Behavior change is difficult in any context. As the late English writer Samuel Johnson once said, “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken.”

We all harbor some degree of resistance to changing habits. It is common to become so familiar with a routine that it becomes a source of comfort. That’s why becoming more energy efficient, though appealing on paper, is a much more strenuous effort than it initially seems.

Changing habits and behavior is best achieved through support, reminders, incentives, community pressure, goal setting, and more. Finding a successful strategy is critical to behavior change, but this process is often challenging. Enter the new ACEEE report “Reducing Energy Waste through Municipally Led Behavior Change Programs,” which established a sequence of seven steps for local governments to shape viable municipally led behavior change programs. Let’s break these steps down and explore how they work.

Solar is on fire, so to speak. According to a J. D. Power Utilities Industry Outlook report, “Solar megawatt capacity soared 24% in 2017 and grew another 8% in the first 9 months of 2018.” Since 2001, total solar generation worldwide has grown by 50% annually.

Utilities and energy efficiency practitioners can play an important role in helping businesses recover from natural disasters. After all, engaging with utility customers soon after natural disasters strike is good for all parties. In times of recovery, business owners are overwhelmed with making a lot of decisions and utilities want to serve their customers. Customers need to have resources they can trust, and often the utility is one of the most trusted resources in a community. Providing post-disaster energy assessments helps businesses determine what equipment may need to be replaced, explains the efficiency incentives available to them, and helps find a reputable contractor to do the work.

Grid optimization—a fairly new term that you might be unfamiliar with—includes three major components: demand response, the management of distributed energy resources, and the implementation of non-wire alternative programs. Franklin Energy is working hard to evolve with the changing needs of utilities and end-use customers by developing innovative programs and products. We are breaking down silos within the industry and integrating new technologies, focusing more than ever on providing grid optimization services for our clients. Let’s take a deeper dive into each element to get a better feel for our vision of the future of our industry.

Your commercial and industrial customers already know about managing their energy use. But the next frontier is managing their power use.

The On Demand Savings (ODS) Program is designed to motivate commercial and industrial (C&I) customers to better understand and manage their HVAC kilowatt usage and costs during peak summertime demand.