Catalyzing the Market for Automated Emissions Reduction Post-Charette Report

This report details a project led by WattTime.org and RMI to catalyze the market for Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), a software-based technology that modulates the electricity consumption of internet-connected devices based on real-time grid emissions data. The project included a pilot deployment in Chicago and a stakeholder workshop (charrette) to identify value propositions and scaling strategies for residential and institutional customers, utilities, and policymakers.

• Automated Emissions Reduction (AER) is a software-based technology that reduces the carbon and mercury emissions associated with electricity use by modulating the consumption of internet-connected devices, such as electric vehicles, water heaters, and air conditioning, in response to real-time grid emissions data.
• RMI simulations indicate that AER can reduce pollution by 5% to 40% for specific residential loads using current generation data. Electric vehicles and water heaters offer higher emissions savings potential than air conditioning due to their greater flexibility over longer time scales.
• AER can be integrated with traditional demand response (DR) programs to lower customer acquisition costs. Survey data suggests that offering an AER feature in a utility DR program can reduce the required incentive for customer participation by 30% to 60%.
• The project identified a significant opportunity to reduce mercury emissions in the Great Lakes region, with a near-term goal of reducing 2 tons of mercury and a potential to achieve 41 tons of reduction by 2020.
• The project team identified five priority near-term initiatives to scale AER: launching institutional customer pilots, testing residential customer pilots to lower utility acquisition costs, creating a device certification brand, integrating AER into greenhouse gas accounting protocols, and developing open-source tools and infrastructure.
• The effectiveness of AER is heavily dependent on the quality of marginal emissions data. While first-generation data allowed for a 3% CO2 reduction for water heaters in the MISO region, current models increase this to approximately 10%, and future direct data from system operators could potentially enable reductions exceeding 40%.

APA

Abbott, S., Dyson, M., & Mandel, J. (n.d.). Catalyzing the Market for Automated Emissions Reduction Post-Charette Report. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/AER-Post-Charette-Report_RMI_May-2017.pdf

Chicago

Abbott, Stephen, Mark Dyson, and Jamie Mandel. Catalyzing the Market for Automated Emissions Reduction Post-Charette Report. RMI, n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/AER-Post-Charette-Report_RMI_May-2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Abbott |first1=Stephen |last2=Dyson |first2=Mark |last3=Mandel |first3=Jamie |title=Catalyzing the Market for Automated Emissions Reduction Post-Charette Report |publisher=RMI |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/AER-Post-Charette-Report_RMI_May-2017.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{abbottndcatalyzing, author = {Abbott, Stephen and Dyson, Mark and Mandel, Jamie}, title = {{Catalyzing the Market for Automated Emissions Reduction Post-Charette Report}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/AER-Post-Charette-Report_RMI_May-2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }