Utilities rolling out more grid-interactive efficient building programs

More U.S. utilities are adopting programs to promote grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs).

GEBS will be critical to the grid of the future, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Some programs focus on energy savings and others on demand flexibility, but none of those surveyed reap the benefits of both, according to new ACEEE research.

GEBS, also called “smart buildings,” can help utilities adapt to rapid changes in the grid, including the adoption of technologies like electric vehicles and heat pumps. They deliver substantial energy and emission reductions by using highly efficient materials and equipment.

GEBS can also be resources to the grid by using less overall energy than a normal building and strategically shifting or reducing energy consumption during peak times. The simplest programs type includes automated demand response (ADR) that sends a signal to equipment in a building to reduce its load.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.