General
A Small Iowa Town Embraces Energy Independence
Tiny Bloomfield, Iowa, with the help of RMI’s eLab Accelerator, is a surprising one with big implications for small towns across America.
Taking the “Pulse” of Your Home or Office’s Electric Load
A number of companies are developing increasingly more-accurate and transparent solutions to enhance the value of smart meter data for consumers.
California Flattens Rate Blocks, Rolls Out Default Time-of-use Pricing
California’s three largest investor-owned utilities will soon go through a major electricity rate reform, replacing the four-tier structure with a two-tier or a three-tier structure. While this would seem to discourage conservation and efficiency, new default time-of-use rates could change the entire equation.
Why Tankless Water Heaters Might Not Hold Water
For the 4.6 million American households with electricity rates that vary by time of day, a tankless electric heater could actually increase operating costs if the hot water is used during peak price times.
Fixed Charges Don’t ‘Fix’ the Problem
Pricing structures matter—not just for the timing of cost-effective solar-plus-battery economics but also how investment in solar-plus-battery systems might evolve and what the future electricity grid could look like.
