.” 

Footsprint leverages data from WattTime in a variety of ways to assist clients in making digital media campaigns less carbon-intensive. For example, they may reduce the carbon footprint of digital initiatives by shifting the time and location of ad campaigns according to the carbon intensity of electricity, forecasted or in real-time. These strategic interventions are made possible through WattTime's marginal emissions data, which gives a more accurate measure of the emissions impact related to electricity consumption. 

“We continue to be thrilled to see the many innovative ways that our partners are leveraging our data to make a difference in reducing emissions on a global scale,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “Footsprint’s application is a great example of how ordinary business operations can be easily adjusted to slash carbon while often boosting the company’s bottom line.”

Footsprint is part of the Labelium group — a global digital performance agency that specializes in e-retail, media, and consumer performance. Footsprint empowers its clients to decarbonize their digital marketing efforts. From website foundations to multichannel digital advertising, footsprint provides a full stack of sustainable digital solutions, built with a methodology based on the latest industry research. Developed with a strong ecological and business performance mindset, these services help brands reconcile sustainability and digital performance. 

WattTime creates data-driven solutions that empower companies, governments, policymakers, and others to reduce emissions simply and easily. Their comprehensive marginal emissions data powers solutions like AER software, which allows internet-connected devices to shift energy usage away from times of dirty power on the local grid. Among their other efforts, WattTime also works with corporate clients on emissionality consulting to help select renewable energy investments that will result in the highest amount of avoided emissions from the grid.  

To learn more about Footsprint’s services in decarbonizing digital performance, visit www.footsprint.co. And to learn more about WattTime’s emissions reduction products and services, visit www.watttime.org. 

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About Footsprint

Launched in 2022 by the Labelium Group, footsprint is the first global digital sustainability consultancy brand. From sustainable web design and media services to social impact advertising, footsprint aims to empower its clients in transitioning towards more responsible digital practices. The footsprint team is innovative, diverse and science-driven, composed of seasoned environmental and digital experts. For more information please visit us at https://www.footsprint.co/

About WattTime

WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet.

Media Contacts

Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency for WattTime
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com

Elisa Boivin, Managing Director for Footsprint 
elisa.boivin@footsprint.agency

Juan Sotés, Impact Measurement Director for Footsprint
juan.sotes@footsprint.agency  

TimberRock partners with WattTime to enhance emissions reduction capabilities of its E-IQ decarbonization platform

Orlando, Fla. and Oakland, Calif.—04 October 2022—Software and energy solutions provider TimberRock today announced it is working with partners at environmental tech nonprofit WattTime to supercharge the emissions reductions possible through its E-IQ platform. The SaaS corporate energy decarbonization platform prioritizes authentic environmental impact and helps organizations account for and reduce energy-related emissions. Empowered with marginal emissions insights from WattTime, corporate users of TimberRock’s E-IQ can now go ‘beyond accounting’ to calculate—and act upon—the highest-impact emissions reduction strategies. 

Through a longtime partnership with WattTime, TimberRock has embraced an impact-based approach to corporate carbon accounting using marginal emissions data to identify and maximize authentic emissions reductions rather than simply offsetting a company’s carbon footprint on paper. These data are now directly integrated into the E-IQ platform to make this approach easily actionable for corporations prioritizing sustainability plans that make a real difference for the planet. 

“We built E-IQ around the same impact framework that drives WattTime’s work. Instead of just measuring megawatt-hours, E-IQ accounts for actual induced and avoided emissions—which we refer to as CO2e debits and credits,” said Brent Hollenbeck, CEO of TimberRock. “This allows our users to see how their operations are truly impacting the environment. E-IQ then takes it an important step further, making the data insights actionable, not just accounted for.” 

E-IQ was designed for large companies looking for a simple and integrated tool to measure and reduce emissions from energy usage. With the recent launch of the portal component of E-IQ, the cyber-secure platform now measures Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by fully integrating with a company’s operations network and supply chain. The auditable GHG emissions data provided by the platform can be used for ESG compliance and to track progress toward hitting corporate climate goals.

