Report

New report evaluates how we can use energy better in buildings at a community scale

Daniel Morton — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 18:05:45 +0000

New report evaluates how we can use energy better in buildings at a community scale Daniel Morton Thu, 08/07/2025 - 12:05

Daniel Morton

RASEI Fellow Gregor Henze is a co-author and co-editor on a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme (EBC), evaluating the approaches aiming to use energy more efficiently in buildings and districts.

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Decarbonization of the electricity grid and the electrification of transport, heat, and industry related energy consumption are at the heart of many governments’ policies to reach ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The energy consumed by buildings, in building them and regulating the temperature in them, account for about 35 % of global energy use. The integration of variable renewable energy sources into power grids and the growing electricity demand reinforce the need for energy flexibility, a key approach to improve energy savings. Buildings should be able to adapt. Adapt to weather conditions, to their users’ needs, and to the requirements of the energy grid.

This report, that brings together nineteen international experts from across the globe, including RASEI Fellow Gregor Henze, (who was also one of four co-editors), summarizes years of working reviewing the state-of-the-art methodologies for the evaluation of energy flexibility at the building cluster level. While there are technologies to provide energy flexibility at a single building level (such as smart thermostats), this work looks at harnessing savings at a larger scale, aggregating control at scales of multiple houses, buildings, even neighborhoods and towns. Energy flexibility on a community scale is the ability of a group of buildings, such as a neighborhood, an office complex, or a campus, to coordinate when and how they use electricity. Instead of each building operating independently, they work together in a coordinated fashion to shift their energy consumption to time when electricity is cheaper, more abundant, and cleaner. For example, on a day where it is forecast to be hot in the afternoon, everyone might want air conditioning. A flexible building cluster might pre-cool some buildings in the morning when more energy is available, stagger when different buildings ramp up their cooling systems, and use stored energy or on-site solar panels during peak demand hours. By coordinating amongst buildings the power supply can be balanced with the demands across the grid, while comfort for the building occupants can be maintained.

The report highlights that energy flexibility at this level remains a challenge, both in terms of technical challenges and hesitancy in adoption. These are challenges that are being solved. The report highlights innovations that address the technical needs and strategies that are being used to enhance adoption.

As we move to a modern power grid, the energy needs of the building sector will continue to be a challenge. This report contributes to the development of energy flexibility on an community scale, summarizing the technical and practical applications of energy flexibility. This review classifies and addresses four critical areas to systematically understand energy resilience (1. Defining energy resilience; 2. Understanding relevant disruptions; 3. Quantifying resilience and 4. Improving overall resilience), and identifies four main research gaps (1. Lack if a universal definition; 2. Understanding disruptions; 3. Evaluation metrics and 4. improvement strategies). The report then goes on to describe the development of energy flexibility characterization methods to an adaptive method, demonstrated through two case studies, and how these types of methods illustrate building-grid interactions. To move this forward the report also presents an open-source, community driven tool for forecast creation and evaluation. The power of this tool is demonstrated in a collaborative exercise involving 10 research teams worldwide. The results show significant promise, with the authors suggesting that more demonstrations of this approach across a broad range of systems will validate this approach and make it more robust.

While technical challenges remain, this report shows that the building blocks for community-scale energy coordination and flexibility are falling into place. The next step is moving this into more real-world scenarios. Using the technologies that have been developed in actual neighborhoods and communities to prove their effectiveness across different systems, environments and at scale.

August 2025

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Colorado is latest state to try turning off the electrical grid to prevent wildfires

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 06:00:00 +0000

Colorado is latest state to try turning off the electrical grid to prevent wildfires Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/12/2024 - 00:00

Kyri Baker discusses the benefits and challenges of this strategy.

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LA100 Equity Strategies Report Released

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 07:00:00 +0000

LA100 Equity Strategies Report Released Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/07/2023 - 00:00

The LA100 Equity Strategies project provides community-guided, data-driven strategies for increasing equity in LA’s transition to clean energy. In November 2023, a new report, the LA100 Equity Strategies Project, was released that focuses on the energy justice perspectives of a city the size of LA making the clean energy transition.

RASEI Fellow Kate Anderson was one of the lead authors of this report. Developed over two years of community engagement, modeling, and analysis, the LA100 Equity Strategies project outlines strategic, community-driven approaches that can help that dream become a reality for Los Angeles.

