RMI-CWR in Brief
News From Around the Institute
CLEAN ENERGY FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS IN NEW YORK
In June, RMI held the third meeting of the NY Change Lab, an initiative of RMI’s eLab Leap program to increase access of low-income households and communities to energy efficiency and renewables. In total, 35 lab participants and 10 guest experts attended, representing more than 40 different organizations. These meetings strengthen the capacity for diverse stakeholders to work together, and enable progress on five unique lab initiatives designed to drive innovative solutions to low-income challenges. And in July, RMI piloted a workshop for accelerating the development and implementation of business models that provide low-income tenants with access to on-site solar, attended by 21 participants representing specific stakeholder roles.
SHIPPING RETROFIT DEAL WINS BUSINESS GREEN AWARD
Business Green awarded its prestigious Energy Efficiency Project of the Year award to the landmark collaboration between shipowner Hammonia Reederei and charterer Intermarine, which was facilitated by a grant from Carbon War Room, a Rocky Mountain Institute business unit. The deal saw three vessels retrofit with multiple efficiency technologies, each expecting to see 25 percent fuel savings. The unique contractual agreement shares the risk and the profits between the shipowner and its charterer. The deal is a model for the industry to achieve greater savings, while creating win-win scenarios for both charterers and owners. The grant was funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery, which granted €1 million to Carbon War Room to expand its impact in the shipping industry.
A BOOT CAMP TO TRANSFORM THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR
In April, RMI convened the third annual e-Lab Accelerator event, bringing together teams from throughout North America working on high-impact and innovative projects to address complex electricity system challenges and increase the deployment of distributed energy resources. Thirteen teams from Hawaii to New York brought a mix of decision makers — including state and city government officials, utility executives, and technology providers — to work on issues such as microgrids, zero-carbon communities, solar plus storage, resilience, and the integration of electric vehicles.
A BUSINESS MODEL FOR NET-ZERO ENERGY DISTRICTS
RMI created an integrative business model for developing net-zero energy or ultra-low energy districts, in a way that is attractive to the district developer, parcel developer, and tenants, as well as beneficial to the local electric grid and neighboring community. The business model was developed specifically for Almono, a 180-acre development in Pittsburgh, and shows how pursuing net-zero energy is not a cost, but rather a significant value driver that can create new income streams. This innovative business model can be used to develop net-zero energy districts around the world, and China has already expressed great interest in the approach.
ACCELERATING CORPORATE RENEWABLE ENERGY PROCUREMENT
RMI’s Business Renewables Center (BRC) is streamlining and accelerating the procurement of renewable energy by some of the world’s most influential companies. As of July 2016, there were more than 128 BRC members and over 4,000 MW of renewable energy deals completed by BRC members. The market impact is substantial: Clean Edge, a research and consulting firm, used BRC membership as a criterion to rank large corporations and determine which are clean energy leaders. The BRC continues to be at the center of the corporate renewables market to enable 60 GW of new renewables by 2030.
