Advanced Energy Perspectives

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

In the wake of the VW clean diesel emission scandal, compression ignition engines for light-duty vehicles are undergoing enhanced scrutiny, though the market for these vehicles remains strong globally. Clean diesel vehicles dominate the advanced vehicle market in Europe in a way they do not in the United States. But as VW has struggled to update more than 11 million diesel-powered vehicles globally in response to revelation of its emissions cheating, the German automaker has expressed a newfound interest in a different form of advanced transportation: electric vehicles.

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

Despite lower prices at the gas pump, the prospects for EVs continue to be bright, in large part due to remarkable advances in EV storage technology. Early hybrid vehicles almost exclusively featured nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. Now, lithium ion (Li-ion) has taken over the hybrid sector, and dominates the Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) and Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) markets as well. Most new production hybrids, apart from the Toyota Prius, and all PHEVs and BEVs in 2015 were shipped with Li-ion batteries. While new battery chemistries are now being tested, and could make their way into market in the coming years, the focus through the early 2020s will remain on further lowering costs and improving the energy density (and resulting vehicle range) of Li-ion batteries.

This post is one in a series of feature stories on trends shaping advanced energy markets in the U.S. and around the world, drawn from Advanced Energy Now 2016 Market Report, which was prepared for AEE by Navigant Research.

The intelligent building is a facility that leverages information technology to improve system performance for energy savings and operational improvements. The market launched about a decade ago with new software, building energy management systems (BEMS), designed to deliver energy efficiency improvements by translating more data into better information and explicit action. BEMS combat the challenge of using and maintaining complex and proprietary control and automation systems. These new software solutions utilize a wider array of data including utility bills, smart meter interval data, weather, and sensor signals to identify opportunities for energy efficiency and operational improvements. BEMS are technology agnostic, so regardless of any existing control and automation infrastructure, the software applications can direct energy cost savings. For example, BEMS can detect anomalies in heating system operations and then direct a reset of setpoints or schedules. The result is better use of heating systems, which drives down utility bills. The energy efficiency story is straightforward and quantifiable. Customers see declining utility bills aligned with the performance improvements in their building systems.