Types of Digital Tools For Energy Efficiency Policy

Policymakers are increasingly using digital technologies for energy efficiency policies to create more secure, clean, and adaptable energy systems as the market and technological landscape shifts

Fremont, CA: By giving greater information and a clearer perspective of distributed energy resources, digitalization can influence and improve energy efficiency strategies. This may open up new policy design choices, allowing energy efficiency markets to operate on a far larger scale. Through resources such as smartphone apps and internet tools, digitalization can also improve the implementation and monitoring of program delivery. Furthermore, digital tools can be especially useful in fostering engagement that is more tailored to community needs, not only in terms of delivering the most cost-effective energy savings but also in terms of addressing energy vulnerability as well as a variety of health, social, and gender equity concerns. A wide range of stakeholders could profit from the deployment of such tools.

Databases and big data

As the globe digitalizes through the deployment of smart gadgets, grids, and other IT infrastructure and systems, massive amounts of energy data are generated. Such information can be a helpful resource for policymakers attempting to meet their energy and climate policy objectives. Moving toward uniform criteria for assessing energy efficiency gains can also assist scale-up markets and finance for system flexibility resources like virtual power plants and Pay-for-Performance (P4P) energy efficiency resource procurement.

GIS mapping and remote sensing

The construction industry has a huge room to increase energy efficiency. Identifying energy efficiency potential in buildings is becoming increasingly possible thanks to digital technologies at a considerably cheaper cost. These digital technologies have the potential to make them more widely used for large-scale deployments of energy-efficient homes and other building structures. Through the Hot Maps project in Europe, pilots are being run to identify high-priority regions for efficiency upgrades to heating and cooling systems using geographic information system (GIS) mapping software. The open-source application allows municipal planners to visualize regions with potentially high heating or cooling loads, which can then be prioritized for energy efficiency enhancements as part of air - conditioning systems action plans.

Digital certification and compliance

When it comes to energy efficiency standards and labeling programs, digital technologies enable electronic labels, which eliminate the need to physically change labels on appliances and equipment when requirements are updated on a regular basis. In comparison to traditional product labels, QR codes combined with smartphones and apps can give a more effective certification system. Consumers may quickly examine and compare the energy efficiency of appliances using QR tags connected to appliances and linked to a database.