August 1, 2018
(AUSTIN, TX – August 1, 2018) – A $1.1 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will allow Pecan Street Inc. to expand its groundbreaking home energy research network into New York and California. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, and Landis+Gyr will also provide funding and in-kind support for the expansion.
The new funding will allow Pecan Street to install research equipment in 100 volunteer homes in the Ithaca area of New York and volunteer 100 homes in the Bay Area of California. In addition, Pecan Street will upgrade its entire research network to report one-second interval data, which has proven to be increasingly valuable to academic researchers and industry partners.
“Our research has provided incredible insight into energy use and generation,” said Pecan Street CEO Suzanne Russo. “Expanding to different climates with different energy profiles will allow us to tackle new research questions critical for these two states to move forward with their aggressive clean energy goals.”
New York’s REV (Reforming the Energy Vision) has made energy research and development a key economic driver for the state. California is supporting a rapid transformation of the electric grid and integration of distributed energy resources, including a goal to have all new construction zero-net-energy by 2030 and a requirement that all new construction include solar PV.
“Pecan Street has a unique mission to facilitate better academic research by providing access to the most detailed energy use datasets available,” said Evan Michelson, program director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “This expanded testbed will help answer critical questions that are key to understanding the nation’s changing energy system.”
Launched in Austin, TX in 2009, Pecan Street established the first energy research network of real customers by equipping participants’ homes with sensors that measure electricity from multiple circuits 24 hours a day. It has evolved into a world-class research organization, helping accelerate the transition to clean energy and expanding its expertise into water management. The network now includes more than 1,115 homes and businesses, more than 250 of which have rooftop solar and 65 of which have rooftop solar and electric vehicles.
Growing by more than 750 million records a day, the resulting database of customer energy generation and use is the most robust on the planet. More than 100 peer-reviewed papers that used Pecan Street data have been published on issues including climate change, electric system reliability and urban resilience. Through its Dataport site, Pecan Street’s data is used by 2,000 university researchers in more than 60 countries.
Pecan Street will begin recruiting new participants in New York and California this summer. People interested in participating can visit www.pecanstreet.org/resources to learn what is involved.
About The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. Visit sloan.org.
About Pecan Street Inc.
Pecan Street is an energy and water research organization based in Austin, TX. Our network of volunteer research participants is the first of its kind on the planet and has become an international model for how to develop and operate real-world energy and resource research. Our commercialization lab is an affordable, world-class proving ground for major corporations and startups alike. And our database, the largest source of disaggregated customer energy data, is used by university researchers and industry-leading companies around the world. Visit pecanstreet.org.
Contact:
Colin Rowan, Pecan Street, media@pecanstreet.org, 512-222-9603