Nearly eight in 10 US consumers — 79 per cent — say in a new survey that they’re ready to make short-term changes in their energy use habits to gain longer-term benefits.

Commissioned by GE, the national survey found that 72 per cent believe that, left unchanged, today’s energy sources and consumption habits could hurt the country’s economic growth. And 63 per cent said they’re willing to work with their power companies to help bring about changes in consumption patterns.

The vast majority of those polled — 88 per cent — said they are willing to use devices like smart meters if they could help better manage their energy use. Of this group, 82 per cent say they believe smart meters and smart appliances are vital technologies for the future.

Smart-grid technology is designed to make it easier for power companies to manage energy demand, incorporate more renewable sources and reduce power outages. It’s also aimed at helping consumers better understand and manage their energy consumption patterns and take advantage of off-peak times when energy costs might be lower.

According to GE, the survey findings indicate that people in the US are ready to see changes in the nation’s energy landscape.

“There are some things that are essential to achieving a desired quality of life, and Americans overwhelmingly agree that investing in our nation’s energy future is one of them,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president of digital energy for GE Energy Services. “The American electrical grid system has undergone little investment in the past 25 years. Even worse, most generation stations were built in the 1960s or earlier using even older technology. As a nation, Americans recognize that a cleaner, smarter and more efficient energy infrastructure will help create a competitive economic future. The key is to invest correctly — the right way rather than the easy way.”

Of those questioned in the GE survey, 70 per cent said they would rather see their power companies spend money to make existing infrastructure more efficient than invest in new power-generating plants. They also believe such improvements offer the potential for economic growth.

Respondents expressed support for smarter appliances, meters and grids for the following reasons:

• Desire to save money (95 per cent)
• Increased control over energy bills (90 per cent)
• Desire to make a difference for children or grandchildren (88 per cent)
• Help to reduce the number of power outages (86 per cent)
• Environmental concerns (85 per cent)

“Consumers are ready to think differently about how they use energy,” Gilligan said. “For those consumers that do not currently embrace smart grid technologies, more than a quarter of them (27 per cent) admit that they don’t understand the benefits of smart meters or smart grids. Therefore, it is important that continued consumer-friendly education is provided to address this gap in understanding.”

Reproduced with permission from Greenbang.

A new data center designed and built by UK-based Keysource is proving to be one of the most energy-efficient facilities of its kind in Europe.

There’s also a certain irony in that achievement, as the data center was built for an oil exploration surveyor, Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).

The new data center in Weybridge, Surrey, has achieved an annualized power usage effectiveness (PUE) of just 1.17, rivaling some of the best results achieved by industry leaders like Google. PUE measures how much of total power consumption goes into actually running servers, as opposed to providing cooling and other non-computing functions. The average data center has a PUE of around 2.5.

The high efficiency of PGS’s data center helped provide a first-year energy cost savings of £650,000, as well as a power consumption savings of 6.7 million kilowatt-hours. That equates to a 2.9 million kilogram reduction in CO2 emissions.

“We went back to the drawing board to develop a data center of the future that was energy efficient, cost effective and supported today’s high-density hardware,” said Mike West, managing director of Keysource.

The data center uses Keysource’s Ecofris cooling system, which doesn’t require the use of additional chillers until outside temperatures reach 24 degrees C. This means that additional power for cooling is only needed for between 80 and 100 hours each year because the system is able to make the most of low UK ambient temperatures in combination with adiabatic cooling.

PGS was the first organization to adopt the Ecofris solution with the completion of the first phase of its data center installation last year. Keysource said its fine-tuning process and advanced performance monitoring helped reach the annualized PUE of 1.17, outperforming the design expectation of 1.2. A second phase of development, set to start later this year, aims to increase the IT load to 1.8 megawatts without affecting levels of efficiency.

“We are committed to reducing energy, so we needed to develop a data center that broke the mold using proven technology to provide a safe, efficient and environmentally responsible means of storing vital data,” said Mike Turff, global data center manager at PGS.

The new data centre has received a number of awards since it began operations, including a Data Centre Leaders Award, Information Age Award and UK IT Industry Award.

Reproduced with permission from Greenbang.

Energy Consumption Projection for the South, by Source, 2007-2030.

