CWEB.030/June.25.1998
A SMORGASBORD OF Northwest energy efficiency and renewable energy awaits readers of this month's issue of Con.WEB.
On the policy front, we feature some thoughts on public purposes from the brand-new administrator of Bonneville Power Adminstration, Judi Johansen. We also cover a story from Montana about an alleged deal--denied by the principals--linking increased public-purposes funding by Montana Power with the dropping of two statewide restructuring ballot initiatives potentially detrimental to the utility.
The public power section focuses on Chelan County PUD's transition from incentive-based efficiency to customer-based services. This offers one more piece of evidence that Northwest energy conservation has evolved--not disappeared--with the onset--real and imagined--of electric industry restructuring. In Renewables, we spotlight the new Bonneville Environmental Foundation.
Those interested in residential can read a story about BPA's extension of low-income residential weatherization contracts with the four states, and Portland General Electric's revision of its proposed energy management pilot program for low-income weatherization. The commercial section provides a look at a new Northwest commercial lighting Web site. And in the marketplace is found an update on PGE's request for proposals for innovative efficiency programs.
Savor the longest days of the year (unless you really like darkness; then ignore this) and stay in touch if you wish, with marko@newsdata.com.
The new leader of Bonneville Power Administration doesn't envision returning BPA to a regionally centralized role in energy efficiency, and she supports the conservation funding guidelines recommended in the Regional Review.
Judi Johansen, who formally took office June 8 as BPA's new administrator, also believes Bonneville should not acquire renewable energy resources--except under exceptional circumstances. However, she thinks the federal power marketing agency should promote renewables research and development.
Johansen shared these and other thoughts about Bonneville under her tenure in a May 29 interview with managing editor Ben Tansey of Energy NewsData's Clearing Up newsletter.
Outlining her general thinking, Johansen said that under its public trust role Bonneville "needs to continue to be a catalyst for research and development in renewables and to work with the entire industry in the region on the funding commitments for conservation that came from the Comprehensive Review." Johansen said she will make
 |
| Judi Johansen |
The Review recommended that 3 percent of the revenues from the sale of electricity services in the region (equivalent to $210 million in 1995) be earmarked for cost-effective energy conservation, renewable resource development and low-income weatherization. Between two-thirds and five-sixths of the total funds were recommended to be kept by local distribution utilities for "locally initiated cost-effective conservation, low-income weatherization and energy-efficiency services and renewable energy projects."
Noting that "[s]ome conservation and renewable resource activities benefit from regional planning and coordination," the Review also suggested that between one-sixth and one-third of the funds be applied to a regional entity for conservation market transformation, "planning and contracting for research and limited demonstration of renewable energy technologies," and development of "several megawatts" each year of renewable energy capacity. "Funding for these activities should be collected in part through Bonneville wholesale rates to the extent regional firm loads are served by power from Bonneville," the Review suggested.
The Review's stated goal for these conservation/renewables recommendations was "to provide for maximum local control in the implementation of conservation, renewables and low-income energy services, while establishing an effective minimum standard that ensures stable funding for these purposes."
While advocating the Review guidelines, Johansen indicated BPA under her stewardship would not return to its old ways of highly centralized energy-saving initiatives.
"I don't want BPA to become the centralized funder of programs like in the past. That said," she added, "BPA has people who really know conservation, and we need to take advantage of that . . . without Bonneville as a central funder and dictator of how conservation is to be done."
She withheld her opinion on a proposal to meet Regional Review commitments through subscription contracts for future BPA power. That represents "only one suggestion," Johansen said. "It doesn't sound great, but it might be the only one. I want to hear all the options."
Johansen echoed the Regional Review in declining a role for Bonneville in resource acquisition. "I am a firm believer that Bonneville should not be involved in resource acquisition. Bonneville is not the most efficient way for the region to acquire resources." She also questioned the need for new resources in the Northwest: "My understanding is the load growth is not as great as in California or the Southwest."
Her position on resource acquisition extends to renewable energy, with limited exceptions. BPA would acquire renewables "only with a bilateral agreement with end-users or a utility that is willing to commit financially."
At the same time, Johansen supports BPA's involvement in renewable energy research and development. "Bonneville needs to continue funding for R & D, and finding ways to promote renewables, mix with our products and to make them more competitive so as to keep that sector viable," she said. "In the long run . . . if it's true that global warming is a problem then we'll be glad we made investments in renewables. As a citizen of the world, I think it's something we need to do. But it has to fit with Bonneville's mission."
She was not prepared to say whether BPA would increase its budget for renewable R & D funding.
The BPA Cost Review Management Committee in March recommended that Bonneville, after fiscal year 2001, continue its current funding level for renewables R&D. BPA now spends nearly $200,000 annually on renewable R & D initiatives (including solar and wind data collection) separate from its prior commitments to two wind energy projects and a geothermal venture.--Ben Tansey (Mark Ohrenschall also contributed to this story)
The advocacy group that drafted two potential ballot measures to derail electric industry restructuring in Montana has backed away from its attempt to qualify the initiatives. But contrary to recent reports in the mainstream Montana media, the Montana Environmental Information Center says it dropped out of the ballot push because of a scarcity of resources--not because it had come close to reaching an agreement with Montana Power, which had tentatively offered to boost the utility's spending on low-income and energy conservation programs by $7.5 million in exchange for the advocacy group's dropping of the initiatives.
Montana Power denies it was attempting to buy off the opposition, while MEIC says it couldn't have been bought anyway.
The two initiatives on the November ballot in Montana would have repealed the state's comprehensive electricity restructuring legislation, and forced the state to purchase water rights now for sale in association with Montana Power's divestiture of its generation assets.