The current energy system is inequitable. LA100 Equity Strategies provides building blocks for LADWP to address challenges and chart a course to more equitable outcomes.

When NREL released its Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy (LA100) study in 2021, data showed that the city could reach its 100% clean energy goals as soon as 2035—but the study also revealed that improving equity in the clean energy transition would require intentionally designed policies and programs.

Following the release of the LA100 study, City leaders committed LADWP to achieve 100% carbon-free energy by 2035 in an equitable way, with minimal adverse impact on ratepayers. The City's pledge to produce electricity without generating harmful greenhouse gas emissions specifically prioritizes communities most impacted by environmental harm and aims to shift energy benefits to renters at equitable rates.

Check out the links to find out more about the report, and the team behind the research.

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Keeping Cool while using the least amount of energy

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Keeping Cool while using the least amount of energy Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/22/2022 - 00:00

This article in the The Conversation, co-authored by RASEI Fellow Kyri Baker, explores more energy efficient strategies for keeping cool

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NREL Clean Energy Innovators Book

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 06:00:00 +0000

NREL Clean Energy Innovators Book Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/01/2022 - 00:00

Access the book here

This book, titled “Clean Energy Innovators: NREL People Working to Change the World”, features the work of a number of RASEI Fellows. Written by Ernie Tucker, and published in June of 2022, it adopts a focus on the human-interest aspect of the critical work being done at NREL.

Collecting together stories and snapshots that were spread across newspapers and magazines, and digging deeper into profiles of different NREL members, this book puts together a collection of perspectives. This isn’t a history of NREL, instead it is insights and thoughts from the people who built NREL.

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A 21st-Century reinvention of the electric grid is crucial for solving the climate change crisis

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 07:00:00 +0000

A 21st-Century reinvention of the electric grid is crucial for solving the climate change crisis Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/12/2022 - 00:00

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Imagining the Role of the Research University Anew

Anonymous — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Imagining the Role of the Research University Anew Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 08/28/2021 - 00:00

Checkout the Essay

The NExt 75 Years of Science Policy Issue

This essay that was co-authored by RASEI Director Seth Marder, along with Tim Lieuwen (Executive Director of the Strategic Energy Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology), and Chaouki Abdallah (Executive Vice President for Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology), was part of a special issue entitled "The Next 75 Years of Science Policy", supported by The Kavli Foundation.

The essay describes a future where Research universities have reprioritized their mission and are guided by a vision that they are positioned as partnership builders, connecting local communities, governments, industry, and others. Acting as hub to convene though leaders facilitiates planning and responding to large, complex societal challenges.

RASEI Director Seth Marder is a co-author on this Op-Ed on a future where research universities acts as hubs to convene the expertise needed to address large societal challenges.

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Accelerating the US Clean Energy Transformation

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Accelerating the US Clean Energy Transformation Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/01/2020 - 00:00

Download the Report

Modeling has shown that if the world stops burning fossil fuels, we can avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Transitioning our energy system from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy sources provides a host of benefits beyond addressing climate change.

Reductions in air pollution, improved social equity, increasing the number of good-paying jobs and boosting the economy are all possible. This report, co-authored by RASEI Fellows Jeff Logan and Chuck Kutscher, explores what this transition looks like, the benefits and opportunities of making this change, and mechanisms that can be used to accelerate this global transformation.

The executive summary, 15 pages long, provides a great introduction to the challenges, solutions, and opportunities to this complex and crucial problem.

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Buildings consume lots of energy - here's how to design whole communities that give back as much as they take

Anonymous — Tue, 26 May 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Buildings consume lots of energy - here's how to design whole communities that give back as much as they take Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/26/2020 - 00:00

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Mitigation Options for Human Settlements

Daniel Morton — Tue, 05 Dec 1995 16:42:58 +0000

Mitigation Options for Human Settlements Daniel Morton Tue, 12/05/1995 - 09:42

Access the IPCC Report

In 2007, RASEI Faculty Paul Komor shared in the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." The IPCC consists of a large number of scientists and researchers – including Paul, who co- authored a chapter on “Mitigation Options for Human Settlements” in the IPCC’s Second Assessment Report. For his work with the IPCC, Paul was named a contributor to the Nobel Peace Prize.

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