2023
September 20, 2023
Arlington, VA –A key strategic partner of BEL’s, Electrification Strategies LLC (ES), and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) announced today they have signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to explore the feasibility and benefits of electric heat pump water heating technologies for multifamily buildings in cold climates. “Converting multifamily […]
July 28, 2023
Retrofit Pilot Projects in Rural Communities Plus New Research Show Low- and Moderate-Income Homes Can Save Energy and Cut Overall Home Energy Bills [ARLINGTON, Virginia] – With new federal home energy rebates from the Inflation Reduction Act now available, low- and moderate-income households can overcome cost barriers to home retrofits, according to the non-profit Beneficial […]
May 16, 2023
Background on USDA PACE and New Era Program On May 16, the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced nearly $10.7 billion in federal funding for rural electric cooperatives, the largest federal investment in rural electric infrastructure since electrification 1936. BEL President Keith Dennis believes this funding will be central to advancing the goals […]
May 4, 2023
[ARLINGTON, Virginia] – New whole home weatherization and electrification demonstration projects, bolstered by groundbreaking economic research on water heater technologies, present a positive economic outlook for upgrading and electrifying single-family homes, according to the Beneficial Electrification League (BEL). The research and home retrofit demonstrations are part of BEL’s Weatherization/Electrification Together, an initiative tackling the challenge […]
May 2, 2023
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced $400M in federal grant funding for new clean school buses, including electric buses. In a change from last year’s rebate program, school district applicants must purchase a minimum of 15 buses and not more than 50 to be eligible; third-party applicants can request between 25 and 100 buses. BEL views this change – […]
Newsletter Archive
2023
September 5, 2023
- Demand for DOE Rural Grants Exceeds Supply by a Factor of Ten!
- Reminder – Join us on September 6 for Final USDA New ERA Webinar
- Electric School Buses Start Rolling Out – and BEL Rolls Out to Talk Buses with Stakeholders
- Virginia Electrification Leadership Summit Announced
- Key Funding Monitoring Updates
August 30, 2023
- Join us on Sept. 6 for Final USDA New ERA Webinar
- Key Funding Monitoring Updates
- BEL’s Weatherization/Electrification Together (W/E Together) Initiative Continues to Expand
- BEL In the News: Direct Pay and Home Rebate Program Begin to Roll Out
- BEL Welcomes New Staff to the Team!
- Consider Becoming a BEL Sponsor
July 24, 2023
- Note from the President
- Key BEL Infrastructure Funding Update
- Consider Becoming a BEL Sponsor
June 16, 2023
- New IRS Guidance on Tax Incentives: Join our Webinar to Learn About the Implications for Co-ops and Munis!
- USDA’s Rural Utilities Service Heads to Kansas and Nebraska to Discuss PACE and New ERA
- New Resources! Analysis and Tools for Utilities Exploring RUS Funding Opportunities
- Collaboration Will be Key to Winning Electric School Bus Grants
- Learn About Sponsorship
May 22, 2023
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Rolls Out $10.7B in Loans and Grants for Electric Utilities
- USDA’s Rural Utilities Service
- U.S. Department of Energy
May 2, 2023
- Register for Upcoming Events
- REMINDER IF YOUR UTILITY SERVES FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES – DOE 40101(d) Formula Grant Program Deadline
- Virtual Summit on Water Heating
- BEL Hosts Joint DOE and USDA Meeting on Grant Programs
- REGISTRATION OPEN: “Electrify NC!” May 23-24
- EPA Announces New Grant Funding Available Through The Clean School Bus Program
April 24, 2023
- REGISTER NOW: BEL to hold virtual electric water heater summit on May 4
- REGISTRATION OPEN: “Electrify NC!” on May 23-24
- BEL and cooperatives support Navajo Nation efforts, and vice versa
- Georgia Electrification Leadership Summit a success!
- BEL applies to DOE Grid Deployment Office for smart grid funding
- BEL briefs Congressional caucus on electrification opportunities in agriculture
February 9, 2023
- BEL Joins EPA Administrator for Kansas Electric School Bus Roundtable and Announcement
- Save the Dates: Georgia and New Hampshire
- Electrifying U.S. Fertilizer Production
- BEL’s CO-GRIP Proposal Advances
- On BEL’s radar: “Energy Improvements in Rural Areas”
January 6, 2023
- Join Us on Tuesday, January 10! W/E Together Forum Webinar
- BEL Engages Small and Rural Utilities in Proposal to Access DOE Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships IIJA Funding
- Engage With Our Electric Buses Initiative in 2023 to Discuss Electrifying Transportation and Collaborate With Your Peers!