"We were involved in drafting five separate initiative proposals, but we realized we are only reasonably able to qualify one," said MEIC's Patrick Judge. "The reports in the press have been severely distorted . . . The insinuation that a deal had been reached was simply false."
The June 4 issue of the Great Falls Tribune featured the front-page headline, "MPC bids to halt initiative: $7.5 million would fund conservation programs." The story that followed detailed Montana Power Co.'s preliminary offer to enhance its public-purpose spending if initiative proponents, most prominently MEIC, but also the Montana Senior Citizens' Association and a number of other groups marginally involved in the circulation of qualifying petitions, would "promise they would not use 'any forum' to advocate repeal of the deregulation law or condemnation of MPC's water rights."
MPC's Dean Conklin told the Tribune the utility was interested in discouraging the ballot measures because they might adversely affect the company's asset sale.
Informal, Preliminary Discussions
Informally negotiating in the interest of the initiatives' proponents was Ken Toole, a Helena activist. Toole told the Tribune he was approached about a month ago by MPC executive Jack Haffey. Toole, according to Judge, works with MEIC as an energy consultant, but acted on his own authority, functioning vaguely as a liaison between MPC and the initiatives' supporters. Discussions were cut off about the time the newspaper broke the story.
"Ken [Toole] would give us updates on how the talks were going, but it was all very preliminary," MEIC's Judge told Energy NewsData's Clearing Up newsletter. "We were never prepared to sign off on an agreement, and it certainly hadn't gotten to the point that Ken was satisfied either. These were just talks," he said, "and frankly, I'm doubtful the groups would have ever reached a settlement. We were not willing to drop our opposition to deregulation," Judge explained. But he said the group listened to MPC's offer "as it became increasingly apparent the measures weren't going to qualify." The petitions required 20,000 signatures by June 19, and while the senior citizens' group continued to circulate them, Judge said he did not expect the effort to be successful.
Montana Power spokesman Cort Freeman also remarked on the informality of the proposal: "This was a mutual discussion that grew out of the many ongoing meetings on electric restructuring in Montana. In the process of those discussions, " Freeman continued, "we pursued talks on what the needs of the groups opposing deregulation were . . . to see whether we could address them and if we could reach an agreement, if it was appropriate. We determined that it wasn't appropriate . . . But if we had reached a settlement, we would have announced it. This was not something we were going to hide from the public." But Freeman said one of the company's main concerns in conducting the talks pertained to compliance with Montana's legal restrictions on corporate activity and contributions in initiative campaigns.
On June 5, the Great Falls Tribune ran an editorial chastising both MPC for attempting to secretly buy off its foes and the activists for their willingness "to bargain away those 'public' initiatives in exchange for payoffs to their fairly narrow constituencies."
In a written response Toole rebutted some of these criticisms, noting for one that MEIC declared it would step back from the initiative campaign the day after the state Legislature failed for the second time to call a special session to delay restructuring--not as a product of the talks with MPC. He further highlighted the fact that the $7.5 million would be devoted to specific programs. "None of the groups and individuals involved in the initiative effort stood to gain one penny," Toole wrote. He also noted that the extra funds would have come directly from MPC's shareholders, rather than from its rate payers.
"We don't feel like we've done anything out of line," said MPC's Freeman. "And if someone had a bright idea and asked us, we would continue these discussions."
MEIC's Judge didn't expect talks about increasing the IOU's conservation and low-income spending to resume in the near future, citing in particular the IOU's legal concerns. But despite the negative press targeted at parties on both sides of the negotiation, Judge said he believed "the power company has begun to recognize that these programs are underfunded." He also cited as positive developments the Montana Public Service Commission's draft rules for consumer protection and information disclosure, and an embryonic movement afoot in Montana to create a default buying cooperative to participate in MPC's asset auction. "With these three things taken together," Judge quipped, "we just might be making some progress out here."--Angela Becker-Dippmann.
Electricity in central Washington isn't quite too cheap to meter--but it's close.
Brimming with Columbia River hydropower, the Chelan County Public Utility District charges, on average, 2.9 cents per kilowatt-hour for commercial customers, 2.7 cents/KWh for residential customers and 1.8 cents/KWh for industrial customers.
This is a less-than-ideal economic environment for the practice of conserving energy, a situation recognized by the PUD. Cheap local power, the loss of Bonneville Power Administration conservation dollars, the uncertainties of electric industry restructuring--all have contributed to the PUD's elimination of traditional incentive-based efficiency programs.
Yet Chelan, which has a long and effective history in conservation, has not abandoned the demand side. Instead the PUD has changed its emphasis, providing a broad array of services and information to help its customers use energy more efficiently. These range from low-income weatherization to review of commercial building plans to local demonstration projects for energy-efficient technologies unfamiliar in Chelan County. The energy service department's annual budget of $1.1 million (which includes a revolving loan fund for residential weatherization) is equivalent to 3 percent of the PUD's retail revenues--the benchmark for public-purposes spending recommended in the Regional Review.
Institutionally, after a period of some uncertainty, the PUD's energy services department has found a home within the utility's customer service division, which in turn is part of the retail services and systems business unit. This reflects the future role the PUD envisions for its energy services.
"We're truly considered a service at this point," said Shaun Seaman, who directs Chelan's customer service and energy service departments. "There's a real sense [within the utility] there's a value to what we're doing."
Joe Jarvis, the PUD's executive director of retail services and systems, affirms this view.
