University of Vermont Project Aims to Identify Energy Demand, Supply, and Community Needs in Rural Vermont

An energyshed, similar in concept to a watershed, considers all the energy demand in a given region as well as local energy generation. Looking at energy from this perspective can help bring better understanding of energy needs and shed light on opportunity for locally driven solutions including clean energy projects. Focusing on an energyshed can also help show how the costs and benefits of an energy system are distributed within and between geographic communities.  
  
The Energyshed: Exploring Place‐Based Generation funding program helps develop tools to help communities understand the impacts and benefits of consuming energy that they generate locally.  

Results from these tools aim to be accessible to all audiences and consistent whether considered from the perspective of utilities, government agencies, local communities, or individual consumers.  

When the U.S. Department of Energy announced the Energysheds funding opportunity, three projects were initially selected. The selected project from the University of Vermont (UVM) aims to identify the specific energy demand, available and potential energy supply, and other priority community needs in three distinct rural areas of Vermont with different socio-economic characteristics. Based on the resulting data, the project team is developing an accessible model and tool that provide local decision makers with specific information on the economic, health, environmental, and other impacts of various energy decisions. 

After refining the models, the UVM project team will make its tool available for use across the country to help communities understand their energy needs holistically and show how the costs and benefits of an energy system are distributed within and between geographic communities. This information will help decisionmakers identify opportunities to use more locally derived energy to improve efficiency and decrease dependence on resources transported from long distances. 

The additional awardees included: 

• Launch Alaska ($3.4 million): This project will combine and streamline existing tools and use them to gain consensus for three priority large scale local energy projects in collaboration with Alaska communities, regional Native corporations, and technical advisors. This project would primarily engage and benefit Native Alaska communities but also benefit other energy burdened communities in the area.   
    
• Georgia Institute of Technology ($2.3 million): This project would create a new metropolitan energy planning organization to evaluate the social, economic, as well as technical impacts of various future energy scenarios within the Atlanta area energyshed. With the help of detailed local data, including from underserved communities, this project aims to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in regional energy planning.  

Additional Information 

Read more about energysheds and sign up for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) email list to get notified of new EERE funding opportunities.