Quick Summary Demand response (DR) programs enable commercial buildings, campuses, and facilities to reduce or shift electricity use during peak grid periods in exchange for financial incentives. By making previously unmanaged plug-in appliances (e.g. window A/C units, PTACs, vending machines,…
Quick Summary A virtual power plant (VPP) is not a single facility. It is a coordinated portfolio of distributed energy resources and flexible loads that can be measured, controlled, and dispatched to help balance the grid. Batteries, solar systems, EV…
Quick Summary Plug loads, the electricity used by equipment plugged into receptacles, are becoming a larger share of commercial building energy use as lighting and HVAC systems improve. NREL notes that plug loads account for more than 16% of commercial…
Quick summary As electricity demand grows and peak periods become more expensive to serve, demand response is becoming an operating strategy: identify flexible loads, control them in ways occupants can tolerate, measure the reduction, and aggregate many small actions into…
Quick Summary Virtual power plants (VPPs) are often described in terms of batteries, solar panels, smart thermostats, and electric vehicles. But commercial buildings, municipalities, schools, and campuses have another flexible resource already in place: appliance-level plug loads. BOSS helps turn…
Quick Summary Plug loads, the appliances and devices connected to building receptacles,often sit outside traditional building automation. Yet they can represent a meaningful share of commercial electricity use when devices run overnight, on weekends, during holidays, or when spaces are…
Quick summary Demand response is often discussed as a grid program, but its practical success depends on what happens inside buildings. Commercial facilities contain many loads that are small individually but meaningful in aggregate: window air conditioners, PTACs, vending machines,…
Quick summary A VPP coordinates many small distributed resources so they can provide meaningful grid value at scale. Controllable building loads, including appliance-level and plug loads, can be part of that flexibility if they are measured, connected, and dispatchable. Demand…
Energy usage in the United States and indeed the world poses significant economic and environmental challenges. Commercial and industrial facilities account for nearly 40% of total US energy consumption and GHG emissions presenting major opportunities for improved efficiency and sustainability.…
With buildings generating over one-third of global emissions, the real estate sector is pivotal for driving decarbonization. But this transformation relies on embracing technologies that optimize energy usage. As Greg Puschnigg, CEO of BOSS Controls, notes: “Creators of sustainability solutions…