"Shaun and his group are looking at potential services that could be offered," said Jarvis. "Some of those would be offered for a fee, so there's potential additional business activity. The other aspect [that] I think is probably more important is trying to bolster our customer loyalty. If we get to an open retail market, there's always a segment of customers [for whom] price is not the driver. They're interested in what kind of services they can get from their providers." These are typically commercial and industrial customers, he continued. "Our energy services department is really going to be the catalyst for allowing us to get to know . . . our customers, to try and make our product work best for them."
Jarvis believes the PUD's most likely scenario for losing customers in an open retail market would arise through aggregation, as, for example, if an entire chain of stores--including those located in Chelan County--collectively switched electric suppliers. "The only way I feel I can fight back is if I can show we're providing other value in addition to our low cost." Through energy services, he said, "We can show people how to best use our product to get the most out of it."
History
Long before the modern era of regional energy conservation was initiated with the federal passage of the 1980 Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act, Chelan PUD actively encouraged the efficient use of electricity.
In the 1950s, according to information posted on the PUD's Energy Services Web site earlier this year, three technical specialists within the utility's sales department advised customers on efficiency. "It was good business to keep electricity not only competitive in price but also most efficient in use." The services included free residential and commercial/industrial heat-loss and heat-gain analyses, "directed at obtaining the most efficient and economic application of electric heating and air conditioning. The studies also addressed home and business conservation practices and measures as well as new electrical products and their application."
The next decade brought the PUD-sponsored Gold Medallion Home Program, which included the novel establishment of residential insulation standards for new construction in Chelan County: 6 inches of fiberglass insulation in ceilings, 3-1/2 inches in walls. This initiative lasted about 15 years.
By the 1970s, the utility's sales department was renamed and reduced to one person, "reflecting a drop in promotional activities that had been designed to increase the use of electrical energy in Chelan County," according to a May update of the PUD's Energy Services Web site. "This brought to a close active competition with suppliers of other energy such as coal, oil and gas."
The regional act of 1980, among its other effects, put BPA in the business of acquiring energy conservation as a resource, primarily through local utilities. Although Chelan in recent history never bought more than a small portion of its wholesale power from BPA, the PUD was able to offer a number of Bonneville-funded conservation programs--primarily residential--over the years.
In the early 1980s, according to the PUD Web site, Chelan insulated more than 9,400 hot-water tanks in its service territory through a BPA program, saving about 435 KWh per year per tank. With Bonneville funding the PUD also installed nearly 2,400 new high pressure sodium street and area lights around the county, collectively saving 2.4 million KWh annually. In the same period Chelan participated in a BPA short-term energy "buy-back" program, weatherizing more than 650 homes and saving 3.8 million KWh annually. The PUD chose in 1983 not to continue this initiative because it wasn't cost-effective for the utility, according to residential energy services supervisor Mark Wiser.
Loan programs for conservation measures have grown increasingly popular in the Northwest since the mid-1990s; Chelan started one in 1984 for weatherization of electrically heated homes. The PUD analyzes a home's energy usage, recommends energy-saving measures, obtains weatherization bids from contractors, loans money for the work at below-market interest rates pegged to the utility's cost of money (currently 6.5 percent; before 1995, the interest rate varied from zero to 6 percent), and inspects the completed project. Maximum loan term is 10 years. More than 2,000 homes have been weatherized under this program; estimated annual energy savings exceed 10 million KWh.
The PUD also claims a long history with the Super Good Cents program for new residential construction, dating to the mid-1980s. In fact, according to the utility, Chelan was the first regional utility to provide financial incentives for Super Good Cents homes. The utility inaugurated a zero-interest loan program for SGC measures in 1985, then provided BPA Super Good Cents grants beginning in 1986 and ending in 1994.
In the commercial and industrial sectors Chelan mainly provided technical assistance to customers until 1991, when it began in earnest to offer incentives under BPA's commercial Energy Smart Design program and industrial Energy Savings Plan program. It continued those "fairly aggressively" until 1994, according to Seaman, when the PUD stopped buying firm BPA power. The BPA incentive programs resulted in energy savings in PUD territory of 15.4 million KWh annually in the commercial/industrial sector.
Upon termination of its BPA firm power, Chelan paid Bonneville $458,000 for the value of the remaining life of the federal agency's conservation investments in PUD service territory.
Chelan energy services people said they still work with their Bonneville counterparts on various initiatives, but the PUD has no remaining BPA conservation dollars.
Transition From Incentives to Services
For a short time after the demise of BPA funding Chelan continued to provide some conservation incentives, including for Super Good Cents and the commercial and industrial sectors. Although patterned after BPA programs, Chelan's initiatives generally offered lower incentives to customers. "Based on the economics of the area, we felt BPA was offering too much for incentives," said Seaman. "At our rates, it was extremely hard to justify." Chelan never offered more than 50 percent of the cost for an efficiency project, a threshold only approached for industrial work. The PUD also limited funding by using a shorter life value for efficiency measures than did Bonneville--10 years as opposed to 15 years for commercial and industrial.
These incentives, in any case, were short-lived; they lasted about 18 months and totaled slightly less than $200,000 in PUD money.
With the absence of BPA funding, no pressing need for energy resources and the prospects of big changes through electric industry restructuring, Chelan PUD officials took a hard-eyed look at conservation in 1994 and 1995.
"The thinking of management at the time was, 'If it's not cost-effective, we're not going to offer conservation,'" recalled Seaman, then an energy services engineer at the PUD. Chelan's magic number for cost-effectiveness: 1.8 cents per annual KWh saved, for each project. "There went residential," noted Seaman. Even in the industrial sector, with its abundance of potentially cheap energy savings, very few customers had projects that could meet the utility's cost benchmark. And PUD leadership insisted that conservation programs be offered equally among customers.