- USDA Announces New REAP Funding for 2023
- DOE IRA Incentives and EECBG Update
2022
$9 Billion for Home Energy Upgrades—But Can We Spend It Wisely? The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will pay up to $14,000 upfront for a low- or moderate-income family to efficiently electrify and weatherize their home, with lower but still generous rebates available to all households.
November 2022
Electric Buses: A Win-Win-Win for Schools, Rural Utilities, and GHG Mitigation There’s a lot to like about electric school buses: lower operating costs, healthier air for riders and neighbors, no direct GHG emissions, a quieter ride, more torque for climbing steep slopes, electricity revenues and the potential for V2G demand response for utilities.
November 2022
BEL Continues to Provide Input to DOE on How to Invest Billions for Grid Resilience and Innovation Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DOE has $10.5 billion to spend over five years to, “prevent outages and enhance the resilience of the electric grid, deploy technologies to enhance grid flexibility, and demonstrate innovative approaches to power sector infrastructure resilience and reliability.”
November 2022
Electric Buses Coming to Rural and Small Communities Across the Country The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) heralded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announcement that 389 school districts will be receiving new electric school buses funded by the EPA’s Clean Bus Program.
October 2022
“Colorado Electrification Leadership Summit” Oct. 27 Convenes Energy Leaders, Highlights New Federal Incentives Billions of dollars in grants, tax credits, and other federal funding coming for electric transportation infrastructure, city and utility electrification programs, electrifying residential and commercial buildings, upgrading school buildings and fleets, weatherizing & electrifying low-income housing, and more.
October 2022
BEL Announces CoBank Support for Electric School Bus Initiative Today the Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) announced foundational sponsorship support from CoBank to support the League’s ongoing electric school bus initiative. The grant will support BEL’s outreach to utilities and school districts encouraging participation in a federally funded electric school bus rebate program for the year ahead.
September 2022
Sponsor Spotlight
Steffes Reaches for the Holy Grail of Efficient Water Heating with Origin To realize the full benefits of electrifying the U.S. economy, water heating in millions of homes must be converted from gas or propane to efficient electric technologies. And converting multi-family buildings to efficient heat pump water heating is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of residential electrification...
Steffes Reaches for the Holy Grail of Efficient Water Heating with Origin To realize the full benefits of electrifying the U.S. economy, water heating in millions of homes must be converted from gas or propane to efficient electric technologies. And converting multi-family buildings to efficient heat pump water heating is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of residential electrification...
September 2022
Webinar: Inflation Reduction Act Programs Supporting Electrification and Efficiency Beneficial Electrification League CEO Keith Dennis and Ryan Dougherty, COO at the Geothermal Exchange Organization, break down the many provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act supporting energy efficiency, weatherization and electrification in this webinar.
August 2022
Keith Dennis, BEL CEO, interviewed by KLAS Las Vegas about "Electrify Nevada" Clark County looking at renewable energy options with Electrify Nevada event.
August 2022
Keith Dennis Interviewed on The Jim Leach Show Jim Leach, WMAY News, Springfield, Il, interviewed Keith Dennis, BEL's CEO, on the Illinois Electrification Leadership Summit.
August 2022
Alex Hofmann Joins the Beneficial Electrification League The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) is delighted to announce that Alex Hofmann has joined as Chief Strategy and Operations Officer.
July 2022
Beneficial Electrification League Announces “Weatherization-Electrification Together” The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) today announced the launch of “Weatherization-Electrification Together,” a national initiative to electrify low- and moderate-income and disadvantaged communities.
May 2022
Energy Leaders Convene May 9 at “Electrify Nevada!” The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) and broad array of public and private sector stakeholders are convening dozens of Nevada’s top energy leaders Monday, May 9, 2022, at “Electrify Nevada,”...
May 2022
Try it – You’ll Like It! Connected Communities, Like EVs, Are Appealing to Those Who Experience Them
February 2022
BEL’s Input to the EPA on its Clean School Bus Program This week, the Beneficial Electrification League sent comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on its Clean School Bus program. Our message was simple and straightforward...
