Renewables Integration

This fact sheet explains what grid-interactive efficient buildings are, why they are important to modernizing our power grid, and the benefits to building occupants and owners.

This fact sheet provides an introduction to emissions accounting for operation of buildings including equipment replacements and operational material purchases.

This factsheet from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory aims to describe how EV chargers can be connected to commercial buildings, including considerations for facility managers, and the effects that charging will have on the buildings electrical distribution system.

Assembling an effective team before a project begins can streamline the implementation of onsite renewable generation and storage systems and ensure that the design, installation, and operation of the systems are well aligned with the needs of the facility owner. To inform this process, this resource will identify common skillsets in renewable energy and storage projects, explore who can fill these skillsets, internally and externally, and will recognize additional project considerations to ensure cost-effectiveness, increased resiliency, and contribution to both electrification and decarbonization goals.

This guide is intended for anyone investigating the addition of energy storage to a single or multiple commercial buildings. 

This report describes grid-interactive efficient buildings in the context of state and local government interests; highlights trends, challenges, and opportunities for demand flexibility; provides an overview of valuation and performance assessments for demand flexibility; and outlines actions that state and local governments can take, in concert with utilities, regional grid operators, and building owners, to advance demand flexibility.

This report summarizes current practices and opportunities to encourage robust and cost-effective assessments of demand flexibility performance and improve planning and implementation based on verified performance.

This report describes how current methods and practices that establish value to the electric utility system of investments in energy efficiency and other distributed energy resources (DERs) can be enhanced to determine the value of grid services provided by demand flexibility.

As the grid transforms, buildings are in a unique position to assist in the actualization of grid modernization goals. This DOE-sponsored report from the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP) examines the trends around grid-interactive efficient buildings and grid modernization in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southwest regions of the U.S.

Connected Communities (CCs) are collections of buildings and distributed energy resources (DERs) that incorporate integrated energy management strategies at the multi-building scale. This report explores the many factors that influence the development and operation of CCs and evaluates their potential value.

This report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reviews filings from 44 of the largest utilities in the country to identify and describe existing energy efficiency and demand response (EE/DR) programs, examines barriers to more prevalent EE/DR, and makes recommendations for overcoming them.

This paper from ACEEE examines the status of utility-run GEB programs in the U.S. It describes early examples of pilots and programs, discusses barriers to further adoption, and concludes with recommendations to help utilities and program administrators take advantage of the opportunity presented by GEBs.

This DOE-funded report from the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) provides a summary of the residential and small commercial grid-interactive building demand-side management (DSM) programs at the major utilities in the Southwest, highlighting existing programs in the region that are using GEBs as a resource to help with the integration of variable renewable generation and to provide other grid services that create value for customers.

This report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory describes existing operational GHG emissions accounting frameworks and identifies opportunities to make energy- and emissions-informed operational decisions.

The report explores the business case for grid-interactive, efficient buildings, including reduced carbon emissions and utility costs, sustained business operations, bolstered asset resilience, enhanced comfort for occupants, and maintained long-term asset value. 

The Better Buildings Alliance Renewables Integration Team focused this call on utility rate structures and incentive programs to encourage continuous demand management in commercial buildings.

This webinar introduced the DER technology options, described multiple value streams from these DERs, and presented a landscape of customer-sited DER solution providers.

This webinar focused on the strategic integration of DERs in commercial buildings. Join speakers from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Kaiser Permanente for a discussion of methods and best practices for integrating and optimizing the performance of renewables, thermal energy storage, and battery energy for load flexibility.

Watch this 2020 Better Buildings & Better Plants Summit workshop to learn more about the solar project development process and hear insights from EPA's Green Power Partnership Program as well as partner case studies from Orlando, FL and the University of Virginia.

In this 2020 Better Buildings & Better Plants Summit session, industry experts discussed value streams and tools for evaluating DERs, while Better Buildings partners shared their successful experiences using DERs to reduce costs and keep operating when the grid goes down.

The Better Buildings Alliance Renewables Integration Team discussed building-to-grid integration in the context of COVID and how the pandemic is accelerating the transition to grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs).

This webinar provided an overview of a fact sheet published by the Renewables Integration Team: Connecting Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure to Commercial Buildings on how EV chargers can be connected to commercial buildings.

Watch this webinar to view the Better Buildings Renewables Integration Technology Research Team and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) discuss findings and recommendations on the strategic use of renewables, energy storage, and more in a multifamily building portfolio.

The Better Buildings Alliance Renewables Integration Team hosted an exciting conversation on building load flexibility and grid coordination.

The Renewables Integration Technology Research Team hosted presenters who provided an overview of the publication Integrated Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs. In addition, attendees heard from Better Buildings partners who have engaged in efficiency and demand response programs.