"That . . . put an end to incentive programs," said Seaman.
But not to Chelan PUD's interest in improving the energy efficiency of its customers.
Services became the theme of Chelan's efficiency work. The conservation department, with a September 1995 formal endorsement from the PUD's board of commissioners, metamorphosed into the energy services department. This new approach, as described on the Web site, is characterized by "value-based programs which serve the entire customer base evenly, provide valuable customer services, and do not require the expenditure of District funds to acquire energy savings."
Efficiency still brings a number of advantages to the PUD's service territory, the utility notes on its Web site: "Both the District and its customers benefit from efficient use of energy. At times, the District must rely on outside power to supplement its hydro projects, particularly in the winter heating season. Any energy saved in homes and businesses means a decrease in purchases of higher-cost power, which leads to lower retail electric rates." It also, at certain times of the year, can increase the power Chelan is able to sell on the wholesale market.
"Electricity saved through efficiency efforts (insulation, storm windows, etc.) is paid to local contractors, materials suppliers, or homeowners. Efficiency creates local jobs, particularly in home insulation, heating contracting and window installation. The dollars staying in the area help the local economy."
Current Programs/Services
With no financial incentives available, Chelan PUD now relies to a great degree on the power of information to persuade customers to use energy more efficiently.
And with considerable success, according to Seaman. "We're seeing substantial success stories as far as savings for customers. We've had some [commercial customers] reducing their energy bills . . . by 30 percent . . . We're definitely 
still seeing savings; without incentives, we're not seeing the large savings, not getting the million-kilowatt-hours-plus industrial projects."
The current offerings from the utility's energy services department come in a variety of forms. Some have evolved from the PUD's historic conservation efforts, while others are new.
All, however, are customer-oriented.
An example: Visitors to the department offices at PUD headquarters in Wenatchee can see for themselves a range of different energy-efficient lighting technologies, including compact fluorescent recessed can lighting, direct and indirect pendants, photo-sensors, reflectors and T-8 lamps. Seaman calls this "our little Lighting Design Lab," and in fact this feature was designed with help from Michael Lane of the Seattle-based Lighting Design Lab. It can also be considered a form of market transformation, Seaman noted--people connect with energy-efficient lighting much better when they actually see it. These displays have garnered "excellent response," affirmed energy services engineer Fred Schwilke.
Customers, though, don't need to walk in to the PUD office for the great majority of energy services. Generally, the PUD will come to them.
Following is a summary:
Residential: The PUD's approximately 30,000 residential customers can take advantage of a diverse mix of energy services.
One is a home energy analysis, which includes a home visit by a PUD energy advisor and a follow-up report from the utility on potential efficiency measures, the estimated installation costs and the projected kilowatt-hour and dollar savings. More than 8,400 such analyses had been completed through 1997.
Although Super Good Cents incentives are gone, the PUD continues to promote energy-efficient new residential construction. Super Good Cents services include building plan review (with a computerized thermal analysis), inspection during construction, certification for homes meeting SGC efficiency standards, and information and marketing assistance for building industry professionals.
"Our participation in Good Cents dropped considerably when we lost incentives," acknowledged Wiser. Many people still ask for PUD money for building homes to Super Good Cents levels. Still, Wiser said, "We do see a lot of people building efficiently, beyond code," although not all of them participate in the utility program. He estimated 20 percent or more of new homes constructed in Chelan County receive some PUD residential energy service. Energy code support is among the services. So is occasional help with passive solar design, which is included in Super Good Cents.
For existing homes, in addition to the energy analysis and loan programs, Chelan is starting to offer duct-system services. Wiser called this "a big new one," citing studies that show leaky ducts can cut a home's HVAC system efficiency by as much as 30 percent. The PUD hopes to tie in with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance's duct-services program, including contractor certification.
Also in the retrofit market, the PUD contributes funding to the Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council for low-income weatherization in Chelan County. With state and PUD funds the Council weatherized 53 homes in 1997, at a total cost of $182,593.
Beyond these assorted programs the PUD furnishes considerable information on residential energy efficiency, through various printed materials along with group presentations, such as a recent teleconference on geothermal heat pumps.
Awareness of PUD residential services is very high; a recent survey showed that 85 percent of PUD customers knew about them, according to Wiser. At the same time, he added, "People like the incentives. They miss the incentives."
Commercial/Industrial: Chelan County businesses and industries also miss financial incentives for energy efficiency. Seaman described a "big rush" among industrial customers for incentive dollars before they disappeared. "They were sorry to see them go."
Nevertheless, commercial and industrial customers can still tap a variety of PUD services.
The 1994 revised version of the Washington State Nonresidential Energy Code established energy-efficiency standards at such a level that it became "cost-prohibitive" for the PUD to financially encourage further efficiencies, according to Seaman.
But the PUD plays a vital role in ensuring new construction adheres to the code, because energy services staff people serve as plans examiners and inspectors. As such they review upwards of 80 percent of the new commercial/industrial square footage in the county. "The code really did take over a lot of the need" to advance efficiency, Seaman said, "but it wouldn't do any good unless we had compliance." He believes local compliance with the code is "substantial," although "we don't always get 100-percent compliance."
The energy services department also functions as a code information clearinghouse, answering many questions from architects, builders and others. The PUD, according to Seaman, is one of the few sources of code information in north-central Washington.
Additionally, Chelan offers commercial customers thorough and sophisticated energy analyses, along with monitoring and testing of specific equipment and training and education of building operators.
