Cara Carmichael
Cara Carmichael
Rocky Mountain Institute
Cara Carmichael is a Principal with Rocky Mountain Institute’s buildings practice where she focuses on net zero energy and deep energy retrofits in the federal and commercial building sectors. In addition, she is leading efforts on the profitable integration of buildings with the grid. Cara Carmichael co-leads the Pathways to Zero initiative at RMI which is catalyzing early movers in the buildings industry on a path to—or beyond—zero net carbon buildings, by working with individual buildings, districts, cities and portfolios. Highlights of her work include leading negotiation for one of the first net zero energy commercial leases in the U.S., leading the design and construction for both of RMI’s net zero energy offices, the Innovation Center and Boulder Commons, and guiding the GSA to double their historic energy savings using performance contracting.
All Sessions by Cara Carmichael
Grid-interactive Efficient Buildings
Grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEB) are changing the historic relationship between the electric utility and the buildings they serve. Today, utilities face unprecedented challenges -and opportunities – to modernize their infrastructure, eliminate carbon emissions, and remain reliable and resilient, and affordable in their energy services. Creating a smarter and more dynamic two-way communication environment with their customers offers a smart approach to building the 21st century electric utility. GEBs deploy smart technology that allow building operators to shed, shift, and modulate their building loads in response to electric grid reliability, price signals, and operational needs. This will be ever more important as electric vehicle charging becomes more common. Building owners can optimize their operations and their energy costs especially in the emerging trend toward dynamic pricing structures for electricity. This session will bring together expertise from both the utility and the building owner/manager perspective to talk about the value streams inherent in GEBs.