Aggressive adoption of energy efficiency measures in the Southern portion of the U.S. would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, lower utility bills, conserve many natural resources and offset the amount of expected growth in energy demand over the next two decades, according to a new study released today by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute.

Although only 36 percent of the country’s population resides in the South, they consume a considerably larger share of energy per capita compared to the rest of the U.S.

The region “consumes 43% of the nation’s electric power, 40% of the energy consumed in residences, and 38% of the energy used in commercial buildings,” the report found.

The study listed the following reasons why the South is so much more energy consuming than the rest of the nation:

• the region’s historically low electricity rates,
• significant heating and cooling loads that characterize many southern states,
• relatively weak energy conservation ethic (based on public opinion polls),
• below average expenditures on energy-efficiency programs.

“An aggressive commitment to energy efficiency could be an economic windfall for the South,” according to the co-lead researcher of the study, Dr. Marilyn Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Such a shift would lower energy bills for cash-strapped consumers and businesses and create more new jobs for Southern workers.”

Energy-Efficiency Potential by Sector, in 2020 and 2030.

By committing itself to improving its energy efficiency in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors, the South’s economy would stand to create 380,000 new jobs while lowering utility bills by more than $40 billion. In addition, the projected jump in the region’s energy demand  of 13% within the next 20 years according to estimates released by the Energy Information Administration, would be offset by implementing policies requiring higher efficiency standards.

Improved energy efficiency policies include revamped appliance standards and building codes, as well as creating incentives to retrofit energy-guzzling buildings.

Among the three energy demand sectors in the American South, the potential for improved energy efficiency is greatest in the commercial building sector in terms of percent energy reductions, while the industrial sector has the largest absolute energy saving, according to the study.

“In addition,” the report concluded, “it is estimated that 49 GW of new power plant capacity would not need to be built in the South, if aggressive Energy-Efficiency Policies were implemented instead. At the same time, Energy-Efficiency Policies could conserve 90 billion gallons of water that would otherwise be consumed in processes related to energy generation, in the year 2030.”

The full report can be viewed here.

Manufacturers will have to work much harder to earn the right to affix the ENERGY STAR logo to their products.

The Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are raising the standards for appliance manufacturers who wish to promote their wares as being energy efficient by brandishing the ENERGY STAR label. They claim that their program has been effective in helping Americans reduce energy bills for years and that the current economic climate makes it that much more imperative that products which are labeled ENERGY STAR are, indeed, efficient.

The new regulations will entail a two-step process using an independent third party to test products for their energy efficiency in addition to the current regulations the program already employs.

Initially, the DOE will focus on testing the six most common product types: Freezers, refrigerators, clothes washers, dishwashers, water heaters and room air conditioning units. The DOE says that they will test about 200 basic models in independent labs over the next few months. Secondly, any manufacturer seeking the ENERGY STAR label will have to participate in ongoing verification testing to ensure continued compliance.

The change comes in response to concerns that inefficient appliances bearing the well-known ENERGY STAR insignia have devalued the label. The DOE has taken action against 35 manufacturers over the past four months for producing inefficient products bearing the DOE’s efficiency label.  Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Cathy Zoi, said that these new measures will strengthen the reputation of the program.

“Consumers have long trusted the ENERGY STAR brand for products that will save them energy and save them money,” said Zoi in an DOE statement. “The steps we are taking now will further strengthen and improve the program, building on the results that consumers have come expect.”

The new steps already add to a program that requires manufacturers to submit product data to the Federal Government showing their product meets guidelines outlined by ENERGY STAR. The DOE also must be allowed to conduct off-the-shelf tests to the products for compliance. Light fixtures, windows, doors and skylights are also to be tested in specialized facilities for product specific qualifications.

So far in 2010, the EPA disqualified 34 compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) models from 25 manufacturers that did not meet criteria for energy efficient CFL bulbs. They also acted against 4 shower head manufacturers who failed to certify 116 product models that did not meet federal water conservation standards. Further, the EPA terminated their ENERGY STAR partnership with U.S. Inc/U.S. Refrigeration because of failed compliance and misuse of ENERGY STAR logos.

One product manufacturer is not taking their revoked partner status lying down however. LG has a filed civil complaint against the DOE for their forcing of the refrigerator manufacturer to remove all of the ENERGY STAR labels off of certain refrigerator models.

