Ryan Shea
Username
Ryan Shea
Proposer First Name
Ryan
Proposer Email
rshea@rmi.org
Proposer Last Name
Shea
Proposer Company/Organization
RMI
Proposer Phone
(303) 567-8720
Proposer Job Title
Manager
Boston 2023 Areas of Focus
Proposed Session Description
This session will present RMI’s new freely available economic modeling software for different home decarbonization technologies (e.g., rooftop solar, storage, weatherization, air-source heat pumps, heat pump water heaters), demo how different stakeholders can leverage it (e.g., estimating the residential cost impacts for a proposed clean heat standard), and visualize results for different retrofit types across the northeast (e.g., bill impacts of whole home versus hybrid air-source heat pumps).
Diversity and Inclusiveness
Despite the large potential for home decarbonization technologies to lower energy burden, the pace of retrofitting low- and moderate-income (LMI) homes remains low. Three equity challenges this calculator and session hope to address are 1) enabling policy makers to pass more equitable residential decarbonization policies by better analyzing the bill impacts on different LMI retrofit types, 2) increasing access to a free, simple to use but sophisticated home decarbonization software for smaller contractors performing green upgrades in LMI communities, and 3) increasing LMI consumer awareness on the upfront and operating cost savings potential from home decarbonization technologies, particularly given the Inflation Reduction Act incentives.
Learning Objectives
1. Identify which home decarbonization retrofit types are generally most cost-effective in their region from the presented slides
2. Analyze the home decarbonization technologies with the highest and lowest climate benefit for a specific home and location using the software
3. Analyze the home decarbonization technologies with the highest and lowest economic benefit for a specific home, location, utility rate, and financing details using the software
4. Evaluate the home decarbonization technical combinations with the highest economic returns (e.g., a rooftop solar and storage system with a hybrid air-source heat pump for a homeowner that switches to a time-of-use electricity tariff) using the software
Has this session been presented before?
No
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 2 - Some prior knowledge helpful.
Session Format
Workshop or skill-building session
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Recommended Length
60-minute session
Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023
Comments about your speaker roster
Abode Energy Management will focus on how energy advisors and contractors can leverage the calculator in to hone in on operating cost estimates, while RMI will focus on the calculator demo and presenting the summary of results under different scenarios. While Abode has confirmed interest, they have not yet confirmed if it will be Christopher or someone else based on availability.
Anything else you'd like to tell us about your session proposal?
We plan to release this calculator online in February. The partner organizations for this home decarbonization calculator include Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (heat pump and weatherization focus), Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (heat pump and weatherization focus), Abode Energy Management (heat pump and weatherization focus), New Buildings Institute (heat pump water heater focus), Arcadia (electric utility tariff focus), and Solar United Neighbors (solar and storage focus).
Reviewer 1
Grant, Tristan
Reviewer 2
Ngo, Tammy
Proposal #
108
Committee Decision
Being Considered
Presenters
Full Description
While the IRA has supercharged interest in various home decarbonization technologies, most home energy professionals still struggle with a better answer than “it depends” to the most common question, “Is it cost-effective?” This session aims to arm those energy professionals with a freely available, trusted, and dynamic economic modeling software across the most common home decarbonization solutions and for specific retrofit scenarios (e.g., estimating the upfront, operating, and lifetime cost impacts of installing a 5.5 kW rooftop solar system, a 5 kWh/13.5 kWh battery storage system, and a 3 ton ducted high efficiency air-source heat pump with electric resistance backup in a 2,000 square foot, pre-1980s Boston home currently using a fuel oil furnace, central AC system, natural gas tank water heater, and natural gas range, and National Grid residential rates). This session also addresses the conference theme of climate resilience by addressing both mitigation through advancing cost-effective home decarbonization solutions and adaptation through analyzing the economics of home energy storage under various designs.