Northeast Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED) 2019 data update
Release date: June 1, 2022
Electric and natural gas utilities and state energy efficiency (EE) organizations offer incentives that are an important component of evolving state and local EE policies. To understand how these incentives affect energy consumption and technology choices in buildings, we incorporate nonfederal EE incentives for a variety of end-use technologies into our National Energy Modeling System’s (NEMS) Residential Demand Module (RDM) and Commercial Demand Module (CDM). We and others use NEMS to produce long-term projections of energy use within the United States.
The RDM and CDM represent consumer choice among various energy-consuming equipment in buildings, ranging from technologies that meet federal minimum EE standards to more efficient alternatives. These modules subtract incentives (equipment subsidies or rebates) from installed costs for equipment or appliances that meet or exceed ENERGY STAR® specifications in their respective technology choice menus. This approach lowers the relative cost of high-efficiency equipment.
To enhance our representation of state and utility EE programs in NEMS, we contracted with the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) to characterize these programs in the Northeast in FY 2021. As part of this contract, NEEP updated its Regional Energy Efficiency Database (REED) to include 2019 incentive data for the District of Columbia and nine states in the New England, Middle Atlantic, and South Atlantic Census Divisions. REED provides information on several metrics, including:
- Annual and lifetime energy savings
- Peak demand savings
- Program expenditures
- The cost of saved energy
- Program funding sources
REED incentive data are available to the public by request on NEEP’s REED website. As part of this contract, NEEP also updated the Supporting Information report. The report complements the complete REED data set, detailing information about each state that is characterized in the updates to the REED database, as well as Delaware and Pennsylvania. The report also provides details about program administrators; reporting procedures; and evaluation, measurement, and verification practices. It also provides information about NEEP’s energy savings assumptions.
The 2019 REED update informed NEEP’s 2021 Energy Efficiency Snapshot, which presents energy savings and expenditures by state and for the District of Columbia and summarizes related policies. NEEP also developed a series of videos, presenting an overview of REED data and instructions on how to use the 2019 REED data set to conduct energy analysis. NEEP also launched a new Regional Energy Data Dive blog series, using the 2019 REED data to identify and discuss trends in energy efficiency.
You can cite the contract report as a report by the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) prepared for the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).