States Have Now Adopted Energy Efficiency Resource Standards

NEWS RELEASE

 

Contact: Max Neubauer, 202-507-4005

Dan York, 608-243-1123

 

Reaching the Tipping Point:
Majority of States Have Now Adopted Energy Efficiency Resource Standards

 

Washington, D.C. (December 21, 2010): While the prospect of passing a comprehensive national energy policy remains uncertain for the 112^th Congress, two states reminded the country last week that bold energy efficiency policies, which will save consumers and businesses millions in wasted energy costs, can win bipartisan support.

 

On December 10, Arkansas became the first state in the Southeast to adopt a comprehensive set of policies on utility energy efficiency programs, including an Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS). Four days later in Wisconsin, the Joint Committee on Finance approved recommendations set in an Order given by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to increase funding to Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency provider, and set performance goals that will function as an EERS. An EERS requires electricity and natural gas providers to meet annual energy savings goals by providing energy efficiency program services.

 

ACEEE Executive Director Steven Nadel commended the states' efforts: "The actions taken in Arkansas and Wisconsin should signal to policymakers at the state and federal level that moderate and even conservative constituencies can rally behind the cause of creating an energy-efficient economy. Energy efficiency is an abundant resource that reduces waste across all sectors and improves economic productivity."

 

Max Neubauer, ACEEE Research Associate, authored an energy efficiency potential study for Arkansas early in 2010 that recommended the adoption of an EERS and was pleased with the result. He said: "The orders given by the Arkansas Public Service Commission signify a break from the commonly voiced doctrine in the Southeast that any expense on utility bills is a bane of business and economic growth. In fact, it is quite the opposite with regards to energy efficiency. It costs far less to save a kWh than to generate one, so energy efficiency encourages economic growth by creating a robust, sustainable energy market that offers new business opportunities, generates jobs, saves consumers money, and curbs the strain on our environment." 

 

The Arkansas targets are moderate, rising from an annual reduction of 0.25% of total electric kilowatt-hour (kWh) sales to 0.75% of total electric kWh sales over the next three years (and slightly less for natural gas sales), but require a high level of verification to ensure that utility companies are fairly rewarded, and that consumers get solid cost benefits.

 

The Wisconsin electricity goals, as a percent of peak load and electric sales, amount to 0.75% in 2011, ramping up to 1.5% in 2014. The PSCW also approved natural gas goals of 0.5% in 2011, ramping up to 1% in 2013.

 

Twenty-six states now have an EERS, accounting for 65% of the country's electricity demand. The policies currently on the books will provide electricity savings equal to 6% of nationwide retail sales by 2020. Dan York, Deputy Director, ACEEE Utilities Program, explained further: "The EERS will ensure that Wisconsin continues to reap the significant cost savings that result from investments in more energy-efficient homes, businesses, and industries." A native Wisconsinite, he was glad to see his home state adopt such a strong policy. "For years, Wisconsin has been a leader in its energy efficiency programs serving electric and natural gas customers. This policy demonstrates Wisconsin's strong commitment and vision to invest in energy efficiency-a resource that lowers energy costs, creates local jobs, and improves the environment. It's a big win for Wisconsin."

 

 

Link to summary of AR decision: http://www.apscservices.info/pdf/08/08-144-U_153_1.pdf

 

Link to Wisconsin EERS Order: http://www.aceee.org/files/state/WI_5-GF-191_Order.pdf

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About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security, and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit aceee.org.

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Registration Now Open: 2011 Small Business Conference- KC MO

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Registration is open for The 12th Annual U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Small Business Conference & Expo, taking place in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 10-12, 2011. As an attendee at The 12th Annual DOE Small Business Conference & Expo, you can build connections with like-minded business professionals, acquire invaluable information from general sessions and educational workshops, and solidify contract opportunities with prime contractors, government agencies, and large companies during the Expo and matchmaking sessions. Last year's conference brought in record attendance, and we want you to get in on the action. Register now and take advantage of early bird registration prices before the discount expires. Have a product or service you'd really like to spotlight? As an exhibitor or sponsor, you can increase your visibility throughout the conference. As an exhibitor or sponsor, your company will appear on The 12th Annual DOE Small Business Conference & Expo website, where over 30,000 potential clients, customers, and business partners will recognize you before, during, and after the conference. Additionally, your business' identity will be present throughout the venue and in the conference guide, further establishing your place in the minds of those potential networks. For more information, and to stay up-to-date on the conference and related news, visit The 12th Annual DOE Small Business Conference & Expo website and follow us on Facebook.

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Department of Energy • 1000 Independence Ave., SW • Washington DC 20585 • 202-586-5000

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New Life-Cycle Assessment Tools from MIT

MIT Releases Research Findings for New Standard for Life-Cycle Assessment

December 10, 2010

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has released preliminary research findings that will reportedly help set a new standard in life-cycle assessment (LCA) modeling. The studies, which are part of an ongoing research initiative at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, will help quantify the cradle-to-grave environmental costs of paving and building materials and are designed to ultimately result in the most comprehensive LCA model produced to-date.