LG claims that they were not given a fair notice of the EPA testing standard change and neither was the rest of the industry. According to court documents, LG claims that the law requires that the industry should have sufficient time for comment and compliance.

Despite the recent revelations about possible abuse, the EPA considers its ENERGY STAR program a success.  They base that accomplishment on their belief that the violations have been relatively few over the past few years, considering there are more than 40,000 products that carry the ENERGY STAR label.

Model LED street lights (foreground) contrasted with the existing lights (background) that are being phased out

As Federal Government stimulus funds continue to roll in, many cities across the United States are tearing down their old street lighting and taking advantage of LED technology. These new lights are not only brighter than conventional fixtures, but are smart enough to know when the sun rises and sets enabling better energy conservation.

The city of San Jose has already installed over 250 LED street light fixtures and is looking to do a complete conversion of the roughly 65,000 street lights in the city by 2022. According to city officials, $2.3 million in stimulus funds have been used thus far to get the ball rolling and the project is expected to cost $50 million in total. While the price tag to install these new fixtures is huge, the $3.9 million in electric bills that the city pays to keep their streets bright at night is a cause for concern. This is where the city believes installing an LED street lighting system pays off, to the tune of an 80 percent energy usage reduction every year.

These new lighting systems have other advantages says Jim Helmer, San Jose Department of Transportation Director. The lights are enabled with GPS so that they know where they are located and program themselves to know when the sun rises and sets.  Contrasted from conventional lights, the newer models would enable lights to operate at 50% power during the sunnier portions of dusk and sunrise while switching to 100% brightness when artificial light is a necessity.

The lights can also be controlled through power lines if need be, carrying a signal to engineers so that they can be manually controlled.

Helmer claims that in this day and age LED lights fixtures have advanced to the point where paying to install them has become financially worthwhile. The newer fixtures last roughly 12 to 13 years, as opposed to the typical 3 year life span of the current amber lights.

“Today (LED lights) burn one-tenth the energy they did ten years ago,” Helmer told the San Jose Mercury News. “So we’ve been saving 90 percent of the power that we used to use. It is possible in streetlights to continue to reduce our power consumption and get longer lamp life.”

The average LED street lamp fixture, depending on application, can cost anywhere from $300 each all the way up to $3,500. This could push the cost in material alone for a conversion in a city like San Jose significantly higher than $50 million they predict. Most companies that produce LED fixtures claim that their lamps can save anywhere from 40 to 70 percent on energy usage over standard high-pressure sodium street lamps and improved visibility.

San Jose isn’t the only city taking advantage of the energy saving light fixtures.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Downtown Development Authority (DDA)  granted $630,000 in 2008 to install over 1000 LED street light fixtures. At the time, the city estimated that the lights would save more than $100,000 per year in energy usage costs by replacing 250 watt street lights with 50 to 80 watt LED lights.

Some city officials are not convinced of the total cost savings that came with upgrading to LED light fixtures.  During a city council meeting earlier this month, DDA member Sandi Smith called attention to the city’s proposal to dim “overlit” areas in order to reduce lighting costs as part of the streetlight assessment district (SAD) plan, according to the Ann Arbor Chronicle.

Smith said the whole purpose of the DDA funding for LED lights was to avoid the SAD plan and criticized the city for not being able to come up with a total energy savings capability for the LED fixtures. The only concrete evidence in cost savings for the city so far is the amount of money saved by replacing LED fixtures every seven to eight years as opposed to every three years.

Norman, Oklahoma’s city council voted this year to have a 1.75 mile stretch along their main street converted to LED lighting. The Norman City Council speculates the project will cost $525,000. The installation would include 45 poles, 70 LED light fixtures and the city predicts that the conversion will save the city $25,000 annually in energy costs. Norman believes that if everything works out as planned, it will only take two years of energy saving to pay off the share that they have in converting the lights. The city will have to pay for $50,000 for the design process and state government funds will cover the rest.

Norman Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary said that the initial installation would be a test pilot for future LED projects.

“If you look at the potential energy savings, the new lights would pay for themselves in two years,” O’Leary told the Norman Transcript. “A lot of other cities are starting to look at it, but again, we are the first in Oklahoma to get them in place.”

If the lights are on in the Saint Gobain building, the odds are pretty high that somebody is working.

