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Connecting Energy Data with Voices of Real Homeowners
Guest Blog by Hannah Danaë Goodman of CAPA Strategies – No one likes to spend on their energy bill, but for many families across the country, utilities aren’t just an inconvenience but a huge financial burden. For families living paycheck to paycheck, high energy bills can be a serious source of stress that forces them to do burdensome mental math about cutting costs in other areas, finagling payment plans, or reaching out to family members for assistance.
Pecan Street Awarded $7.9 Million to Develop Solar Congestion Solution, Improve Solar Access for LMI Customers
The U.S. Department of Energy has granted a five-year, $7.9 million Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program (GRIP) grant to Pecan Street Inc. and its partners to develop and deploy technology that will allow utilities to manage solar supply and energy demand throughout the grid.
Restore OKC Brings Pecan Street’s Research Network to Oklahoma City
Restore OKC has teamed up with the University of Oklahoma and Pecan Street Inc. to help launch an energy efficiency and awareness program in northeast Oklahoma City. We’re already recruiting participants, conducting energy audits and installing equipment that will measure how these improvements affect participants’ energy use and costs.
Dr. Anissa Rodriguez Dickerman Named Pecan Street CEO
The Pecan Street Inc. board of directors has hired Anissa Rodriguez Dickerman, Ph.D. as chief executive officer. Dickerman’s tenure began September 1, 2023.
Pecan Street Seeks CEO Candidates
The Pecan Street Inc. board of directors is seeking an experienced and motivated leader to chart the next chapter for our groundbreaking climate-focused research and development organization.
Pecan Street Starts 2023 with Leadership Transitions
After nearly five years as Pecan Street’s CEO, Suzanne Russo has transitioned to the organization’s board of directors. Bart Bohn, a partner at venture capital firm ATP and a long-time collaborator with Pecan Street, will serve as interim CEO while the board of directors conducts a search for a permanent chief executive.
Inflation Reduction Act Sets United States on Path to Clean Energy Economy
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 sparks the country’s largest investment to address climate emissions and rapidly accelerate the transition to clean energy. Following is a statement from Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street Inc.
Canary Media: Smart Electric Panels in Homes Could Prevent Overtaxing the Grid
Canary Media – Utilities are worried that homes switching to electric heating, electric cooking and electric-vehicle charging will create major new strains on their power grids. And homeowners looking to go all-electric face steep costs if they need to upgrade their grid connections to handle bigger electrical loads. A new report suggests that both problems could be addressed by the latest smart electric panels.
Pecan Street Inc. and GAVA Selected to Lead Solar Energy Innovation Network Project in Austin
Pecan Street Inc. and GAVA were selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to participate in the Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN) to discover transformative ways of accelerating equitable residential solar adoption in historically underserved communities. Seven other projects around the country were selected to participate in the SEIN program.
Delaware Voluntary Participation Agreement
Following is a participant agreement for Pecan Street’s current volunteer recruitment in Delaware. By completing and submitting this form, you are agreeing to the terms outlined below. Please read this agreement carefully. It explains all of the roles and responsibilities for Pecan Street Inc. and the research participants. After reading the agreement, you will be […]
A Fond Farewell to an Austin Legend
By Suzanne Russo - I’m not the first person to say this, but if you’ve lived in or moved to Austin in the last 30 years, you probably need to thank Pike Powers. More than any singular person, Pike is the symbol of Austin’s transition from a sleepy college town to a global technopolis.
We need energy data to combat climate change, and we need a data utility to make that happen.
Heading into COP26, how can leaders ensure energy data meets its full climate potential? Our experience with energy data has led us to the answer: support the development of a data utility staffed with data scientists, computers scientists, cybersecurity experts and domain experts that would prioritize customer privacy and protection, limit profiteering, require transparency, and advance the integration of data and computer science into our nation’s grid system.
Digital Dirt: A toolkit to advance soil carbon measurement and verification solutions
Over the last year, Pecan Street has been working with some remarkable partners to apply our research and data expertise to some vexing challenges around carbon sequestration. Today, we posted some fruit of our labor, a Digital Dirt Toolkit that takes us several steps toward a data-driven solution
EVs and the Texas Grid (KXAN)
Pecan Street's Colin Rowan spoke with Eric Henrikson (KXAN-Austin) about whether the Texas grid can handle an influx of electric vehicles (yes!) and how these "rolling batteries" could (and should) be a solution for Texas leaders trying to increase the grid's resilience.
We support full residential electrification – addressing electric panel capacity is critical to that goal
Earlier this week, we released a new analysis on electric panel capacity and residential electrification. Our goal was to draw attention to the opportunities to clear the path for electrification by introducing policies and incentives for electric panel upgrades.
