August was exceptionally productive as the CETI team pushed hard to finish multiple projects with end-of-summer deadlines. We learned so much over the past several months about the challenging but gratifying work of implementing decarbonization strategies in our region, many of which are possible now due to key regional and national climate and clean energy policies.
We are very sad to say goodbye to our phenomenal summer Research Fellow, Haynes Stephens, who has been a brilliant and delightful addition to our team. Haynes is heading to Sacramento, CA to become a Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the California Council on Science and Technology. Haynes contributed significantly to several of our priority projects this summer. We will miss him and wish him the best.
The most efficient residential building decarbonization strategy is to electrify appliances currently powered by fossil fuels and replace inefficient technologies, such as electric resistance heating, with heat pumps. However, high upfront costs make transitioning to electricity difficult for lower-income households.
A recent report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) examines this challenge. The report finds that centering equity in building electrification could ensure that the most burdened communities benefit from efficient electrification. An added benefit is a 75% cost reduction to achieve total residential electrification across the United States, saving $183 billion. Read the full report here.
Residential Workforce Gap Analysis
CETI wrapped up our work on the Washington Residential Energy Workforce Gap Analysis, a project with Kinetic West, BW Research Partnership, and Uncommon Bridges to conduct a residential energy workforce needs assessment for a contract with the Washington State Department of Commerce. The study includes labor market analysis on current and projected residential energy efficiency workforce; stakeholder engagement to understand challenges and opportunities for creating such a workforce; and an assessment of current workforce pathways for priority energy efficiency occupations. The final report includes recommendations for how Commerce might prepare Washington’s workforce to make residential building improvements to meet the state’s emissions goals and will inform the design and implementation of Commerce’s home energy rebates.
SCALE 2030
We have a beautiful new two-page overview of SCALE 2030, a project with 2050 Institute to accelerate building decarbonization in Washington. Check it out here.
Oregon Energy Strategy
Since late July, CETI has supported the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) with community engagement on the modeling data and assumptions for the technical analysis that will inform the Oregon Energy Strategy. ODOE held two public listening sessions, two advisory group meetings, and 12 working group meetings to receive community and stakeholder feedback. All meeting materials and recordings are available on ODOE’s website. This fall, CETI and modeling partner Evolved Energy Research will start the energy pathways modeling and complementary environmental justice- and equity-focused analyses.
We are excited to announce an addition to the Northwest Clean Energy Atlas, the CETI website that hosts interactive visualizations of energy data relevant to deep decarbonization in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
Explore the new visualization that Haynes created showing how Northwest homes are heated and read his blog diving into data on heating fuel and other housing characteristics relevant to building decarbonization pathways.
CETI is supporting Western Washington University’s (WWU) Center for Economic and Business and Research with research for a Washington Refinery Study for the Department of Commerce.
On September 18, Commerce and WWU will host a public webinar about the project. Click here to register and please share this opportunity with your networks, especially residents of Whatcom, Skagit, and Pierce Counties.
Also stay tuned for a series of blogs by Research Analyst Jeanne Currie that demystifies energy markets in the Northwest, coming soon. . .
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