Building Electrification Stakeholders See Green Gold In US Market

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In the midst of this year’s abrupt shift in federal energy policy, a glimmer of hope is shining on the rooftop solar field. The latest sign of fresh activity involves a new collaboration between the leading online solar marketplace EnergySage, the software-enabled buyer’s guide WattBuy, and the EV charging firm Qmerit. All three are now joined in the building decarbonization movement under the umbrella of the sprawling legacy firm Schneider Electric.

The Long Road To Building Electrification Is Getting Shorter

The all-electric building of the future began to emerge in the early 20th century, but the journey to mass adoption has been long and slow. Most US households continue to burn gas, oil, propane, or wood for heat and hot water, with electricity pulling duty for other appliances. As of 2020, only 26% of US households used electricity as their one and only energy source, and most of them are concentrated in warm-climate states to the south.

There’s a good reason for that. Electricity is a pricey way to run a heating system compared to natural gas and other fuels. Still, the building electrification movement has been growing in recent years with an assist from 21st century technologies including heat pumps as well as solar panels, energy storage, and electric vehicles.

Innovation on the developer side also support the building electrification movement, with new modular construction systems among the examples. Advocates also like to point out that all-electric buildings spare developers from the additional expense of arranging for gas connections. For that matter, some jurisdictions have forced the issue by placing outright bans on new gas hookups.

Three Heads Are Better Than One

Schneider Electric has been working on the three-way collaboration for several years, having previously formed a partnership with Qmerit and acquiring EnergySage. The acquisition of WattBuy, announced earlier this week, rounds out the decarbonization mission.

“The acquisition will strengthen Schneider Electric’s ability to simplify and accelerate the energy transition for U.S. homeowners,” Schneider explained in a press statement.

You can say that again. WattBuy brings a potential reach of more than 100 million households to the collaboration through its relationships with the home ownership stakeholders Redfin, Veterans United Home Loans, and Opendoor among others. Redfin, for example, has partnered with WattBuy to provide potential home buyers with an estimate of a home’s monthly electricity bills.

WattBuy recommends electrification strategies for individual buildings through a free portal on their website. All they need is a street address (or zip code, if preferred), and they will provide company-specific recommendations for rooftop solar and storage systems among other electrical appliances. They also identify any available demand-response plans and community solar systems opportunities. Try it here.

EnergySage is a transparency-focused online marketplace that enables ratepayers to compare products and vendors without reinventing the wheel, and Qmerit brings its top-rated EV charger installation services to the mix.

“Combined with EnergySage’s trusted marketplace and Qmerit’s national service network, Schneider Electric now offers an unmatched digital and physical pathway for electrifying the home,” Schneider explains.

“This acquisition underscores Schneider Electric’s commitment to decarbonization at the grid edge and to delivering simple, scalable tools that accelerate the energy transition for consumers across the country,” The company emphasizes.

Today Building Decarbonization, Tomorrow…Well…Um….Let’s Cut Straight To 2050!

If you caught that thing about decarbonization at the grid edge, that’s one way of letting everyone know that building decarbonization is its own thing. The electricity that comes into the building is another thing entirely. Ideally, it would come from one, or a combination of, the renewable resources that the US is favored with in abundance, with wind and solar coming out on top due to their affordability, accessibility and rapid construction timelines, followed by new geothermal systems over the longer term, with hydropower eventually chipping in through existing dam upgrades and new pumped storage projects. The US also has biomass in abundance, but the industry has faced some tough challenges in recent years.

All in all, the renewable energy picture still looked bright as of March, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a near-term forecast through the end of 2027. The agency anticipated that the US grid would add more than 89 gigawatts of utility-scale solar and more than 22 gigawatts of wind by January of 2028.

Although the new “American Energy Dominance” policy does support three other forms of utility-scale renewable energy — hydropower, geothermal, and biomass — FERC did not anticipate much activity in those sectors by 2028. Hydropower came in at just 1.3 gigawatts, reflecting the industry’s limited opportunities for expansion as well as its long construction timelines. The similarly constrained geothermal industry registered 89 megawatts. As for generating electricity from biomass, FERC anticipated that the industry will continue to shrink, not grow.

With the data center construction boom in full swing, one would think that wind and solar would gain even more support from federal policy makers, particularly solar. After all, last year solar accounted for more than 90% of new capacity additions. However, every day is opposite day in the federal energy policy environment of today. The wind industry is now all but banished from federal property, including the all-important offshore lease areas. The solar industry has been likewise 86’d from federal lands.

Opportunities remain among non-federal jurisdictions and private properties, but local opponents have gained fresh fuel from the White House. Wind and solar developers will have to tread more carefully than ever.

Next Steps For Rooftop Solar

On the bright side, the building decarbonization movement provides an opening for the rooftop solar industry to stay afloat until January 20, 2029, when the reins of federal energy policy will pass to another pair of hands — peacefully this time, one hopes. After all, US presidents come and go, but buildings can last for decades or even centuries.

The US is already populated with millions of buildings, and millions of rooftops, that will stick around long after the current federal energy policy slides into the dustbin of history. The firm Wood Mackenzie is among those crunching the numbers to see green gold in the rooftop solar movement over the long term. Earlier this month they calculated that the market potential market for the residential rooftop solar sector alone could reach approximately 1,494 gigawatts by 2050.

For other signs of a more energy-positive future, keep an eye on heat pumps, bidirectional EV charging, and other technologies at work in the building decarbonization movement. Policies change, but the technology is not going anywhere.

Image (cropped): Leading stakeholders in the building decarbonization movement continue to plan ahead for the long term, despite the abrupt shift in federal energy policy this year (courtesy of WattBuy).