The analyses represent "more than an audit," according to Seaman. "In the old audits, you count the lights, check the filters. Basically [now] we're looking behind the wall."
Jim White, the PUD's new lead commercial/industrial energy services engineer, brings considerable energy engineering expertise to Chelan County. "This increases our ability to offer greater efficiency services," Seaman said. "We've committed to provide valued information as opposed to token services."
Industrial customers--primarily in fruit storage and processing--also have access to PUD energy analyses, along with other information-based services.
One of those is demonstrating the viability of efficient technologies not commonly used in Chelan County. The first such project involved a technique known as thermosyphon oil cooling for rotary screw compressors--standard practice in the refrigeration industry but non-existent in the huge apple industry in the PUD's service territory. The PUD worked with PermaCold Engineering of Portland, a contractor, and Trout/Blue Chelan, a local refrigerated apple-storage company that agreed to use thermosyphon oil cooling, and concluded the technology works and saves enough energy to be financially viable for local apple facilities.
The second demonstration project involved commercial HVAC systems: Chelan, with the help of Duane Lewellen of The Rice Group, "retrofitted a poorly designed and installed duct system with an engineered and properly installed system," according to Seaman. This increased the air-distribution system's efficiency by 30 percent. "We're very pleased with the results of that project, and we'll be using that to show contractors and building owners the benefits of a well-designed and installed duct system," he said.
These demonstration projects represent a form of market transformation, along with the other PUD services.
The key strategy with the commercial and industrial initiatives is to "shift people's thinking," said White, so they give more consideration to efficient energy use.
Looking Ahead
In addition to the current menu, many ideas are floating around for future Chelan PUD energy services. Among them: a user-friendly home energy audit on the utility's Web site; comparative billing for customers; alliances with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance; national partnerships for energy-efficient products and services; and many more.
Seaman said he recently came up with a list of more than 120 customer services the PUD now offers, many of which are energy services. Meanwhile, the PUD continues to examine what its customers want in the way of services, and what the PUD can provide.
Regardless of how the details for the coming years take shape, energy services at the PUD have become inextricably linked with customer services. And, Seaman believes, this will continue: "We're going to be a vital component of the services we offer our customers."--Mark Ohrenschall
Attachment:
Bonneville Power Association officials and regional environmentalists gathered June 24 in Portland to launch a green power partnership called the Bonneville Environmental Foundation--an effort spearheaded by deputy chief executive officer Jack Robertson and pushed and shoved by Ralph Cavanagh of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Foundation embodies a mechanism to identify and market green power at a premium, with 60 percent of that premium to accrue to the Foundation for its use in selected fish and renewable good deeds. Former U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon, president and chairman of the board, delivered the main speech.
The green power market is to a positive but uncertain extent ready for action. In the Northwest, there is a little green power freelancing, but the Bonneville Environmental Foundation formed at ceremonies at Cheatham Hall in the World Forestry Center in Portland is the first regional entity to dedicate itself to cooperative identification of green power and reinvestment of green premium proceeds. BPA will sell certified green power with a premium pricing slightly above market, and will give the Foundation 60 percent of the premiums for reinvestment in fish mitigation and renewables.
President of the Foundation and chair of its board is Hatfield, whose keynote speech was notable for emphasizing the multiple uses of the Columbia River in an environmentally sensitive context without once using the term "ecosystem." He said that while the Foundation and its "unique collaboration" between BPA and the environmental community was not "the whole answer," it "breaks a new trail."
Also on hand for the occasion on the dais were master of ceremonies Rachel Shimshak of Renewables Northwest Project, Sara Patton of the Northwest Energy Coalition and Karen Garrison of NRDC, subbing for Cavanagh, who was filling a previous commitment to teach a course at the University of Idaho. Jeff Shields of Emerald PUD was at the dais as the first utility customer to sign up for the green power deal.
At the moment, the certified portfolio of green energy is limited to the output of two small dams--Idaho Falls and Washington Public Power Supply System's Packwood Lake. This amounts to 20 average megawatts. Also scheduled to be added to the green pool is an unspecified amount of wind and geothermal energy. The foundation will also be sensitive to renewable/energy efficiency developments that are transforming current generation technologies.
The board, besides Hatfield, Cavanagh and Shimshak, includes Aldo Benedetti, consultant in chief to the regional energy industry; Lorri Bodi of American Rivers; Don Frisbee, former chairman and CEO of PacifiCorp; Don Sampson of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation; and Brett Wilcox of Northwest Aluminum.--Cyrus Noë
Attachment:
Bonneville Power Administration has contractually extended low-income residential weatherization funding for the four Northwest states through September 1999, fulfilling a recommendation from the BPA Cost Review Management Committee.
The $4 million regionwide extension, announced in late May, could produce approximately 2,000 weatherized homes of low-income people in public-power service territories around the Northwest. The extension also provides for energy education in low-income households.
This funding is the remnant of $8.6 million in low-income weatherization money provided by BPA to state agencies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Considered a transition to public-purposes funding, the agreements between Bonneville and the states were reached in mid-1996 and were due to expire at the end of June 1998. The money was allocated proportionally, based on low-income populations in each of the four states. The states in turn contract with local agencies to perform the actual weatherization work.
Bonneville officials had earlier indicated a no-added-cost extension of those agreements was reasonable, but the cost review panel, in its draft recommendations in January, suggested that no existing BPA conservation contracts be modified or extended. After much outcry (see Con.WEB, Feb. 26, 1998) the committee in its final report in March specifically endorsed more time (but no more money) for the low-income weatherization contracts, which it described as a "bridge to allow states to fund programs from either a system benefits charge or other tax sources." The committee estimated the extensions would cost BPA $500,000 in annual debt service after fiscal year 2001.