Users of E-IQ have the tools necessary to make better decisions regarding energy consumption in order to lower emissions; the platform enables pathways to create authentic, high-impact emissions reductions in real time. For example, it may calculate the emissions impact of an external intervention, like signing a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a renewable energy project that displaces more fossil fuel generation, or may drive internal interventions directly, like shifting flexible energy demand (such as smart thermostats or EV chargers) to times when the local grid has surplus clean energy available. 

TimberRock is a software and energy solutions provider with 20 years of experience helping organizations account for and reduce energy emissions. The company has worked closely with WattTime for four years to incorporate its impact-centric approach into TimberRock solutions. By building a tool driven by the impact framework, TimberRock has become a vocal leader in the  energy accounting and management space, which is facing a reckoning over authentic and effective accounting practices.

“The scientific community reached consensus years ago that there’s obviously a world of difference between a project that reduces more emissions in the atmosphere, versus less,” said Gavin McCormick, founder and executive director of WattTime. “But traditional carbon accounting approaches all too often still don’t reflect this. That’s why we’re thrilled to see TimberRock leading the charge to upgrade traditional accounting to also measure ‘impact’—the overall effect of each sustainability project on total emissions that hit the atmosphere. After all, that’s the only thing that actually matters to the planet.” 

WattTime works with companies, governments, policymakers, and others to make it simple to choose clean energy and reduce emissions. Their solutions are built around the idea that not all megawatts of electricity are equal, and that not all renewable energy projects have the same impact on the power grid. Factors like time and location have marked effects on the emissions-intensity of various decisions, and use of marginal emissions data helps to capture those nuances. 

To learn more about an impact-based carbon accounting approach and the importance of using marginal emissions data, download WattTime’s recent report, Accounting for Impact: Refocusing GHG Protocol Scope 2 methodology on ‘impact accounting’. 

To explore TimberRock’s solutions and learn more about the E-IQ platform, visit www.trock.io. 

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About TimberRock
TimberRock believes in an emissions-free energy future in which decarbonized energy is abundant, accessible, low-cost and reliable. TimberRock's mission is to deliver the technology and services that achieve this future via it’s E-IQ platform. E-IQ is deployed across 100-million square feet of buildings today and provides energy emissions "impact" accounting that enables the journey to net zero energy emissions. For more information, visit https://www.trock.io. 

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet.

Media Contacts
Nikki Arnone, Inflection Point Agency
nikki@inflectionpointagency.com

FlexCharging integrates WattTime’s Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) into charging software, allows electric vehicles to optimize their smart charging to reduce grid emissions

Redmond, Wash. and Oakland, Calif.—March 10, 2022—Today electric vehicle (EV) smart charging platform FlexCharging announced an exciting new feature available in its app. FlexCharging’s software will now allow EV drivers to prioritize lower grid emissions during their charging sessions. The feature will leverage Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), a solution from environmental tech nonprofit WattTime that allows smart devices—including EVs charging—to sync their electricity use with moments of cleaner energy while avoiding times when power grid emissions are higher.

“We know that EV drivers are highly motivated to make a positive environmental impact,” explained Laura McCarty, COO of FlexCharging. “This new feature in our app puts more power in the hands of EV drivers to shrink their carbon footprint even further, while also saving on electricity costs.”

FlexCharging’s app already allows EV drivers to optimize their charging sessions to minimize electricity costs and/or to charge using their home’s rooftop solar PV energy. The additional ability to prioritize charging to avoid times of dirtier grid electricity incorporates a powerful new feature into the platform. Just-released analysis from RMI, More EVs, Fewer Emissions, found that charging EVs on all grids across the United States is cleaner than driving a gasoline-fueled car, but that smart charging can make EVs even cleaner by further reducing the grid emissions associated with their electricity use. (WattTime and FlexCharging both provided data for RMI’s analysis.)

