Efficiency First comes down to prioritising investments in energy efficiency or other demand-side resources whenever they would cost less or deliver more than investing in supply or networks. It is a key principle of the Energy Union, endorsed in its Governance Regulation and in the Clean Energy for All Europeans package. Implementing Efficiency First can…

If the video is not visible, please accept all cookies to enable the player. Heating in buildings is responsible for almost one-third of total EU energy demand. And most of that heat is met by burning fossil fuels. In order to decarbonise heating, many see electrification as a key strategy. The transformative challenge of electrifying…

Heating of buildings accounts for almost one-third of the European Union’s total energy demand. And most of that heat is provided by burning fossil fuels. With the European Commission currently developing a Smart Sector Integration Strategy in the context of the European Green Deal, it is timely to reflect on the transformative challenge of heat…

Die Entgelte für die Nutzung der Stromnetze sind reguliert. Wie genau diese sich zusammensetzen, ist für Stromkundinnen und -kunden allerdings kaum nachvollziehbar. Gleichzeitig machen die Netzentgelte einen großen Posten auf der Haushaltsstromrechnung aus: gut ein Viertel der Zahlungen geht an die Netzbetreiber. Bei einem Verbrauch von 3.500 Kilowattstunden – was etwa dem Jahresverbrauch in einem…

Cost allocation, one of the major steps in the traditional regulatory process for setting utility rates, has been addressed in several important publications over the past 60 years. These works and historic best practices are foundational — but the legacy methods from the 20th century are no more suited to the new realities of the…

Although the health benefits of reducing criteria pollutants have been quantified in numerous studies, putting a value on how energy efficiency and renewable energy reduce these pollutants and provide health benefits has been more technically challenging. As a result, most cost-effectiveness analyses leave it out, and energy planning typically values the benefits at zero. A…

Smart policies and regulations alone will not lead to reliable and affordable decarbonization of the U.S. economy — but they are essential components of the decarbonization “recipe.” In a recent special issue of The Electricity Journal guest-edited by RAP staff, authors tackled various ingredients in this recipe. RAP brought together three of the authors who…

If the video is not visible, please accept all cookies to enable the player. Electric vehicles can unlock extensive value for consumers, the grid and the environment — if we integrate them strategically into the power system. In this webinar from the International Energy Agency’s User-Centred Energy Systems programme, Dr. Julia Hildermeier and Christos Kolokathis…

If the video is not visible, please accept all cookies to enable the player.   At the 2019 Renovate Europe Day event in the European Parliament, RAP’s Louise Sunderland unpacks how carbon revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) represent a new and powerful source of financing for large-scale building renovation. With estimates…

Much has been written about the value of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation, but PV systems are limited in the services and value streams they can provide. When PV is combined with other distributed energy resources, however, new opportunities for synergy arise. These opportunities can make the total value of combining PV with another distributed resource…