Author: Sarah Morgan

In California, Heat Pumps Are the Future

Posted on by Sarah Morgan

Here’s why they’re great for homeowners – and great for the environment.

If you haven’t yet heard about the benefits of installing a heat pump space heater or heat pump water heater, you soon will. California has also launched an initiative to install 6 million heat pumps by 2030.

Don’t worry, the state won’t come into your home to rip out your furnace! They’re just asking all of us to switch to energy-efficient appliances when the time is right for us. There’s an upside of converting to heat pumps: Saving money on our utility bills.

What Are Heat Pumps?

An electric heat pump is a device that transfers heat from one location to another. During the winter, air source heat pumps move heat from the outdoors to inside your home, even when it is very cold outside. During the summer, the appliance reverses direction. It sends heat outside, cooling your home. Air source heat pumps can also dehumidify indoor spaces and make them more comfortable. The same technology is used in heat pump water heaters.

air source heat pumps image

Infographic source: U.S. Department of Energy

Why Does California Want Us to Install Heat Pumps?

Traditional space heaters and air conditioners use a lot of energy. As much as two-thirds of the energy that single-family homes use goes toward heating water and heating or cooling our homes. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, if we replace furnaces and air conditioners with electric heat pumps we can cut our household’s energy use by 31% to 47%.

There’s a benefit to the environment as well: Today, heating and cooling produce 25% of California’s greenhouse gas emissions. This air pollution comes from electric plants powered by fossil fuels and from household appliances powered by natural gas. Electric heat pumps powered by clean electricity could substantially reduce California’s pollution. However, only 4% of California homes have electric heat pumps right now.

California has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2045. To help us meet that goal, the state wants to make it easier for homes and businesses to switch to energy-efficient electric appliances like heat pumps. That’s why the state formed the private-public California Heat Pump Partnership, which plans to help 6 million California homes and businesses install heat pumps over the next five years.

The Benefit to Your Pocketbook

There’s no beating around the bush: Heat pumps and heat pump water heaters cost more to buy and install. Once these energy-efficient appliances are up and running, however, the savings add up. According to Carbon Switch, the average California home could save $300 a year on their monthly power bills if it switched to an electric heat pump.

In addition, the federal and state government have set up incentive programs and rebates to help Californians cover the costs of upgrading to electric heat pumps. PG&E, which delivers the electricity that VCE purchases for our customers, offers incentives as well.

Want to Learn More About Heat Pumps?

If your home’s furnace, air conditioner, or water heater is nearing the end of its lifespan, contact VCE’s free new Electric Advisor service! Our trained Electric Advisors will help you:

Find electric heat pumps (and other energy-saving appliances) that will fit your home and budget.
Point out incentives and rebates that can cover part of the cost. (Some incentives are set aside for low-income households.)
Help you find a local contractor to install the system.

To get started, visit electricadvisor.valleycleanenergy.org or call 855-699-8232.

Electric heat pumps can help us save money, improve the comfort of our homes and businesses, and contribute to our state and national clean-air goals — all at the same time. At VCE, we’re committed to helping our customers achieve all of these benefits.

 

The Promise of V2X

Posted on by Sarah Morgan

How Vehicle-to-Everything Technology Could Change the World

Did you know your Electric Vehicle (EV) could soon power your home—not to mention California?

There’s been a lot of talk about how and where you can charge your electric vehicle (EV). But did you know that your EV can soon charge your home appliances—and even help power the state?

At VCE, we’re excited about the promise of new “vehicle-to-everything” (V2X) technologies, which the State of California is throwing support behind. Someday, V2X will help earn EV owners extra money—and make the grid more resilient and reliable, too. Here’s what the future holds in store for us.

How V2X works: Bidirectional charging

Many new EV models come with a feature called “bidirectional charging,” which means you can plug an electric device into your car’s charging port and power it using the car’s battery. These cars have an adapter that converts DC power from the car’s high-voltage battery back to AC power, which homes and electric appliances all use.

With bidirectional charging, you’ll soon be able to use your EVin creative new ways:

  • Vehicle-to-load (V2L): With V2L, you could run lights, power tools, or computers by plugging them into your car. (Perhaps you’ve seen the Kia EV3 commercial that shows drivers using bidirectional charging to light up a campsite.) Just like “jumping” a car whose battery has died, you can even help start another EV that has run down its battery by plugging the car into your own for a few minutes.
  • Vehicle-to-home (V2H): Several new EV chargers on the market take V2L one step further by connecting cars that have bidirectional charging to your home’s electric panel. With the right EV and the right charger, you could power your home for several days if an emergency arises, like these North Carolina EV drivers that provided power for their neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
  • Vehicle-to-grid (V2G): The possibilities don’t stop with your home! Just like households with solar panels can sell the electricity they generate back to the power grid, soon you’ll also be able to sell power from your EV battery when the demand for electricity is peaking.