“Smart EV charging is an incredible opportunity to support the clean energy transition,” said Christy Lewis, Director of Analysis at WattTime. “We applaud FlexCharging for taking a leading role with a solution that makes it easy for drivers: they set their preferences in the app, start their next charge session, and walk away. FlexCharging’s platform handles the rest. Drivers return to a charged battery and a lower carbon footprint.”

The FlexCharging app is compatible with EVs from nearly a dozen major automakers, including Tesla, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, and Volkswagen, with new makes and models being added to the platform soon. The app is also applicable to EV fleet owners and operators such as cities, as well as utilities, corporations, and other organizations interested in harnessing managed charging to reduce their total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint.

About FlexCharging

FlexCharging is a no-hardware Electric Vehicle (EV) data collection and managed charging app and platform. It allows EV drivers and utilities to partner to manage EV charging to reduce peak EV loads, reduce peaking capacity needs and demonstrate to utilities and customers the results of utility programs' reduction in GHG emissions and power costs. FlexCharging provides EV charging, driving and 'dwell' data that provides important insights to utilities (e.g., charge location, time, amount, type of charge, etc.) and runs an optimization algorithm to manage charging to meet driver needs and utility program constraints.

About WattTime

WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet.

REsurety and WattTime partner to increase accessibility to high-quality marginal carbon emissions data

Enhanced power grid insights will enable more effective investments in renewables, storage, and load siting

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES, November 2, 2021 -- Today clean energy analytics firm REsurety and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime announced a partnership to increase access to more comprehensive and granular carbon emissions data across U.S. and international markets. Through this partnership, they will leverage their respective strengths in measuring marginal carbon emissions to provide previously unavailable depth and breadth of visibility into the carbon impact of clean energy projects and load centers. This helps companies consider the resulting impact of their energy-related procurement options and understand which choices offer the greatest benefit to the environment.

REsurety first unveiled its Locational Marginal Emissions (LME) data product in July 2021 with the support of major developers, investors, and corporates. LME empowers customers to measure and maximize how much carbon they cut through clean energy purchases. REsurety currently offers nodal LME data for the ERCOT (Texas) market. Through this new integration of WattTime’s regional emissions dataset, REsurety will also be able to provide regional marginal emissions rates across the entire continental United States as well as international power grids including Europe and Australia.

“LME data enables companies to measure the impact of their existing clean energy purchases with unrivaled accuracy and confidence, and empowers them to maximize the carbon impact of their future investments,” said Lee Taylor, founder and CEO of REsurety. “We are thrilled to have found a like-minded partner in WattTime as we work together to maximize our collective decarbonization impact.”

WattTime invented Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) software, which enables the shifting of flexible electricity loads to periods of cleaner energy and away from moments of dirtier energy, based on the time-specific marginal emissions rates in different grid balancing areas. In recent years, WattTime has also popularized “emissionality,” the practice of using the location-specific avoided emissions benefits of different renewable energy projects in the selection process. With WattTime’s help, organizations including Boston University, solar developer Clearloop, steel producer Nucor, and tech giant Salesforce have all incorporated emissionality into their renewable energy strategies.

“With the growing urgency of the climate crisis and organizations’ desire to maximize the positive impact of their sustainability strategies and investments, REsurety and their LME platform offer a powerful tool to evaluate potential projects,” said Henry Richardson, senior analyst at WattTime. “We’re proud to support REsurety and enhance the emissions intelligence they are able to provide.”

LMEs bring a new level of precision and accuracy to measuring the carbon abated or created at any given moment and at any given location on the grid. By calculating the carbon emissions at each node on the grid with hourly granularity, REsurety’s LME product offers, for the first time, visibility into the project-specific carbon impact of each clean energy purchase or investment. By integrating WattTime’s emissions data into its platform, REsurety will be able to provide its clients with regional marginal emissions data in areas where the nodal LME data is not yet available, thereby greatly expanding the geographic coverage of the platform.

About REsurety
REsurety is the leading analytics company empowering the clean energy economy. Operating at the intersection of weather, power markets, and financial modeling, we enable the industry’s decision makers to thrive by providing best-in-class value and risk intelligence, and the tools to act on it. With the world’s most sophisticated clean energy investors, advisors, buyers, and developers as clients and 7,000 MW of transactions closed, REsurety empowers clients to thrive in the dynamic, complex, clean energy-fueled future. For more information, visit www.resurety.com or follow REsurety on LinkedIn.