Valley Forge, Pa. – When it comes to manufacturing and distributing building materials, Saint-Gobain has a reputation of being the world leader.  Later today, the company will be recognized by the EPA as being the leader in reducing carbon footprint and protecting the environment.

A participant in the EPA’s ENERGY-STAR program since 2005, Saint-Gobain will collect the award of ENERGY-STAR Partner of the Year at an award ceremony in Washington D.C. The honor will distinguish Saint-Gobain for outstanding energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Out of 17,000 participants in the EPA’s program that was started in 1992, Saint-Gobain is the only manufacturer of glass containers or fiber glass insulation that has won.

According to Saint-Gobain Energy Manager Brad Runda, the path to a green working environment began with educating employees to eliminate wastefulness. Runda said that the idea is to treat the work environment the same way you would at home from a day to day basis.

“We began making an effort in offices and in manufacturing make sure unused lights, computer monitors and other equipment were turned off when not being used,” said Runda.

Runda also said using the right technology and equipment for the application is important as well. One example is switching from HID to fluorescent lighting, or vice versa, depending on the need of the room. Acknowledging that the majority of the energy consumption was through manufacturing, Runda said that it was important to switch to less power consuming equipment and of course, not being wasteful when using resources in the factory.

So far, the plan has worked out well for the company. In 2009, Saint-Gobain of North America was able to reduce their energy intensity by 2.2 percent. According to the company, this is the equivalent to the energy needed to produce nearly 486 million glass bottles or enough fiber glass insulation for more than 100,000 U.S. homes. Their reduction in Carbon Dioxide emissions released into the atmosphere last year was more than 70,000 tons.

Saint Gobain delegate Bill Seiberlich said that he hoped the award would inspire others to take the step in reducing their energy usage and harmful emissions.

“An award like this is good for morale and helps promote saving energy with the public,” Seiberlich said. “Whoever it be, our competitors or the public, we encourage others to do likewise.”

In a statement issued by the EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, Gina McCarthy, the same sentiments were echoed for Saint-Gobain’s potential for rubbing off on others.

“Saint-Gobain is leading the fight against climate change through greater energy efficiency,” said McCarthy. “Saint-Gobain’s robust energy management program is a model for others and affirms that energy efficiency is our most cost-effective climate strategy.”

Some of Saint-Gobain’s products include: self-cleaning windows, photovoltaic glass, smart insulation systems and water supply systems.

The Department of Energy has made a couple of unprecedented moves on efficiency in the last few months that have gone unnoticed by all but the most die-hard efficiency advocates.

First, as my colleague Noah Long explained, DOE has begun to actually enforce mandatory minimum appliance standards!  Crazy, right? First they announced about $3 million in fines on shower head manufacturers for failure to submit certification reports.  These are the first ever fines levied under the federal standards program, and further evidence of the new attitude about enforcement at DOE.  They then followed up by fining an air conditioner manufacturer $1.2 million for failing to certify.  I am guessing these and other manufacturers will pay a bit more attention to compliance and certification from now on.

Second, DOE issued its annual report to Congress recently, and the big news is that DOE has officially put development of national TV energy efficiency standards on its schedule.  We had been expecting this development, since DOE announced last fall that it would begin a TV proceeding “soon” in its notice repealing the outdated federal test method.

Standards for TV sets are long overdue. Congress gave DOE authority to consider TV standards in 1989, but this is the first time they’ve been considered federally.  Of course, it’s doubtful the feds would even be looking at TV standards absent the California Energy Commission (CEC) standards enacted last year and heroic efforts to develop and support those standards by the Commissioners and CEC staff through support led by NRDC’s Noah Horowitz, Pacific Gas & Electric and the rest of the CA investor owned utilities.

The federal schedule calls for completion of the federal rulemaking in June 2013.  Assuming that Consumer Electronics Association is not successful at derailing the federal process — you can bet they will try — that means federal standards would take effect in May 2016, at the earliest.  In the 3.5 years between the state standards implementation date and the earliest potential federal implementation date, about 20 million TV sets will be sold that will last 7 to 10 years.  Even if the feds do all we would want, there is still much value in staying the course in the states.

I think this DOE means business, don’t you?

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the ‘Great Appliance Swap Out’ will be running through February 21^st, or until the $17 million in federal funds being granted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are used up.