The scope and detail of MIT's LCA model will set its current efforts apart from previous work. According to MIT professor and research team leader John Ochsendorf, the expanded life-cycle window — 50 years for paving materials and 75 years for building materials — combined with the level of detailed analysis conducted on the use phase of structures and pavements will distinguish MIT's latest research. Initial reports have shown the importance of including the use phase, with MIT researchers finding that more than 90 percent of residential building life-cycle carbon emissions and up to 85 percent of highway pavement emissions occur during this period.

"The life-cycle model we are developing will combine the best data on the full range of costs — construction, maintenance, reconstruction, user, direct, and indirect — with a time frame that reflects the real world life of pavements and building materials," said Ochsendorf.

MIT's ongoing work on measuring the life-cycle carbon emissions of these materials is scheduled to be completed by August 2011. The environmental findings will then be supplemented by economic analyses in 2011 to provide the most accurate assessment of the economic and environmental impacts for buildings and pavements yet produced.

The economic study will produce an equally comprehensive life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) model. According to Ochsendorf, once both studies are completed, MIT will have "provided the scientific community, industry leaders and policymakers with a framework to determine the economic and environmental life-cycle costs of selected infrastructure materials throughout the real life of projects."

As policymakers and political leaders work to account for the environmental and economic costs of public building and paving projects, this type of comprehensive costing model of key materials may provide a roadmap to those who plan these major initiatives.

For more on MIT's work, visit web.mit.edu/cshub.

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Happy Holiday

Happy Holiday!!!

Green tech and the household energy gluttons- Guest Post

- How to keep your home as Green as you can

Going Green is now the generational movement for manufacturers and consumers alike.  The old energy guzzlers are on the way out, and good riddance. New Green technology is obliterating the inefficient power bill factories, and replacing them with much better machines. The big improvements in things like refrigerators and other domestic appliances are completely changing the whole paradigm of manufacturing and enforcing a better way of life.

The average home usually wastes a lot of power, simply through bad design of machinery and electronics. That's now changing as CAD design reinvents industrial manufacturing processes. There's a very strong business angle here, in that the Green machines are a lot cheaper, as well as more efficient.

Green technology is based on a bigger concept than simply a few appliances using less power. The idea is that the entire domestic market uses less power, and uses it more efficiently.  This is a synergistic effect, and it works a lot better in big markets like household equipment.

The Green effect

Any home can reconfigure its power usage quite easily. You can save money, as well as saving the planet.
It's pretty simple:

Stage 1- Find the problems

Check the wattage on your existing appliances. Up to 2000w is the average range.

Check the power usage generally. Some domestic appliances are used efficiency. Convection heaters, for example, chew up wattage, but they only need to be on for an hour or so. So a 2000w heater, used for one hour, is more efficient than a 1000w heater left on all night.

How's the air conditioner? Air conditioners don't need to be on all the time. Quite the opposite, they're not designed to operate like that, and you can cost yourself a fortune unnecessarily in repairs and replacements.

How's the fridge? Older fridges become inefficient power users over time. If the motor's sounding noisy and your power bills have been rising for a while, suspect number 1 is the fridge.

How's the washing machine? Washing machines more than about 5 years old can be an issue. Their water usage and power usage are different from the current generation of machines, and they're generally less energy and water efficient. If you've got a dryer as well, the new combination washer/dryers are usually better value.
Stage 2- Fix the problems

Identify everything that needs replacing, and do some research online before you spend a cent. The online retailers tend to be highly competitive and you'll be able to see a good bandwidth of prices to help you spot the g2ood deals.

Online shopping includes a few other advantages. You get a lot more information than you would foot-slogging through the malls and outlets. The service is better, too, and you can ask questions and get answers, rather than pure spiel.

This is the fastest way to deal with your power issues and improve your own home environment. It's like saving money before you earn it. Check out your options, because you'll find it's well worth it. 

Author Bio: Tim Millett is an Australian freelance writer and journalist. He writes extensively in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US. He's published more than 500 articles about various topics, including <a href="http://www.pricepirate.com.au/category_s/28.htm">Refrigerators</a> and <a href="http://www.pricepirate.com.au/category_s/21.htm">Washing machines</a>.

Guest Post Provided by:
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What the 112th Political Leaders Bring?

What the 112th May Bring

December 15, 2010

The 111th Congress did so little to distinguish itself in preparing us for our energy future that it's hard to imagine the 112th occupying a lower circle of Dante's tropical vacation spot.  But the shift in the center of gravity of both Congressional chambers that was occasioned by the mid-term elections may consign renewable energy and climate change mitigation to the attic of our Government's conscience for a couple of years more.  This is, in fine, the conclusion of 2010 Election Analysis, an appreciation prepared by Washington Council Ernst & Young for the Solar Energy Industries Association.

In Ernst & Young's analysis, Republicans in the upcoming Congress are seen as pushing for more extraction of traditional fossil fuels, resisting regulation of carbon emissions, and replacing mandates with incentives.  The change in the character of Congress is also seen as forcing a realignment of the kinds of energy tax provisions and revenue offsets considered by House and Senate.

