Distribution Mechanisms

  • Cities are increasingly being evaluated on their energy access, power surety, and reliability performance. Some communities have not achieved 100% coverage and are being asked to provide roadmaps for achieving that goal. Learn more from LEED for Cities.

  • Implement comprehensive power supply preparedness initiatives, track their success, and ensure that the programs are focused, at least in part, on the most vulnerable parts of the community.
  • Make weatherization and/or energy efficiency initiatives commonplace in building renovations and new construction, and ensure the community is served by multiple fuel and generation sources.
  • Work with the local utility to ensure it has undergone system hardening efforts to reduce the occurrence and duration of power outages and has a plan in place to maintain existing systems.
  • Work with community-based organizations to assess community plans to financially assist vulnerable populations during or after extreme weather or related events.
  • Identify the community’s critical loads or emergency facilities that require backup power.
  • Monitor the energy system continuously and record when and for how long interruptions occur.

  • Determine costs and technologies for resilient power systems.
  • Identify the technology, such as solar and battery storage, locations where they could be installed, and get price estimates.

  • Use grid harmonization strategies – building systems and processes that are responsive to grid capacity and stability – to make the electric grid more resilient. Some examples are infrastructure and programs for dynamic pricing, demand response, net metering, and interconnection policies.

  • Add energy distribution technologies that generate electricity near or where that energy is used. In the residential sector, common distributed energy systems are emergency back-up generators, solar panels, and small wind turbines. Common distributed generation resources in the commercial and industrial sectors include combined heat and power systems, geothermal energy heating and cooling systems, municipal solid waste incineration, hydropower, fuel cells, back-up generators, and solar and wind.
  • Consider and construct a district energy system, which uses a network of underground pipes to pump steam, hot water, and/or chilled water to multiple buildings in a defined geographic area. Providing heating and cooling from a central plant that is close by requires less fuel and displaces the need to install separate heating, cooling, and hot water systems in each building.

Source Documents

These strategies are adapted from existing federal and other resources. Please view these strategies in the context provided by the primary source document: