Idaho’s Gas Savings Potential

 

Dunsky recently completed an energy efficiency potential study for the Intermountain Gas Company (IGC)—the natural gas utility serving some 350,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers across southern Idaho. The study found that voluntary programs alone could drive customers to cost-effectively cut gas use by 12%, on average, over the next 20 years.

While IGC already had a selection of energy conservation programs in place, the company was looking to identify new opportunities across all sectors, including through emerging technologies. Together with our partners, Dunsky quantified the energy and peak demand savings potential within IGC’s two climate zones. Nearly half of the achievable savings potential could come from heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) measures, primarily in the residential sector.

At the heart of this work lies Dunsky’s Demand and Energy Efficiency Potential (DEEP) model, a transparent, sophisticated yet user-friendly tool that we have applied to a number of states and provinces to assess market-wide energy saving opportunities. Dunsky’s DEEP model provided IGC with a detailed window into the service territory’s energy efficiency potential, answering questions such as: What savings savings are achievable? Are they economically viable? Can they realistically be achieved through voluntary programs or other means? By when? In which market segments and with what measures? And how sensitive are results to changing parameters?

The results of the study are being used to support IGC’s short-term energy efficiency program planning, as well as the company’s long-term resource planning activities.