A relatively new concept, dubbed “momentum savings” by the Bonneville Power Administration, is starting to attract attention as the industry and stakeholders become more aware of the idea. In short, momentum savings purports to identify and quantify savings that occur in the market outside of those captured through either utility incentive programs or organized market transformation activities. NEEC has expressed concern to BPA about both the assumptions and methodology used to quantify these savings as well as for lack of sufficient stakeholder engagement in the issue. BPA has recently taken steps to increase visibility of momentum savings through webinars, briefs on specific aspects of momentum savings, and most recently through a video link advertised through the regional information clearinghouse, Conduit. A link to the video and article on momentum calculation is here.
NEEC expects the issue of momentum savings to, well, gather momentum in the early part of 2016. The issue is linked to a number of important topics to the energy efficiency industry, especially those related to energy efficiency goals and conservation budgets. Stay tuned for more updates.