Automated Emissions Reduction
Shift electricity use to cleaner times.
Every time you use electricity, that instantly causes a single power plant to make a little more. But… which power plant? Usually, it’s a fossil fuel plant like coal, which is why using energy creates pollution. Yet as renewable energy keeps growing, there are more and more moments today when using electricity instead only activates a clean power plant like wind or solar. That’s creating a powerful new way to switch to cleaner energy: timing.
And thanks to the growing Internet of Things, today there are now over 20 billion devices worldwide that can effortlessly and automatically use electricity at particular times. So, if your company manufactures, owns, or operates a lot of IoT devices—anything from smart thermostats to electric vehicles to energy storage—you actually have the latent ability to effortlessly and automatically run on cleaner energy.
WattTime is a nonprofit founded to make it easy for manufacturers and operators of smart devices to go green this way without affecting their device performance, user comfort, or even cost. We’ve packaged this into a set of simple tools we call Automated Emissions Reduction, like real-time and forecast emissions data through our API. Now, one of the most powerful environmental actions a company can take comes with set-it-and-forget-it simplicity.
Applications
Smart Home Devices
Electric Vehicles
Grid-interactive Buildings
Energy Storage / Batteries
Directly Usable By:
IoT Device Companies
Fleet Operators / Software Management Companies
Utilities
Automated Demand Response Aggregators
Enterprise Organizations (Fortune 500, Energy Asset Managers)
Case Study 1: JuiceNet Green from Enel X Way
Our partner, Enel X Way, offers their customers JuiceNet Green, which is an example of AER technology that is enabled by WattTime’s marginal emissions data. JuiceNet Green gives EV owners a choice to power their vehicles with cleaner energy by shifting charging from times where the grid is primarily fossil-fueled to times with more renewable or low-carbon electricity. For example, a driver can set a 7:00 AM departure time, and JuiceNet Green will automatically choose the cleanest moments to charge throughout the night while making sure the car is fully charged in the morning. JuiceNet Green is available as an optional software add-on to any residential JuiceBox or JuiceNet-enabled EV charging station.
Resources
Where is AER available?
Our coverage map shows regions around the world where WattTime data is available and also demonstrates how emissions vary by time and location.
How do I access the data that enables AER?
WattTime’s marginal emissions data and forecasts are available through our API. Here are the instructions.
How much will it cost us to integrate AER into our devices?
To start, you can access a sample region in California for free. Expanding into more regions does require a paid Pro data plan. But since WattTime is a nonprofit, we work hard to find win-win partnerships that maximize your impact, not our bottom line. Contact us and let’s talk.
What is the business case?
This report explains some customer and participant motivations.
How do devices shift load?
You may be familiar with how devices like smart thermostats can pre-cool. But far more devices have flexible load than is commonly known. For example, anything with a compressor (from air conditioners to refrigerators) can actually adjust the timing of their on/off cycles while still maintaining setpoints. This study conducted with PG&E shows some examples of devices that are capable of shifting load.
Our smart system already optimizes load shifting or demand response for cost reduction, will AER interfere?
No. We can show you how most AER is implemented as a constrained optimization which adds emissions reduction without any compromise on cost or comfort. The reason this is possible is emissions nearly always vary on a finer time scale than prices. That’s why AER pairs very nicely with programs like demand response, time-of-use rates, and real-time pricing programs.
What impact can I achieve with AER today?
It varies by region and device type. Currently, a typical device can reduce up to 20% or of their carbon footprint, as demonstrated by our study of electric vehicle charging.
What impact will I be eventually able to achieve?
The impact of AER keeps growing as grids add more intermittent renewable energy and we develop better emissions data sources and forecasts. Some niche applications such as energy storage in California have achieved 100% reductions. An analysis by Rocky Mountain Institute estimated that up to 40% reductions will be typical in a few years.