It's also projected that attempts to eliminate those tax provisions that benefit the oil and gas industry will face more implacable opposition than heretofore;  (the House tried several times in the last two years to reduce the industry's tax concessions but were always stymied by the Senate).  This opposition is expected to last into and throughout the 112th Congress.

Climate Change Changing

As for climate change, it should come as no surprise that a broad climate bill such as the Waxman-Markey or Kerry-Lieberman bill is not expected to surface.  Even when Senate Democrats of the 111th Congress were in a putative 'supermajority' position (in reality they never were, unless they could count on independent senators Sanders and Lieberman to vote with them), they could not achieve the kind of unity needed to pass legislation that Republicans could command to defeat it.  As a result, comprehensive economy-wide bills such as cap-and-trade died a-borning.  To gauge the chances of anything more than piecemeal bills being entertained in the next two years, one need only refer to House Republicans' pre-election 'Pledge to America', which specifically opposes cap-and-trade measures.

The Environmental Protection Agency is also likely to come in for determined opposition.  Ernst & Young fully expect Republicans to oppose, delay and hamper EPA rulemaking on regulation of carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.  It's also anticipated that Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller (WV) will introduce a bill to delay for two years EPA authority to regulate stationary sources, his part of a deal reached with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to compensate her for the failure of her resolution of disapproval of EPA carbon regulation back in March.  That bill, however, would not be expected to survive a Presidential veto.

Renewable or Clean?

It's thought that Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bingaman will again attempt a national renewable electricity standard – perhaps at the level of 15% of power from renewable sources by 2021.  To have a chance of becoming law, however, it will probably have to be transmogrified into a 'clean' electricity standard, allowing nuclear, 'clean' coal and natural gas into its definition.  How much air this will leave in the room for true renewables is unclear.

On the subject of nuclear energy, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has already indicated that he will resume pushing for government loan guarantees for new plants.

Will Deficits Rule?

Much of what might have been possible under this Administration is now subject to increasing concern about government spending and the national deficit.  If Congressional legislators take the deficit seriously, it could mean the first critical re-appraisal of energy production tax credits in many years.  Incentives and credits now being lavished on the oil and gas industry could even come in for close review, although this would only be likely to have a noticeable beneficial effect on Solar in areas where these fuels are used extensively for electricity production.

A Slightly Less Lame Duck

One bright spot that will be carried over from the 'lame duck' session of the 111th Congress is that, after much advocacy and lobbying from a host of interested groups, the Department of Energy Treasury Grant Program (TGP) for renewables will actually not die at year's end but be extended until the end of 2011.  This means a more favorable financial situation for commercial owners of solar property.  More than that, it means jobs, economic activity and increased deployment of solar power.  To quote from a letter sent to Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer by U.S. Representatives Thompson (D-CA), Blumenauer (D-OR) and Holt (D-NJ), and signed by 81 House members:

"The TGP eliminates the need to secure tax equity to finance commercial renewable energy projects and it creates jobs.  In the solar industry, independent studies estimate that since the program was initiated in July 2009, the TGP supported the development of 1,118 solar energy systems and created roughly 20,000 jobs.  If the program is extended, it is estimated to create an additional 65,000 jobs in the solar field and yield a net savings to the government of $400 million between 2010 and 2016."

What's not to Understand?

Yes, it's a bright spot, but set against an increasingly gloomy Congressional backdrop.  As we look around the nation, we see states – some considerably more, admittedly, than others – blazing their own trails in the pursuit of renewables and emissions reduction.  As we look around the world (see the report on the Cancun conference below), we see hundreds of countries making commitments to mitigate the effects of climate change simply because they know it must be done.  We are bound to wonder aloud what it is that the U.S. Congress finds more imperative than addressing our energy, climate, economic and employment problems with a similar level of clarity.

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Solar= Hot Spot for U.S. Exports- Creates JOBS

Another study released this week shows that solar jobs in the U.S. are responsible for some very positive export news.

The report, U.S. Solar Energy Trade Assessment 2010, has been published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. It finds that the U.S. is a major solar exporter, with net exports of solar energy products totaling $723 million in 2009.

Net exports of polysilicon for PV use came to $1.055 billion, of PV wafers $24 million, and of solar hot water products $5 million. The U.S. was, however, a net importer in 2009 of PV modules ($232 million), PV cells ($4 million), PV inverters ($121 million), and concentrated solar products ($4 million). The net effect was $723 million in the export column.

Rhone Resch, President and CEO of SEIA commented: "Solar is a global industry. The U.S. imports and exports products from every continent. But in addition to being a major net exporter of solar energy products, the industry is creating significant wealth in the United States and jobs in all 50 states. We are seeing investments in U.S. manufacturing in areas of the country hit hard by the recession - Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio and others. But we're concerned that there is a lack of stable, long-term federal policies in the U.S. amidst an increasingly competitive global marketplace. Even modest federal policies like expanding the Section 48c manufacturing tax credit can help the U.S. solar industry remain one of the few sectors of our economy that is a net exporter, while creating tens of thousands of jobs".

You can read a fact sheet on the SEIA/GTM report here.

You can read the full report here.

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