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good, including Automated Emissions Reduction and emissionality. WattTime is also the convening member and cofounder of the global Climate TRACE coalition. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet. For more information, visit https://watttime.org.

Peter Kelley
RenewComm LLC
+1 202-270-8831
peter@renewcomm.com

Hemlock Semiconductor, Consumers Energy, and WattTime reduce grid emissions through industrial load shifting

Saginaw, Mich. and Oakland, Calif.—October 28, 2021—Today Hemlock Semiconductor Operations, LLC (HSC), a manufacturer of hyper-pure polysilicon for the electronic and solar power industries, announced it has collaborated with Michigan energy provider Consumers Energy and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime to reduce grid emissions through industrial load shifting. At full production, HSC is the largest single-site user of electricity in the state of Michigan and the largest customer of Consumers Energy.

HSC worked with WattTime to assess the ability to use WattTime’s Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) technology to adjust the timing of its flexible electricity demand to sync with moments of cleaner energy. In tandem, Consumers Energy developed a rate that included both real-time pricing and demand-based attributes to further encourage demand flexibility. Based on WattTime analysis, this industrial load shifting could help HSC reduce CO2 emissions by up to ~2,500 metric tons annually, equivalent to eliminating more than 6 million miles driven by a passenger car or not burning more than 2.7 million pounds of coal.

“We are proud of our ongoing sustainability efforts and are excited about how shifting some of our energy demand can further reduce emissions and help incorporate more renewables on Michigan’s grid,” explained Phil Rausch, Solar Commercial Manager at 

HSC. “Plus, as a member of the Ultra Low-Carbon Solar Alliance, we remain focused on doing our part to decarbonize all parts of the solar energy supply chain, including the polysilicon we supply to the solar industry.”

Industrial load shifting with a company like HSC can be a powerful tool for Michigan’s grid (which is part of MISO) as it rapidly transitions to higher amounts of renewable energy. In June 2021 Consumers Energy announced an updated plan to retire all coal-fired generation by 2025, 15 years ahead of its original schedule. This comes as part of Consumers Energy’s updated Clean Energy Plan, which calls for 1,100 MW of new solar capacity by 2024 and nearly 8,000 MW of new solar by 2040.

“Our work with HSC shows how energy-intensive customers can contribute meaningfully to our Clean Energy Plan while also keeping costs competitive,” said Brian Rich, Consumers Energy’s senior vice president of customer experience. “For example, as Consumers Energy adds new solar capacity to Michigan’s grid, HSC could be an important flexible demand anchor for incorporating that solar, especially with seasonal load shifting to help absorb solar generation in the spring and fall when residential and commercial electricity demand is lower.”

WattTime’s analysis went further, and found even greater emissions-reduction opportunities by applying HSC’s degree of industrial load shifting to other grids, such as California (CAISO) and the Great Plains (SPP). Industrial demand flexibility in these regions offer substantial emissions-reduction potential of up to 34% vs. baseline emissions associated with the shifted load, approximately 10x greater emissions savings on a percentage basis and 8x greater on an absolute emissions basis than what is achievable in the Great Lakes region (MISO) today. As more renewables are built in Michigan in the years ahead, we’d expect to see similar opportunities there for HSC and other industrial customers.

“Hemlock Semiconductor and Consumers Energy are showing how industrial loads can add needed flexibility to power grids, helping to reduce emissions and integrate more renewables in the process,” concluded Laura Corso, managing director of partnerships at WattTime. “What’s possible in Michigan currently is just the tip of the iceberg. Regions such as California and the Great Plains today show even greater emissions-reduction potential, and they reflect what will be possible in Michigan in the near future—sizable emissions reductions that accelerate the clean energy transition during this decisive decade of climate action.”

