Gas Utilities Join Alliance to Accelerate Technology Adoption

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Gas utilities in the Northwest have teamed with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) to develop a plan for initiating natural gas market transformation, focused on long-term savings for companies and consumers. NEEA has joined the Gas Technology Institute’s (GTI) Emerging Technology Program, a collaboration focused on accelerating the commercialization and adoption of the latest end-use energy efficiency technologies to support these efforts. In addition to participating in the base ETP program, NEEA is also funding a demonstration project with GTI to pilot three gas-fired heat pump water heaters in the Pacific Northwest.

NEEA’s 2015-2019 gas efficiency business plan, funded by Avista Utilities, Cascade Natural Gas, the Energy Trust of Oregon, NW Natural, and Puget Sound Energy, focuses on vetting more efficient gas technologies to bring down the unit costs by raising vendor and consumer awareness and confidence and introducing the technologies into the mainstream marketplace. GTI has defined five new residential and commercial technology areas: gas-fired heat pump water heaters, combined space/water heating, hearth products, rooftop heat, ventilation and air conditioning systems, and gas clothes dryers.

The five-year, $18.3-million natural gas market transformation plan is expected to save more than 280 million therms annually for water heating, combined space/water heating, and hearth products, with additional savings expected from HVAC systems and gas clothes dryers. The project with GTI on residential and light commercial gas-fired heat pump water heaters will demonstrate equipment that exceeds the traditional efficiency limit of current technologies. This packaged water heater, driven by a gas-fired ammonia/water absorption heat pump, can achieve nearly twice the efficiency of new standard gas water heaters and is anticipated to afford lower operating costs than electric heat pump water heaters.

The technology, applicable to new construction installations and retrofits to existing systems, is being deployed across multiple residential applications. Field testing is designed to answer questions on installed performance, predicted savings, knowledge level of installation contractors, and market barriers. Continued field verification is needed, along with technology enhancements based on measured performance and advancement of market development to spur adoption.

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