The real estate owner and developer that counts New York’s Rockefeller Center among its worldwide holdings avoided nearly 18 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from five hours of demand response (DR) participation, concludes a new joint study by CPower Energy Management and environmental technology nonprofit WattTime.
That volume of CO2 equates to emissions from 44,484 miles driven by the average passenger vehicle or consuming 1,992 gallons of gasoline, CPower noted. The company added the new marginal emissions reduction analysis that it performed with WattTime for real estate firm Tishman Speyer shows the benefits of distributed energy and its potential for real estate and other commercial and industrial facilities.
“Understanding real estate’s role in combating climate change, expeditious investments are being made to reduce building emissions across the globe,” remarked Jonathan Flaherty, Tishman Speyer’s global head of sustainability and building technology innovation.
Flaherty observed that sustainability involves numerous factors.
“We have always recognized the value of demand response and energy efficiency as a net energy cost reduction and as critical to grid reliability, and CPower and WattTime analysis shows how participation direction impacts carbon emissions,” he said. “It’s a significant tool for us as we work to contribute and quantify efforts toward more sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective energy for the communities we serve.”
CPower pointed out that it helps customer Tishman Speyer maximize the value of its distributed energy resource (DER) assets in the NYISO, PJM, and ISO-NE energy markets. Mathew Sachs, CPower’s senior vice president for strategy and business development, said the analysis highlights environmental benefits of shifting electrical load.
“This avoidance of carbon stemmed from demand response programs supporting the grid when it needs energy the most,” Sachs commented. “There may be substantial additional reductions if optimized for emissions, particularly as peak renewable generation and DER deployments grow. The industry has accepted that demand response can achieve repeatable revenue streams, but we are seeing a shift as customers and the industry at large are demanding more quantifiable data toward meeting sustainability goals. We see analysis like this being a valuable contribution in creating a cleaner energy future for us all.”