To learn more about the collaboration between Hemlock Semiconductor, Consumers Energy, and WattTime—and the emissions-reduction potential of industrial load shifting—please download their new joint white paper, Powering the Future: Harnessing Industrial Demand Flexibility to Reduce Emissions and Integrate Renewables (EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | FULL REPORT).

ABOUT THE PARTNERS

Hemlock Semiconductor is a producer of hyper pure polycrystalline silicon, providing the key feedstock for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries. As the single largest consumer of electricity in the state of Michigan, HSC is dedicated to reducing its carbon emissions. HSC participates in existing market programs concerning MISO Demand Response and engages in load shifting in accordance with market programs and time of use pricing. Recently HSC's efforts were recognized as Project of the Year by the Michigan EIBC (Energy Innovation Business Council) for work in shifting electrical consumption from on-peak to off-peak periods, and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has also designated HSC as a Clean Corporate Citizen (C3). Learn more about HSC at www.hscpoly.com.

Consumers Energy, Michigan’s largest energy provider, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties Learn more at www.consumersenergy.com.

WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good, including Automated Emissions Reduction and emissionality. WattTime is also the convening member and cofounder of the global Climate TRACE coalition. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and planet.

GreenFront Energy Partners and WattTime partner to advance emissionality

Joint effort will unlock greater emissions reductions by enabling renewable PPAs to target grid regions where clean energy can displace more fossil-fueled emissions

Wind turbines in agricultural field with WattTime and GreenFront logos

Richmond, Va. and Oakland, Calif.—October 12, 2021—Today clean energy-focused investment banking and advisory firm GreenFront Energy Partners and environmental tech nonprofit WattTime announced a new partnership to advance emissionality as an offering for GreenFront’s clients. Emissionality brings an additional lens to renewable energy procurement, by enabling investors and offtakers to identify which solar and wind projects can achieve the greatest emissions reductions, by displacing more fossil-fueled generation on dirtier grids. This will directly enhance GreenFront’s PPA Advisory practice, which represents corporate buyers in their renewable energy procurement efforts.

“Each energy buyer comes to the table with a different set of goals and priorities for their renewable energy procurement, from economic considerations to social and community impact, to environmental variables,” explained Adam Hahn, GreenFront Energy Partners. “But more and more, we’re seeing growing emphasis on maximizing beneficial climate impact, by signing renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) for those solar and wind projects that achieve greater emissions reductions. Through our partnership with WattTime, we’re able to bring industry-leading emissionality insights to our clients.”

GreenFront and WattTime previously collaborated in support of Nucor, the largest steel producer in North America. GreenFront’s PPA Advisory helped Nucor evaluate a large portfolio of responses to its renewable energy RFP, and brought in WattTime to conduct an emissionality analysis to better understand the avoided emissions benefits of a set of finalists. WattTime has also worked with organizations ranging from Boston University to Salesforce to incorporate emissionality into their renewables procurement strategies.

“The growing adoption of emissionality is an exciting trend in corporate renewables procurement,” said Laura Corso, managing director of partnerships at WattTime. “Companies looking to maximize the emissions-reduction benefits of their renewable energy investments understand that not all solar and wind projects are created equally. We couldn’t be more excited for this partnership with GreenFront . With the urgency of the climate crisis, GreenFront is better-positioned than ever to help their clients focus their investments where they can achieve impact.”

For more information about emissionality and GreenFront’s PPA Advisory practice, please visit www.greenfrontenergy.com.

About GreenFront Energy Partners
GreenFront Energy Partners is an investment banking firm that specializes in alternative energy financial advisory. GreenFront’s service offering includes buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory and debt and equity capital raising, as well as PPA advisory services.

About WattTime
WattTime is an environmental tech nonprofit that empowers all people, companies, policymakers, and countries to slash emissions and choose cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers, we develop data-driven tools and policies that increase environmental and social good, including Automated Emissions Reduction and emissionality. WattTime is also the convening member and cofounder of the global Climate TRACE coalition. During the energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime ‘bends the curve’ of emissions reductions to realize deeper, faster benefits for people and the planet.