City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2014 07 08

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Both of these programs offer the city, residents, and businesses the opportunity to reduce electricity and natural gas demand, save money on energy bills, and reduce GHG emissions. Cost varies by client and identified energy efficiency /demand reduction project. Thus, cost considerations and return on investment should be considered on case by case basis. Additionally, information on energy savings from these programs should be documented and counted in future inventories to compare to this baseline report. 6.2.2.2 Medium & High Cost Initiatives Energy Monitoring Encouraging energy monitoring is another way to reduce energy consumption. The installation of residential and commercial energy meters help consumers monitor use in real time, and in turn, cause behavioral changes to reduce electricity use; case studies have shown emissions can be reduced by 6 -12% per household per month27' 41, 42 There are many new products corning onto the market for home and business energy metering spanning a large range of capabilities and prices. Table 11 in Appendix B details a cross section of the products currently on the market and includes cost information, and ROI calculations where applicable. With a reduction rate of 10 %, households will save about $40 /year on electricity bills, leading to a payback period from <1 to 4 years depending on the price of the product. Research by Ramaswami et. al. has shown that voluntary participation rates in programs of this type are expected to be 2 -4 %27. A city level policy making these systems mandatory for homes would translate into an energy savings of 5,800 MWh /year, translating to a cost savings of $280,000 /year and an emissions savings of approximately 4,150 mt -0O2e /year compared to the 2012 baseline, assuming a 10% reduction in electricity consumption per household and 100% of homes participate. The expected 5,500 mt -0O2e emissions savings from this program is equal to 1.25% of the 2012 baseline. Commercial systems are more complex and therefore significantly more expensive. They can range from —$400 to >$1,500. Commercial and industrial energy use represents 66% of all building energy use, and thus represents a larger opportunity for energy use reductions than the residential housing sector. Achieving a 5% participation rate, assuming a 10% reduction in energy use, would lead to a total electricity savings of 700,000 kWh. This translates to $27,800 saved and 540 mt -0O2e, or 0.14% of Louisville's total 2012 GHG emissions, avoided. Cost and 27 29