E3 led a team completing an inclusive, year-long study to identify the policies and programs needed to achieve the New York City’s decarbonization goals. E3’s analysis involved both examining policies and programs to meet the city’s long-term goals as well as providing specific recommendations for actions to be taken during the current administration. The study included eight research branches focused on the performance and cost of heat pumps in new buildings; the affordability of electrification retrofits in rent-regulated housing; the opportunities for electric school bus managed charging and vehicle-to-grid; the potential for in-city wind energy; a screening of public lands for new clean energy development; an assessment of the electric grid readiness for increasing heat pump and EV charging loads; and an evaluation of how bulk energy storage could reduce reliance on in-city fossil generation. Based on E3’s study, New York City published PowerUp NYC, the city’s first Long-Term Energy Plan, which includes 29 clean energy initiatives focused on the city’s energy grid, its buildings, and its transportation sector. Many aspects of the PowerUp NYC, from research topic selection to recommendations, were developed in collaboration with the public, and with the public’s interest at the forefront of the decision-making process. The recommendations of the LTEP are aligned with long-term energy and equity policy mandates from both the city and state and revolve around the needs of NYC residents.

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E3 supported NYSERDA in developing a new methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emission factors for New York’s electricity grid. Greenhouse gas emission factors measure the emissions intensity of grid power (the amount of emissions produced per unit of energy generated, such as in metric tons per megawatt-hour). E3 calculated future marginal grid emission factors for carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O) for New York State for 2023 through 2040, on a month-hour and annual basis. E3 worked together with NYSERDA to write a white paper describing the methodology, results, and recommended applications of the new emission factors, as well as an accompanying database of emission factors for use by stakeholders.

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Working with the New York Department of Public Service (DPS) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), E3 supported the development of a new roadmap for New York to achieve the installation of at least 10 Gigawatts of distributed solar by 2030. The roadmap lays out a path that will expand renewable energy in New York, generating enough clean energy to power 700,000 additional homes, while also prioritizing an equitable expansion of New York’s distributed solar infrastructure. E3 contributed to the distributed solar framework by providing analysis that informed the plan’s policy recommendations. E3 developed a supply curve model for distributed solar projects in New York and used this model to evaluate program costs for different incentive program options. The analysis was used to inform the roadmap’s ultimate recommendation to extend the current NY-Sun Megawatt Block incentive program to help achieve the 10 GW target.

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E3 supported the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) on four transportation electrification filings. First, E3 and its subcontractors Anser Advisory and Black & Veatch designed a program for HECO to build the make-ready infrastructure for electric buses to support electrification of transportation for transit, tourism, and other bus operators. Second, E3 designed two new electric vehicle charging rates, EV-J and EV-P, for commercial electric vehicle charging sites. E3 developed a rate design calculator and performed cost-benefit assessments to evaluate different rate designs and propose final rates that will support low-cost public EV charging in Hawaii. Third, E3 and its subcontractor Anser Advisory supported HECO in developing its Charge Ready Hawaii pilot program to deploy make-ready charging infrastructure for commercial and multi-unit dwelling locations. Finally, E3 and its subcontractors Anser Advisory and Atlas Public Policy supported HECO in developing a proposal to expand its public DC fast charging (DCFC) infrastructure pilot to build out 150 DCFC ports and 150 dual-port Level 2 charging stations across its service territory. These programs – three of which have been approved by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission with the fourth project (DCFC program expansion) under review in 2022 – build on HECO’s Electrification of Transportation Roadmap and allow for HECO to support its customers in electrifying their vehicles and fleets.