Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification
Climate change is driving urgent investments in decarbonization. One core decarbonization strategy is to electrify energy services that currently directly use fossil fuels, because electricity can be generated from zero greenhouse gas energy resources. Shifting fossil-based services to electricity,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad114d |
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| author | Alexandra Maxim Emily Grubert |
| author_facet | Alexandra Maxim Emily Grubert |
| author_sort | Alexandra Maxim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change is driving urgent investments in decarbonization. One core decarbonization strategy is to electrify energy services that currently directly use fossil fuels, because electricity can be generated from zero greenhouse gas energy resources. Shifting fossil-based services to electricity, however, requires a major expansion of electricity supply and increases dependence on electricity for critical services. Home heating is a particular challenge, especially in very cold climates. Unserved heating loads can be fatal. Electrified heating is expected to drive peak loads (and thus overall grid size) due to high coincident and nondeferrable loads. This study shows that highly efficient housing presents an opportunity to simultaneously protect people and structurally reduce peak load, reducing the need for electricity supply infrastructure while increasing people’s resilience to weather extremes. This study uses seven building efficiency scenarios from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s End Use Saving Shapes to investigate the impact of residential building efficiency on grid size in 2050, using the example of Pierre, South Dakota as a very cold weather location that might also experience substantial new housing demand due to climate-induced human mobility. We find that the deepest efficiency electrification scenario we investigate reduces peak demand by about half relative to low-efficiency electrification. Costs of about $3900/kilowatt (kW) peak load reduction are competitive with the cost of new decarbonized supplies capable of meeting peak load, though building efficiency costs are usually privatized while supply expansion costs are distributed across ratepayers. Decarbonization scenarios suggest the US grid might need to expand by a factor of 5–8 in the next 25 years: extremely rapid growth will be needed regardless, but targets might not be reachable with inefficient end users. Residential building efficiency presents an urgent opportunity to reduce peak demand and provide safer and more resilient housing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:59:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c816d34da64e409ca6cead9f8a6bead7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T01:59:03Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-c816d34da64e409ca6cead9f8a6bead72023-12-08T10:31:11ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262023-01-0119101403610.1088/1748-9326/ad114dHighly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrificationAlexandra Maxim0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3323-4201Emily Grubert1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2196-7571School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology , Atlanta, GA, United States of AmericaKeough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame , Notre Dame, IN, United States of AmericaClimate change is driving urgent investments in decarbonization. One core decarbonization strategy is to electrify energy services that currently directly use fossil fuels, because electricity can be generated from zero greenhouse gas energy resources. Shifting fossil-based services to electricity, however, requires a major expansion of electricity supply and increases dependence on electricity for critical services. Home heating is a particular challenge, especially in very cold climates. Unserved heating loads can be fatal. Electrified heating is expected to drive peak loads (and thus overall grid size) due to high coincident and nondeferrable loads. This study shows that highly efficient housing presents an opportunity to simultaneously protect people and structurally reduce peak load, reducing the need for electricity supply infrastructure while increasing people’s resilience to weather extremes. This study uses seven building efficiency scenarios from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s End Use Saving Shapes to investigate the impact of residential building efficiency on grid size in 2050, using the example of Pierre, South Dakota as a very cold weather location that might also experience substantial new housing demand due to climate-induced human mobility. We find that the deepest efficiency electrification scenario we investigate reduces peak demand by about half relative to low-efficiency electrification. Costs of about $3900/kilowatt (kW) peak load reduction are competitive with the cost of new decarbonized supplies capable of meeting peak load, though building efficiency costs are usually privatized while supply expansion costs are distributed across ratepayers. Decarbonization scenarios suggest the US grid might need to expand by a factor of 5–8 in the next 25 years: extremely rapid growth will be needed regardless, but targets might not be reachable with inefficient end users. Residential building efficiency presents an urgent opportunity to reduce peak demand and provide safer and more resilient housing.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad114ddemand-side interventionpeak demandwinter peakingresidential heatingextreme temperaturescenario analysis |
| spellingShingle | Alexandra Maxim Emily Grubert Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification Environmental Research Letters demand-side intervention peak demand winter peaking residential heating extreme temperature scenario analysis |
| title | Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| title_full | Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| title_fullStr | Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| title_full_unstemmed | Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| title_short | Highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| title_sort | highly energy efficient housing can reduce peak load and increase safety under beneficial electrification |
| topic | demand-side intervention peak demand winter peaking residential heating extreme temperature scenario analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad114d |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alexandramaxim highlyenergyefficienthousingcanreducepeakloadandincreasesafetyunderbeneficialelectrification AT emilygrubert highlyenergyefficienthousingcanreducepeakloadandincreasesafetyunderbeneficialelectrification |