The promise of V2X in California

In order to shift away from fossil-fuel energy, we’re building lots of solar, wind, and geothermal power plants. We’re also adding tremendous amounts of battery storage. Giant batteries store the electricity that solar plants generate during the day, so we can continue powering homes at night with clean energy. Batteries also hold power for peak usage times. They can help prevent blackouts during heat waves or other climate events.

But we don’t just need massive batteries capable of storing megawatts of power. Soon, we will have thousands and thousands of EVs with bidirectional charging plugged into thousands and thousands of homes.

Someday, you may be able to charge up your car overnight when rates are low, plug into your garage’s charger when you get home from work, and sell that power back to VCE at higher rates. Clean energy experts like to say we’re creating “virtual power plants,” using the power from all of our home solar power panels and car batteries to supply electricity to everyone, everywhere, all the time.

VCE is helping pioneer V2X in California

The state of California still has technical and regulatory challenges in order to connect cars with bidirectional charging to the grid. But we are leading the way. On September 27, Governor Newsom signed SB 59 into law. This new law authorizes the California Energy Commission to work with other regulatory agencies to require every EV sold in California to have bidirectional charging.

At VCE, we’re excited about the promise of V2G. We’re already working with PG&E, state agencies, and innovative companies to become one of the first power agencies in California to connect our customers’ EVs to the grid.

The next time you wonder whether it’s time to buy an EV, just think: You won’t just be driving your family around. You’ll be driving your community toward a clean-energy future.

Community Power Agencies like VCE are Driving California’s Clean Energy Transformation

Posted on by Sarah Morgan

Our growing movement is making a tremendous impact.

A flock of owls is called a “parliament.” A herd of lions is a “pride.” So what do you call a group of not-for-profit power agencies? A movement!

Two decades ago, Californians who wanted to speed up the transition to clean energy started the Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) movement. CCAs are not-for-profit agencies that purchase clean electricity directly from renewable energy producers on behalf of their local community. When VCE began providing service, we also joined forces with other CCAs through an organization called CalCCA. Their most recent count of more than 300 clean energy projects CCAs are funding across the state demonstrates just how effective CCAs have been in mobilizing support for clean, efficient resources for our communities.

Leading California’s Clean Energy Transformation

Together, VCE and California’s other 24 CCAs represent 14 million customers — that’s almost 40% of the state’s population. And we’re harnessing our buying power to play a critical role in this clean-energy transition. By 2045, California plans to supply 100% of the state’s power from energy sources that don’t burn fossil fuels or release carbon into the atmosphere. Thanks to the hard work of many many people and organizations, we’re well on our way! According to the California Energy Commission, 61% of the state’s electricity now comes from fossil-free sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear, and batteries.

CalCCA’s member agencies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to fund new clean energy projects. According to CalCCA, that investment has added 14,000 megawatts (MW) of fossil-free electricity to the power grid, including:

  • 7,004 MW from solar farms, enough to power 1.15 million households
  • 1,526 MW from new wind turbines, powering 606,000 households
  • 325 MW from new geothermal plants
  • 25 MW from new biogas plants

CCAs have also funded 5,014 MW worth of new battery storage — half of California’s total capacity! Batteries play a critical role because they store energy from solar and wind during times when these plants produce more electricity than we can use. This stored clean energy is then available when homes and businesses need it during periods when we have fewer renewable resources available or during times of very high energy use during periods like heat waves.

Not-for-profit CCAs like VCE support clean energy in other ways. We re-invest our earnings back into our communities by:

  • Offering incentives to help customers electrify their homes and vehicles
  • Customer bill credits-returning dividends to customers, helping them save money
  • Installing EV charging stations in our communities

VCE’s role in this statewide movement

VCE displays the CalCCA badge on our About Us page because we’re proud to work alongside the 24 other agencies in our movement to transition California to clean energy.

Since 2018, we’ve used the joint purchasing power of VCE’s customers to fund new projects that supply Davis, Winters, Woodland, and unincorporated Yolo County with 378 MW worth of additional fossil-free power. We’re putting steel in the ground and helping to create good jobs. We’ve also reinvested over $8 million into community programs and rate relief credits for our customers.

Close to two-thirds of the electricity VCE supplies to our community now comes from clean energy sources — and we’re committed to 100% by 2030. That’s 15 years ahead of the state’s goal! Thank you to all our customers for supporting this movement. Together, we’re preparing California for our clean energy future.

 

 

Photo caption: Putah Creek Solar Farm, Winters, CA

 

Source for these calculations: Lewis & Clark Law School
Source for calculations: California Wind Energy Association