“This program will provide a tremendous incentive for consumers all across New York to reduce their energy consumption while providing an important stimulus to our economy, and helping to meet the State’s ‘45 by 15′ clean energy goal,” New York Governor David Paterson said.

The state is learning from the mistakes of ‘Cash for Clunkers’, a federal program for enticing people to trade in their old gas guzzling automobile, which ran out of funds very quickly.

“Whenever someone downloads an application or someone calls up and has an application downloaded for them, we have a real-time counter on the website, so we’re really trying to avoid what happened this summer with cash for clunkers, where they go to buy an appliance and there’s no money left,”  said Mark Michalski from NYSERDA.

The appliances qualifying for the rebates are as follows:

• Refrigerators: $75 ($105 with a receipt certifying that the old appliance was recycled)

• Clothes washers: $75 ($100 with recycling recipt)

• Freezers: $50 ($75 with recycling receipt)

• Dishwashers: Rebates are only available for dishwashers when purchased as part of a three appliance package of appliances. This bundled purchase will qualify for a $500 rebate ($555 with documented recycling).

Appliances must have the ENERGY STAR® label, meaning that they are up to 30 percent more efficient than standard models on the market.

Many appliance retailers across the state are trying to capitalize off the program by assisting customers through the rebate process and having the paperwork on hand to fill out.

“It is a win-win for consumers because it will reduce the cost of big ticket energy efficient appliances and help lower utility bills for years to come,” said Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, Chair of the NY Assembly Energy Committee.

For more information, visit the Great Appliance Swap Out website.

2.8 million percent is how much more energy efficient computing technology (in terms of watt consumed per calculation/second) has become since 1976.  Compare that to the 40 percent gain in overall miles per gallon (mpg) efficiency for the U.S. automobile fleet over the same period of time.  Divide the energy efficiency gains made in computing by U.S. automobile mpg and you’ll come up with 71,000x.  Put it another way, energy efficiency for computing lapped U.S. automotive efficiency gains 71,000 times over the past twenty years.

This staggering statistic is just one of many findings in the report titled, Semiconductor Technologies: The Potential to Revolutionize U.S. Energy Productivity, released by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) last week.

Here are a few more energy and environmental impacts for the U.S. that the ACEEE study discovered as a result of the massive rise in information and communication technology (ICT) in the U.S. over the last quarter century:

• 20 percent less energy used in 2006 than the 20-year prediction made in 1976.
• Equivalent to 184 average-sized power plants avoided

And for the next quarter century (to the year 2030), as our economy matures into the age of ICT, we can expect:

• 27 percent less energy use than what’s currently forecasted by the Dept. of Energy
• 11 percent less energy than what we used in 2008 (absolute reduction!)
• 383 million metric tons GHG reduction (equivalent to taking 70+ million cars off the road)

All the while seeing the U.S. expand at least by 70 percent!

Computers and “mainframes” (now generally referred to as “data centers”) are just a part of the overall ICT economy.  The ACEEE report also reveals numerous benefits that ICT has brought to the electric power industry including utility ’smart’ grid technologies and automating electricity grid connection for variable output renewable energy.

From a similar thread in the world of high tech, we’re witnessing more and more applications for semiconductor technology in cell phones, televisions, DVD players, programmable thermostats, and yes, even our automobiles.  The International Energy Agency (IEA) picked up on the topic of the growing influence of the ICT economy in its report, Gadgets and Gigawatts.  The IEA study looked at both developed economies such as the U.S. and Western Europe and developing economies, where some 4+ billion people are expected to enter into the ICT economy as cell phones, personal computers, televisions, and other electronically powered “gadgets” get introduced.

Discussion:

• What does this mean for answering our call for 80% reduction in global greenhouse gases by 2050?
• Can we hope for another 2.8 million percent increase in energy efficiency and resulting gains in economic productivity?
• And can we foster an international exchange whereby we ‘leapfrog’ the incremental technology developments for our fellow humans in developing countries to help them lead healthier and more productive lives?

Borrowing from NRDC’s emerging motto, yes, “it can be done” with ICT enabling much of the gains. ]]> http://www.consumerenergyreport.com/2009/05/20/computing-technology-28-million-percent-more-energy-efficient-than-in-1976/feed/ 0