"BPA is committed to funding the low-income program through fiscal year 1999, and we will work with the states to help them find a long-term funding solution," said BPA energy efficiency vice president Terry Esvelt in a May 21 news release.
Bonneville's low-income weatherization funding is intended to help the states until some form of public-purposes funding is available under electric industry restructuring, according to BPA officials. However, only Montana of the four Northwest states has restructured; the other three continue to mull this complex and contentious issue.
Further extensions for the low-income weatherization contracts beyond 1999 are possible, according to Esvelt. "We suspect there will be more discussion" with the states, depending on restructuring progress, he told Con.WEB in March. However, he added, "We never promised nor would we entertain an open-ended obligation."
Any more stretching of the contracts likely would not extend beyond the current Bonneville rate period, which ends in 2001, according to BPA's Gene Ferguson, who manages the agency's existing (also known as "legacy") conservation contracts. "We're trying to work with the states to make sure they can use these monies in a way that really does solve the problem they have, keeping that [low-income weatherization] infrastructure alive until the system benefits charges are in place. We have told them we will try to do that, but we really can't spend more money."
Bonneville also hopes more local utilities will provide low-income weatherization funding within their service territories. "There are a lot of utilities that are supporting it and we'd like to see that become a more general thing," said Ferguson. Bonneville money comes with a fair amount of administrative overhead, he acknowledged. "This [utility funding] and the system benefits charge should help the money more directly go back into the community from where it comes. That's what this is all about."
A Washington State Perspective
Bonneville's low-income weatherization contractor in Washington state, the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, appreciates BPA's action. "The extension was welcome, particularly because part of those negotiations also resulted in some program design changes," said CTED's Steve Payne. He cited greater flexibility for the 22 local agencies that weatherize low-income homes with BPA funding, along with the addition of the energy education component, which he described as "real new . . . Studies have shown that if you have a sound education curriculum there are long-term energy savings that can be realized."
BPA funding represents about 15 percent of CTED's budget for low-income weatherization statewide, according to Payne. The remainder comes from assorted state, federal, utility and other sources. CTED oversees the weatherization of approximately 5,000 low-income homes each year in the Evergreen State, at an average cost of $2,600 per dwelling unit. BPA's extension of CTED's original $5.4 million contract under the 1996 agreement will provide weatherization funding for an estimated 1,600 low-income homes, Payne said.
"Since this is a more dynamic program, because it offers us funding such as for consumer education, I wouldn't be surprised that we spend funds at a pretty good clip," he said. It is "very possible" the 1996 BPA money will be gone by September 1999.
Payne believes Bonneville continues to bear regional responsibilities for conservation generally and low-income weatherization specifically, especially since utilities have reduced their funding in anticipation of public-purpose dollars provided through electric industry restructuring. Such a funding mechanism almost certainly won't be in place in Washington by next September, he noted.
"I have hopes that Bonneville will track [restructuring] progress within the states and be responsive, possibly considering additional funding should we need to extend . . . that bridge from the current environment to the new environment that's created," Payne said.
Continuing Low-Income Weatherization Contracts
Indeed, the 1996 contracts between BPA and the states were "intended to serve as a bridge through restructuring to the other side," according to Don Andre of the Spokane Neighborhood Action Program, speaking to the BPA Cost Review Management Committee in February. However, he continued, "The bridge hasn't reached the other side yet and the river continues to widen."
He described how many low-income households must choose between heating and eating in the winter. They generally spend a greater percentage of their incomes on energy than other people, and typically live in "more dilapidated, energy-wasteful housing." Andre said 165,000 low-income Washington households need weatherization.
Agencies such as his juggle various funding sources for weatherization programs. They had planned on the Bonneville money, believing, after discussions with BPA officials, that the contracts would be extended. "Reneging on this responsibility at this time is the wrong action," Andre told the committee. "It's the wrong place and the wrong time."
Chuck Eberdt of the Washington State Association of Community Action Agencies told the committee the BPA-funded low-income weatherization programs are more streamlined than in the past, and use more advanced technology in diagnosing homes.
Indeed, BPA has loosened its program requirements, such as the $1,860 limit on the amount of money spent per weatherized home. "I think we'll get a lot of the homes that really need the money," said Ferguson. For example, he said, it may cost more to weatherize a larger home that lacks insulation, but the impact will be correspondingly larger. States will still need to follow U.S. Department of Energy guidelines for low-income weatherization cost-effectiveness, which Payne said require each measure to provide savings at least commensurate with investment.
The BPA-funded programs also rely on sophisticated "house doctoring" which, according to Ferguson, "identifies specific things which are causing the home to not only lose energy but to also be less comfortable."
In addition, Bonneville will pay up to $250 per low-income household for energy education. This element--separate from the physical work on the house--is intended to help people learn ways to use energy more wisely, such as turning back thermostats and using fewer auxiliary heating units. "Hopefully, combined with the actual weatherization, we'll get more of the impact of the conservation. People will be more aware of things they can do to improve efficiency," said Ferguson. "The reason we feel this is important--and it's probably true in low-income and other households--is often times the behavioral element in the use of energy is greater than the mechanical things you can do in homes."