University of Michigan Research Participant Agreement
Following is a participant agreement for Pecan Street’s current volunteer recruitment for a research project being conducted for Eaton Corporation.
Pecan Street Launches JupyterHub to Expand Access to Energy, Water & Transportation Datasets
Pecan Street launched new cloud computing resources to support researchers in unlocking insights from the world’s largest database on residential energy, water, and transportation use. Dataport JupyterHub is open to all current Dataport license holders.
Earth Day 2021: Is it just us, or does something feel different?
After more than 50 years of celebrating Earth Day, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s taken far too long for the simple concept of valuing our planet to go mainstream. It has taken too long. Climate scientists have been telling us for decades the clock is ticking while the world gets its act together.
Black History Month Blog Series Recap
Due to the winter storm and energy crisis in late February, we postponed our Black History Month blog series. We’re excited to be concluding the series now with a round-up of all our Black History Month blogs highlighting leading Black voices on climate, equity, and clean energy issues. Below you can read an expert from […]
Pecan Street on CNN: Texas goes it alone on electric power.
Pecan Street OpEd on CNN.com – Texas grid independence is being called into question after ERCOT failed to meet unprecedented electricity demand and millions of Texans went without power for days in sub-freezing temperatures. To put it mildly, people are mad. But despite a lot of political finger-pointing, I've seen few people pointing in the right direction.
What’s Holding Back the Energy Future We’ve Been Promised?
Over the last 10 years of conducting research on electricity use and advanced technologies like electric vehicles and solar systems, my colleagues at Pecan Street have found there are four key technology roadblocks that are holding back innovation and adoption of cleantech products, services and systems.
The Role of Consumer Data in Clean Energy Deployment
An article by Pecan Street's CEO Suzanne Russo was recently published by Forbes about the role of consumer data regulation in accelerating clean energy deployment. This is Russo's first article to be published as a member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Pecan Street Convenes Artificial Intelligence Working Group to Advance Soil Carbon Sequestration on Farms
Pecan Street Inc. and The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) have launched a globally unique AI for Soil Carbon Sequestration Working Group to explore new methods for using artificial intelligence (AI) to overcome the barriers to widespread adoption of climate- beneficial farming practices.
We Don’t Have Time to Solve Problems One-at-a-Time. And We Don’t Have To.
By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street - We can’t solve all of our problems independently – we don’t have time. And science tells us we don’t have to. So Pecan Street is adopting a Wicked Solutions approach to all our work. We will apply our unique capabilities to identify and prioritize the wicked problems that sit at the nexus of climate change mitigation and adaptation and focus our effort toward developing wicked solutions.
Greentech Media: The Solar ‘Duck Curve’ Might Look Quite a Bit Different Under Coronavirus
Greentech Media – As the coronavirus pandemic forces people across the country to shelter at home, utilities and grid operators are watching typical energy use patterns change in unpredictable ways, and trying to understand how this will affect their grid operations, power purchasing practices, and long-term plans. Austin, Texas-based Pecan Street Inc. may have some answers.
New Pecan Street Annual Report
By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street - Our special edition annual report shares highlights from our first 10 years and recaps activities from the past fiscal year (FY 2018-19). The Pecan Street team had a lot of fun thinking back on everything we’ve accomplished so far — I hope you enjoy reading about these projects as much as we enjoyed working on them.
Pecan Street Launches Free AI Solar Monitoring Service for Research Participants
By Esha Choudhary, database administrator, Pecan Street – Whether you’re trying to reduce your home’s use of fossil fuel electricity or simply want to unplug from the grid, knowing how well your rooftop solar system is performing is an important part of maximizing your investment. Few people want to monitor their system every day, so Pecan Street is piloting a service we developed that alerts users when their PV systems “underperform.”
White Paper: Exploiting the Energy-Water Nexus to Reduce Emissions and Conserve Water
By Suzanne Russo, CEO, Pecan Street – Our new white paper uses Pecan Street's unique datasets of home energy and water use data to estimate the climate emissions potential of residential electricity and water conservation and identify the household energy uses with the highest water intensity and the water uses with the highest energy intensity.
Upcoming Events and Conferences
Heading to a conference or industry event? See if a Pecan Street staff member is on the agenda. Each month, we will update the public events at which our staff will appear.
Forget DER aggregators, grid-edge intelligence will be the hallmark of the utility of the future
January 21, 2020 Read this story at Renewable Energy World Suzanne Russo, CEO of Pecan Street, has a pretty good grip on the future of the electricity industry. That’s because her organization is designing, creating, testing, and collecting data about new, low-carbon grid-edge intelligent devices in a real-life neighborhood setting. Pecan Street started in 2009 […]