The group points out, correctly, that the grid is designed for brief bursts of high demand; most of the time there's lots of capacity that goes unused. Utilize thinks that should change. The group argues that smarter ways to use that capacity already exist. Utilize name checks a number of those solutions, including battery storage, demand response, and virtual power plants, all of which have emerged en masse over the last decade, but remain under utilized.
An all-electric, energy-efficient alternative to gas-burning furnaces, heat pumps are widely seen as the climate-friendly home heater of choice. They can do double-duty as both home heaters and AC units and are pretty good at maintaining a constant temperature inside a home without the blast-then-cool-off cycle typical of a furnace.
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Yet four years away from that deadline, not only is the Empire State 15 gigawatts (GW) shy of its goal but also investments in renewable energy are dipping. On Dec. 19, 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Public Renewables Transparency Act, sponsored by Assembly Member Sarahana Shrestha (D-Ulster County), to open up the New York Power Authority's (NYPA) conferral process
We can keep tethering ourselves to volatile geopolitics, to fossil fuel prices we'll never control, and to an energy system built on instability and extraction-or we can choose the alternative that's right in front of us: harnessing the sun here at home on our own rooftops. By rapidly accelerating local solar in New York, we can build power right here in our communities, beyond the reach of coups, cartels, and commodity shocks.
If you're a typical American, you get home from work and start flipping switches and turning knobs-doing laundry, cooking dinner, watching TV. With so many other folks doing the same, the strain on the electrical grid in residential areas is highest at this time. That demand will only grow as the world moves away from fossil fuels, with more people buying induction stoves, heat pumps, and electric vehicles.
When Specian dug into the data, he discovered that implementing energy-efficiency measures and shifting electricity usage to lower-demand times are two of the fastest and cheapest ways of meeting growing thirst for electricity. These moves could help meet much, if not all, of the nation's projected load growth. Moreover, they would cost only half-or less-what building out new infrastructure would, while avoiding the emissions those operations would bring.