In home visits, energy educators emphasize the issues of greatest importance to low-income people, who "tend to be really concerned about trying to keep the family members healthy, trying to keep them comfortable, to lead a life that doesn't feel like it's lacking the normal comforts," said Ferguson. "If you deal with the issues the family sees, and link those, they also tend to save energy. You don't have to talk about energy-saving components as much as what are the issues around comfort and energy use. Usually by opening up and bringing that up you find lots of opportunities." And low-income households find opportunities to spend more of their limited resources on non-energy needs.
Ferguson estimated roughly half of the low-income households weatherized with BPA funding will also receive energy education services. The remainder either won't want it or won't need it.--Mark Ohrenschall
Portland General Electric is rewriting its proposed new energy management pilot program for low-income customers.
The investor-owned utility initially filed the proposal in March with the Oregon Public Utility Commission, but action has been delayed while PGE responded to OPUC staff suggestions and data requests. On June 23 the commission suspended the utility's proposal because of a "lack of specificity in the tariff," according to OPUC staffer Lynn Plamondon, and suggested the utility "go back and rethink" its proposal.
The OPUC "told us, 'Don't give up; go back and rewrite the tariff; put more detail in it and do it soon'," said PGE's Mark Gosvenor. "We basically sense support for what it is we're trying to do."
What PGE is aiming for, according to Gosvenor, is a low-income weatherization program that gets more weatherization into customers' homes, in a sensible and cost-effective way.
To get as many cost-effective kilowatt-hours saved as possible, PGE planned to target higher-use customers and soften the income qualification levels. The utility would work with community action agencies, which would identify eligible customers, perform blower-door tests on homes and perform the actual weatherization work. Gosvenor said the utility also planned to test new computer software that would determine the cost-effectiveness of various weatherization measures.
OPUC's Plamondon raised several concerns about the proposal. Increasing the amount of low-income weatherization activity conflicts with PGE's least-cost resource plan, she said, but supports commitments the company made to parties that signed a memorandum of understanding related to the company's merger with Enron. The OPUC was not among the signatories to that MOU.
In addition, PGE proposed the cost of the new program be covered by ratepayers. And, according to Plamondon, a 100-percent subsidy for customers with incomes higher than those specified in the utility's existing low-income program "is excessive."
Besides, "program cost effectiveness has never been an important goal for the low income weatherization program," Plamondon's staff report reads. "Staff does not believe focusing on cost effectiveness is an appropriate basis for a current or future low-income program."
PGE already agreed with staff's suggestion to change the income qualification levels, Gosvenor said, but "there were some communications breakdowns" about what the tariff was actually specifying. "We look forward to working with the staff on a better approach to the low-income market," he added, and to "make sure [our] objectives line up with the concerns the commissioners gave us."--Jude Noland
Northwest Lighting, an ambitious new Web site sponsored by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, recently opened for business.
Designed to "provide a focus for lighting professionals in the Northwest who are looking to the Internet for quality, energy efficient lighting design resources as well as the products and companies that are available to meet specific project goals," the site contains a number of new tools useful to contractors and lighting specifiers, as well as links to relevant resources already available on the Web.
Among the site's innovations is a lighting connected load calculator that allows contractors to determine total power requirements 
and lighting power densities for specific buildings and spaces. The on-line calculator uses 'official' wattage values based primarily on the Electric Power Research Institute and California Energy Commission's 1993 Advanced Lighting Guidelines. The site also features a number of searchable databases with comprehensive listings of energy-efficient lighting products, their manufacturers and representatives.
Northwest Lighting further contains copious information on the Seattle-based Lighting Design Lab, including a downloadable brochure, a calendar of events and classes, and Lab contact information. Users can sign up to receive timely e-mail updates on Lab workshops, lighting-relevant publications and code revisions.
The new site also provides information about the Alliance's LightWise program, and features links to the Lighting Design Forum, another Alliance-sponsored Web site that contains research and technology reports, and case studies detailing lighting solutions applied to actual projects, ranging in nature from retail to industrial spaces.
The Alliance approved funding for Northwest Lighting in fall 1997, to the tune of about $108,000 for two years. The contractor for this project is Eugene-based inter.Light, whose own Web site receives more than 200,000 hits each month, according to Alliance staff.--Angela Becker-Dippmann
Having shopped the marketplace for imaginative energy efficiency ideas, Portland General Electric is moving toward the checkout stand.
PGE's request for proposals for innovative energy efficiency programs (see Con.WEB, Jan. 28, 1998) brought in 14 proposals by the March 2 deadline.
As of mid-June, according to PGE's Carol Brown, two of those prospective programs had been accepted by the investor-owned utility. One involves swimming pool pumps and the other focuses on refrigerators for multifamily housing. Further details were unavailable. Brown said PGE is "working on negotiations and preparation for OPUC [Oregon Public Utility Commission] approval."
A third proposal may also gain PGE acceptance, according to Brown. Three additional proposals "were very similar to our programs but more focused on a technology or market segment." She said the utility is working to include those in its current mix of programs.
More information on these proposals is anticipated to become available when they are submitted to the OPUC.
The remaining eight proposals were rejected by PGE.
Portland General's RFP stemmed from collaborative discussions between PGE and stakeholders, and specifically, according to Brown, from PGE's least-cost resource planning process for 1998 and 1999. It was envisioned as part of a transition toward public-purposes funding for energy efficiency.
The RFP takes a broad and distinctive approach for utility energy-saving initiatives, and is considered by some a potential harbinger for the pursuit of energy efficiency in a restructured electric industry.
Portland General, in its RFP, declared particular interest in "concepts or technologies that are currently being ignored or underutilitized in the Pacific Northwest."
