Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings

GEB Blueprint

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What is a Grid-Interactive Efficient Building (GEB)?

GEB = Energy Efficiency + Demand Flexibility

The U.S. electric power sector is changing in both challenging and exciting ways. Among the factors influencing this evolution are:

The growth of renewable energy sources, and the decentralization of power generation into more distributed energy resources;
Technological improvements in energy storage, communications, sensors and controls;
Clean energy and climate goals driving efficiency improvements as well as renewables adoption
Increasing need for resilience, from climate change, terrorism, etc.;
Changes in electric rate structures opening the door– and increasing the imperative – to find new ways for building owners and operators to save money.

All of these factors are driving interest in building and grid integration, a set of strategies, practices and technologies to dynamically shape energy loads, help agencies meet their missions, provide resilience and valuable services to the power grid while saving money for building owners and operators and the taxpayer.

Typical Daily Load Profiles by Building Type
Source: Rocky Mountain Institute non government site opens in new window

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office created the concept of Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs) opens in new window , uniting the goals of building energy efficiency and building and grid integration into one suite of strategies.

Graphic shows four characteristics of GEBs: Efficient, Connected, Smart, and Flexible

Characteristics of Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings
Adapted from: Department of Energy EERE GEB Overview opens in new window

and Department of Energy EERE GEBs opens in new window

GEBs:

Enable achievement of ambitious climate & resilience goals by bringing buildings & the grid together;
Draw from a toolbox that includes energy efficiency, renewables, energy storage and load flexibility;
Employ these capabilities to flexibly reduce, shed, shift, modulate or generate electric load as needed;
Respond to utility price signals to reduce costs and enhance resilience for both building and utility.

Table 1. The Value of GEBs

Attribute	Today	Future
1. Interoperability and intelligence from building to grid	Demand response (DR) programs, often manual, fairly static	Ability to receive and respond to utility price signals Ability to send load flex potential
2. Interoperability and intelligence across building systems	Building management systems (BMS) for major loads (HVAC) Individual system controls (Lighting, storage)	Single, overarching integrator to monitor and control all loads, including plug loads and storage Ability to optimize for cost, carbon, reliability, etc.
3. Load flexibility and demand-focused optimization	Thermal energy storage Battery storage	Intelligence to track and map demand, shift or shed rapidly based on inputs such as price, weather, carbon, events, etc.

What is GSA doing on GEBs?

Two members of GSA’s Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings summarized initial progress on GEBs with a presentation opens in new window at a meeting of the Interagency Sustainability Working Group in December 2019.

The GSA Proving Ground, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Commercial Buildings Integration program, released a Request for Information opens in new window in 2019 seeking technology providers to partner on GEB demonstration projects. In 2020, these two programs selected four Grid-interactive Efficient Building (GEB) technology solutions to be validated in both private sector and GSA facilities. More information on these planned technology assessments is available here opens in new window .

U.S. General Services Administration Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings Infographic.

Benefits and Challenges to GEB in Federal Buildings

GEB Case Studies

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Barriers to overcome, per the Advisory Committee:

Provide Information & Resources: Case studies, design guidance, modeling tools
Establish GEB Policies: Create load reduction goals
Improve Price Incentives & Financing Models:
- ID where Utility, Regional Transmission Organization (RTO), and/or Independent System Operator (ISO) rates & incentives make GEB options attractive
- Integrate into ESPC/UESC frameworks
Overcome Operational Knowledge Gaps & Security Concerns:
- Need smart controls, advanced metering, cybersecurity protections
- Revise operator procedures & training

Direct Benefits to GSA

Grid and Societal Value

Indirect Value to GSA

$50 MM in annual cost savings
$206 MM in net present value (NPV)
Project-level payback under 4 years
Futureproof: Accommodates future rate structure changes and helps manage costs

Reduce grid-level transmission and distribution (T&D) and generation costs up to $70 MM/yr
These savings ultimately benefit the government and taxpayers
Future grid economic models will value savings (e.g., non-wires alternatives)

Demonstrates federal and real estate industry leadership
Enables deeper savings in Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) and Utility Energy Service Contracts (UESCs)
Better building control can improve comfort, health, and productivity
CO₂ savings

Assumes GEBs are applied across the GSA portfolio of owned office buildings; Based on bundle of measures modeled by RMI.

Additional Information

Advice Letter and Report: Recommendations for Adoption of Grid-Integrated Building Policy Provisions - Initial findings and recommendations on why the federal government should launch building and grid integration policies and practices.
Advice Letter: Federal Building & Grid Integration: Proposed Roadmap – More detailed and targeted recommendations for how the federal government should make this transition.
GSA responded by funding the Rocky Mountain Institute in 2019 to produce a feasibility study of GEB implementation at six GSA locations, Value Potential for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings in the GSA Portfolio: A Cost-Benefit Analysis.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office provides a growing collection of technical reports and other resources on GEBs.
Grid Optimal: a partnership between the New Buildings Institute and U.S. Green Building Council to provide standards, tools, and guidance to improve building-grid interactions in the built environment by empowering owners, architects, and engineers with dedicated metrics, strategies, and pilot projects.
Grid-Interactive Efficient Building Utility Programs: State of the Market: An ACEEE White Paper: (October 2019) - Research by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO): Website includes several studies and resources for state agencies to investigate and initiate GEB programs.
Smart Buildings Case Study at GSA's Oklahoma City Federal Building: This GEB renovation project demonstrates that GEB-ready strategies and technologies can be deployed across buildings with minimal investment and includes information on the project roles, processes, costs, and benefits.

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