Achieving the Demand Response LEED credit
November 20, 2014
Third-party certification organizations like the U.S. Green Building Council serve a very important purpose for consumers and building managers alike. That purpose is establishing standards for measurements and accountability. Consumers use standards like LEED certification to make educated decisions about a business' commitment to sustainable building practices, said the USGBC website. There are various credit areas to pursue for points towards LEED certification. Credit areas include for example water efficiency, materials and resources and location and transportation. The Demand Response credit found in the Energy and Atmosphere credit area recognizes companies that help make energy generation and distribution systems more efficient, increase grid reliability and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with temporary and permanent ways to do this
Responding to peak load realities
The Demand Response credit is an important credit that provides financial savings to companies and relief for the grid. To address this credits' requirements, a session was presented at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in late October. Energy Priorities interviewed one of the session speakers and LEED Fellow Mark MacCracken. "The LEED Demand Response credit is essentially a peak load reduction credit," said MacCracken.
The USGBC originally introduced a pilot version of the Demand Response credit as a means of encouraging "participation in demand response technologies" that "make energy generation and distribution more efficient." During the credit development there was considerable support to reward buildings that also permanently shift electricity loads. This would recognize building owners that improve grid reliability every day by permanently shifting electric loads, not just during demand response events. Today the Demand Response recognizes both businesses that provide temporary relief for the power grid and those that fundamentally alter how their buildings consume energy.
Saving energy permanently
Permanently shifting a building's peak load requires buildings to change not merely the amount of energy saved, but also when they consume energy. As the Washington Post points out, "it's impossible to talk about energy efficiency in the electricity market without looking at the patterns of electricity usage... Even if we used the same amount of electricity, the system would still be cheaper and cleaner overall." As demand for electricity rises, especially on hot summer days, less efficient power plants called peaking plants come online to avoid brownouts and blackout. By leveling electricity consumption during the day and night, society wouldn't need to rely on as many peaking power plants.
Permanent load shifting is an important way to make more efficient use of energy resources but can be difficult to achieve without the help of a technology solution dedicated to reliably shifting a building's peak load. Energy Priorities pointed out that thermal energy storage can help facilities to permanently reduce peak demand or participate in demand response programs. This in turn helps buildings earn LEED demand response credits by making energy generation and distribution systems more energy efficient.
Thermal storage uses electricity to store ice at night, when electricity rates are at their lowest. During the day, when the building uses this ice to cool the facility. This strategy shifts peak demand permanently by allowing the building to avoid consuming electricity during the day for cooling purposes. The storage essentially replaces the peaker plants and the cost savings for shifting peak demand acts as a financial incentive.