Sent out in December, the RFP's objective was described by the utility like this: "PGE has historically been a leader in offering cost-effective energy-efficiency programs to its customers and has committed to continue to do so. PGE believes that a competitive bidding process may be useful to determine if there are additional cost-effective energy efficiency offers that could be included in PGE's portfolio of programs. Therefore, the objective of this RFP is to provide additional tools that PGE can use to meet future energy efficiency goals in the most cost-effective manner."
Proposals were open for the residential, commercial and industrial customer classes. All were asked to achieve cost-effective energy savings (using OPUC-approved cost-effectiveness numbers), offer the highest potential for savings, respond to customer needs or wants, and promote market transformation.
The RFP's timeline called for program work to be started as soon as possible after contracts are negotiated, and completed by the end of 1999.
Brown earlier said Portland General plans to spend up to $1 million on programs adopted through the RFP.--Mark Ohrenschall
An energy efficiency workshop and exposition is planned for Aug. 3 through 5 in Bellevue, WA.
Energy '98, sponsored by federal government agencies, is intended for anyone with responsibilities for planning, coordinating and implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy or water efficiency programs.
The three-day event will feature sessions on technology, efficient operation and maintenance, energy awareness, selling energy efficiency, project financing alternatives and energy efficiency through procurement and contracting. Mini-workshops are planned on renewable energy and alternative financing. In addition, more than 100 energy-efficiency suppliers will display their wares at the exposition.
Energy '98, which will take place at Meydenbaeur Convention Center, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Energy Management Program. Co-sponsors are the U.S. General Services Administration and U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, in conjunction with Bonneville Power Administration, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Western Area Power Administration and the states of California, Oregon and Washington.
For more information, visit the workshop/exposition Web site at http://www.energy98.gsa.gov, or call 1-800-960-2242, ext. 131.
The Lighting Design Lab in Seattle has scheduled five events this summer, and also is offering lighting-related classes throughout the Northwest.
Following are the events and dates: Halogen Sources Workshop, Tuesday, July 14; Office Lighting: Lessons Learned, Wednesday, July 15; Lighting for Living Spaces, Tuesday, July 21; Cutting-Edge European Lighting, Tuesday, July 28; and Walking Tour of Daylighted Spaces, Tuesday, Aug. 25. All these events run from 10 a.m. to noon.
In addition, the Lab offers more than 35 classes covering commercial and residential electric lighting and daylighting. These can be scheduled around the region.
For more information, contact the Lab: phone, 1-800-354-3864, (206) 325-9711; fax, (206) 329-9532; or on the World Wide Web, at http://www.northwestlighting.com/ldl/index.html.
Innovative energy efficiency-related ideas and technologies are eligible for federal grants through a competitive solicitation process open through July 31.
The Inventions and Innovation Program of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies provides grants of up to $100,000 apiece for conducting early development of innovative ideas and inventions, or validating technical performance and economic potential of promising technologies.
Criteria for selection include energy-savings impact, commercialization potential, technical feasibility, innovation and the applicant's capability. In this solicitation, DOE is particularly interested in technologies associated with any of the following industries: aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, metal casting and steel.
Total award funding in this solicitation is anticipated to be between $2 million and $2.5 million, split among a projected 30 to 50 individual grants. Successful applicants also receive technical and commercialization support.
For more information, call (202) 586-2079.
Proposals for renewable energy applications in remote locations, as a means to displace fossil-fueled power generation, are being solicited by the U.S. Department of Energy's State Energy Program.
"This solicitation focuses on applications of renewable energy for remote energy needs and to demonstrate cost-effective, modular technologies as reliable, easy to operate, and easy to maintain," according to DOE. Grants are available for the design, purchase and installation of renewable technologies, including solar hot water, solar photovoltaic, wind, biomass, ground-source heat pumps and direct use of geothermal resources in remote areas where they would displace or avoid the use of diesel fuel or gasoline.
At least $1.2 million in funding is available, and DOE estimates 12 or more projects will be funded.
Proposed projects don't need to include state funding, but the proposals must be made through state energy offices.
For more information, call Faith Lambert at DOE: (202) 586-2319.
A large number of Pacific Northwest initatives related to energy efficiency and renewable energy are included in the latest version of the Environmental Success Index developed by the non-profit group Renew America.
A total of 111 Northwest initiatives--many of which focus on efficiency and renewables--are listed in the index revised in April. Summary information about those and others throughout the nation is available through a search feature in the index.
"Renew America's Environmental Success Index chronicles more than 1,400 effective environmental programs nationwide that measurably protect, restore or enhance the environment," according to the Renew America Web site. "When individuals or organizations face a specific environmental problem, they can learn how projects in the Index address similar issues. The ongoing search for environmental programs reaches out to local and national organizations, corporate executives, educational institutions and all levels of government. Programs in the Index meet tough standards for program effectiveness, natural resource conservation, economic progress and human development."
OFFICES: Mail-P.O. Box 900928, Seattle, WA 98109-9228. EXPRESS: 117 West Mercer, Seattle, WA 98119.
TELEPHONE-(206) 285-4848. FAX-(206) 281-8035. E-MAIL-newsdata.com.
Con.WEB was created by the Energy NewsData Web team, including: Publisher-Cyrus Noë; Editor-Mark Ohrenschall;
Contributing Editors-Jude Noland; Cassandra Sweet
Contributing Writers-Jim DiPeso; Lynn Francisco; Kari Hanson; Garrett Hering; Amber Schwanke; Ben Tansey
Web Production-Michelle Noe
General Manager-Brooke Dickinson.
Please contact Mark Ohrenschall,
marko@newsdata.com,
with questions or comments on this site.
Copyright ©2004 Energy NewsData Corporation
Return to Contents