February 2022
Beneficial Electrification League Launches Electric School Bus Initiative The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) today announced a new initiative to accelerate the deployment of electric school buses (ESBs) in electric cooperative service territories throughout the country.
January 2022
Electrification Grants: Beneficial Electrification League program helps co-ops promote electric uses locally When leaders at Beartooth Electric Cooperative in Montana were looking to offset the costs of a project that would bring the benefits of electricity use and efficiency to an affordable housing development, they turned to an unlikely financing source.
January 2022
2021
Montana Co-op Helps Build Affordable All-Electric Home In south-central Montana, where winters deliver frequent sub-zero days, yesterday's heat pumps have gotten a pretty bad rap. But an electric cooperative is on a mission to change that with an all-electric home equipped with advanced technology that can keep residents warm and save money.
December 2021
Beneficial Electrification League Names Keith Dennis President The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) announced today that Keith Dennis, former Vice President of Business and Technology Strategies at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), will become the BEL’s President effective immediately.
December 2021
BEL’s Input to the USDA on the New Climate-Smart Agriculture Initiative The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) was pleased to provide input to the USDA on the new Climate-Smart Agriculture Initiative via comments solicited through a request for stakeholder input issued by the Agency.
November 2021
We Need to Talk About Your Gas Stove, Your Health and Climate Change Americans love their gas stoves. It's a romance fueled by a decades-old "cooking with gas" campaign from utilities that includes vintage advertisements, a cringeworthy 1980s rap video and, more recently, social media personalities. The details have changed over time, but the message is the same: Using a gas stove makes you a better cook.
October 2021
Gas or Electric Range: Which Is Better? Electric stoves outperform their gas counterparts! Helping the general public (and home builders) to give electric stoves another look can go a long way towards achieving beneficial electrification as the stove is one of the only appliances where a consumer might have a gas/electric preference—nobody generally cares how their water or air is heated as long as it hot when they want it to be.
September 2021
An Assessment of Electrification Impacts on the Pepco DC System A great study from the Brattle Group on the effect of electrification, energy efficiency and load growth shows load growth to be within historical trends (yet above what it would be with out electrification) and how robust load flexibility and EE reduce peak load growth.
August 2021
Love Electric Website Launches Providing energy efficient heating + cooling information and rebate guides for Colorado homeowners.
June 2021
ECO Act Passes and Paves Way to Modernize Minnesota’s Conservation Improvement Program The Energy Conservation and Optimization (ECO) Act, a bill many years in the making, passed the legislature Monday with a decisive bipartisan vote of 58-9 in the Minnesota Senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Walz by the end of the month.
May 2021
Over $100,000 awarded to support beneficial electrification by utilities, farms and consumer groups in five states Beneficial Electrification League to fund innovations to drive energy savings and environmental benefits for groups in Montana, Indiana, South Dakota, Iowa and North Carolina. Read our announcement for more information.
May 2021
New Beneficial Electrification Grant Opportunity The BEL is pleased to announce the availability of funding for grants that advance our mission to increase understanding on the benefits of electrification. Please read our announcement for more information.
March 2021
2020
For Businesses – Choose Electricity!
An animated video that discusses the benefits of electrifying businesses, from cost savings to performance improvements and meeting environmental and sustainability goals.
August 2020
Electrify Your World! An animated video that discusses the benefits of choosing electricity to power your everyday life, from your home, to your car and even your lawn equipment.
August 2020
The New Notion of Electricity! BEL Featured in National Utility Customer Publication
Derived from NRECA’s Straight Talk Service
August 2020
Radio Wave Grain Drying for Beneficial Electrification Beneficial electrification in Agriculture
May 2020
Co-ops Staff Up on Beneficial Electrification to Meet Members' Needs BEL Featured in NRECA Article
May 2020
Meet the People Preparing to Amp Up Building Electrification Beneficial Electrification League featured in BuldingGreen article on Building Electrification
April 2020
Alaska is Made for Beneficial Electrification! BEL Featured in NRECA Article
March 2020
A Co-op Groundswell for Beneficial Electrification! BEL Featured in Cooperative.com Article
March 2020
Electrification in Home Heating and Water Heating BEL Co-Branded Tech Surveillance Publication
March 2020
Check out the League’s new ‘What is Beneficial Electrification?’ animated video!
February 2020
League Of Their Own BEL Featured in Rural Electric Magazine Article
February 2020
2019