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RTF Quarterly Newsletter: Quarter No. 56 April - June 2024

The second quarter was a unit energy savings-a-palooza at the RTF as the body updated several measures that will benefit the region for years to come. Work included updates to several food service equipment measures, as well as display case lighting and residential gas water heating.

The RTF also looked at plans to update the Standard Information Workbook, reviewed results from the recently released 2022 Residential Building Stock Assessment and had in depth discussions about how the cost-effectiveness tool ProCost calculates certain costs and benefits. They heard a progress update on a plan for Air Source Heat Pumps, reviewed the new measure scan results and voted to allocate resources for one new measure proposal.

Ready to learn more about the RTF or have questions? Check out the website or contact Laura Thomas, RTF Manager.

Measure Highlights

New Measure Proposals

In 2024, the RTF contracted ADM Associates to identify potential new electric measures for the RTF to consider in the future to expand its portfolio. ADM reviewed regional utility energy efficiency programs and reports, national technical reference manuals, and relevant recent publications. After compiling and cleaning the data, ADM provided a list of all potential measures for the RTF to consider and prioritized some potential near-term opportunities. The final results of this scan were presented to the RTF at its May 2024 meeting. RTF staff will continue to review and prioritize the measures and bring recommended potential measures for the RTF to consider allocating resources to develop at future RTF meetings. In addition, at the May meeting, the RTF reviewed this work and voted to allocate resources to develop an Automated High-Speed Door for Refrigerated Warehouse measure.

Residential Gas Water Heaters

The RTF in April approved updates for Residential Gas Water Heaters UES in existing single family and manufactured homes. Designed to be deployed at the time natural replacement, the measure includes both storage and tankless options. There are many efficient non-condensing options that do not meet the current ENERGY STAR® (v5.0) specification which only covers condensing units. Given this, the RTF determined that to support programs in the region the RTF measure should include applications for both ENERGY STAR version 4.0 and ENERGY STAR version 5.0 criteria. The RTF tackled key questions during the meeting, including identifying the appropriate competitions groups for this measure, as well as the potentially significant added cost of a gas line upgrade for tankless water heaters. The Proven measure was approved with an April 2026 sunset date.

Display Case Lighting

Due to upcoming changes in Oregon state code banning mercury in fluorescent lamps, the RTF reviewed and updated the Display Case Lighting UES in May. The RTF added double row fluorescent lighting to the existing low power LED measure applications. Regional potential for both lighting and motion sensors is estimated to be 6.1 aMW. The proven measure will sunset in December 2028. The RTF also spent time discussing the second period costs in a separate presentation to gain a deeper understanding of how measures that use a pre-conditions baseline address costs once the existing equipment would require replacement. This discussion prompted an early review of how all RTF measures that use a pre-conditions baseline calculated second period costs. The results of this look were corrections to several workbooks not planned for update this year and identification of process and tool changes to ensure this is captured correctly in RTF measures.

Food Service Measures

The second quarter saw the RTF begin updating the RTF Commercial Foodservice measure suite, with approved updates to Rack Ovens, Combination Ovens, Convection Ovens, and Hot Food Holding Cabinet UESs. The RTF has made changes to many of the assumptions of these measures, including the regional potential, current practice baselines, savings shapes, costs, and for some measures saw adjustments to the measure applications to better reflect the technology and energy savings. Most of these measures are now Small Saver measures with a sunset date of May 2028. The RTF will continue to update the remaining measures in the suite in the third quarter.

Non-Measure Work

Standard Information Workbook Update Plan

In April, the RTF discussed proposed updates to the Standard Information Workbook (SIW). RTF contract analyst team proposed updates included leveraging new data resources, archiving tabs no longer used in RTF measures, and possible new additions. The SIW updates will be brought to the RTF at up to two meetings for decision.

2022 Residential Building Stock Assessment III

NEEA staff presented high level results for the 2022 Residential Building Stock Assessment study (RBSA III) at the May RTF Meeting. The presentation looked deeply into single and multi-family housing types, vintages, sizes, and electric and natural gas EUIs. NEEA staff explored lighting, HVAC, and appliances. They also offered a look at electric vehicle and solar adoption.

Capacity in ProCost and RTF Measures

At the June meeting, the RTF contract analyst team reviewed how capacity benefits are calculated using ProCost. RTF contract analysts used an example of air source heat pumps measure to demonstrate the Plan assumptions and calculations to understand how capacity benefits are accounted for in the RTF measure workbooks and presentations. The RTF discussed capacity significance, types of capacity benefits considered, and how they are determined.

Subcommittee Roundup

To support the region in using the RTF’s modeling tools, a Modeling Subcommittee was convened to provide a series of detailed trainings on the RTF’s commercial and residential building modeling tools. There was a total of six trainings that covered topics including: EnergyPlus Overview, introduction to the Residential Energy Efficiency and Demand Response tool, and introduction to Modelkit. All trainings were recorded and available on the Supporting Documents page (training section): https://rtf.nwcouncil.org/work-products/supporting-documents/.

The Small and Rural Utilities Subcommittee met in May to discuss recent RTF meeting topics, including the work on centrally ducted heat pumps, as well as upcoming measures that will be reviewed by the RTF.

The Implementers Group met in late June to review proposed options for updating the ductless heat pump measure suite. Members reviewed measure history, historic challenges, and proposed solutions. They offered input on potential solutions and potential measure options.

Measure Updates Approved in Q2

  • Approved measure updates to Residential Gas Water Heaters as presented, kept storage and tankless units in the same competition group, set the sunset date to April 30, 2026, kept the status at Active, and kept the category at Proven.
  • Approved updates to the Commercial Water Cooler Timer UES as presented, kept the category at Planning, kept the status at Active, and set the sunset date to April 30, 2028.
  • Approved measure updates to Rack Ovens UES as presented, kept the category at Small Saver, kept the status as Active, and set the sunset date to May 31, 2028.
  • Approved updates for Display Case Lighting UES as presented, kept the category at Proven for lighting and Small Saver for the motion sensor, kept the status at Active, set the sunset date to December 31, 2028. This sunset date was chosen to allow the deactivation of the Washington measure prior to the implementation of the state standard.
  • Approved Potato/Onion Shed Variable Frequency Drive costs and savings shapes as presented, kept the category at Small Saver, kept the status at Active, and set the sunset date to October 31, 2026.
  • Approved the Combination Ovens UES as presented, changed the category to Small Saver, excluded Washington State, kept the status at Active, and set the sunset date to May 31, 2028
  • Approved Convection Ovens UES as presented, kept the category at Small Saver, kept the status at Active, and set the sunset date to May 31, 2028.
  • Approved Hot Food Holding Cabinets UES as presented, removed Washington application from the measure, excluded portable hot food holding cabinets, kept the status at Active, set the category to Small Saver, set the sunset date to May 31, 2028, and distributed 180 school days across the year excluding July.
  • Deactivated Floating Head Pressure Controls for Single Compressor Systems UES.

 

Upcoming at the RTF

The RTF will turn its attention to the following:

July
  • Steamers UES
  • Doorway Air Curtains UES
  • Air Source Heat Pumps Upgrades and Conversions Single Family and Manufactured Homes UES
  • Draft 2025 RTF Work Plan and Business Plan
August
  • Small Commercial DHPs UES
  • New Homes Standard Protocol
  • Standard Information Workbook Update
September
  • Griddles UES
  • High Efficiency Residential Central Air Conditioning UES
  • Ductless Heat Pumps for Forced Air Furnace SF and MH UES
  • Final 2025 Work Plan and Business Plan