Great Energy Efficiency Day on the Hill

This is a 'delayed' blogging post from yesterday event on the Hill. - Dewita

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It's just so timely that GEED this year was held after the passing of the Stimulus package (Recovery Bill). Think this year there are more people in the room. I can feel that the enthusiasm is there! People are energized on this specific issue: energy efficiency. (I got here a bit late so didn't get a chance to hear Sec. Chu speaks).

Sen. Mark Pryor from Arkansas: (Alliance: He is the one who put Title 17 on Energy Savings Act). Sen. Mark Pryor talks about efficiency, the legislation that was just passed. He said that efficiency is a powerful source of energy that should be the approach to policy why EE makes a lot of sense. 1) It helps reduce carbon footprint, 2) Save natural resources and save the future, 3) help trade creation. It creates jobs in rural America. Energy and economy is inter-related. Then he gave a run down for what's in Stimulus package i.e. $300 mil for Energy Star, $270 mil for retrofit low income $500 mil for green job creation, $4.5 bil Federal building energy efficiency, $3.4 bln directly to state energy programs.

He said that he heard it on NPR about Mount Pleasant solar energy co-op that have 90 members agreed to install solar panel on the roof. This couldn't be realized without the Fed and DC tax incentives, which the credit covers about two-third of cost for installation with payback in 4 years. He thinks that Alexandria, Maryland might have the same co-op model.

Another area he touched on was combined heat and power (CHP), which is by itself a 70% efficiency. In his closing remarks he says that "..whatever outreach we do, it should include energy efficiency message."

Panel: Incentives to Drive EE in the Utility Sector- Will One Approach Win the Day?

Arshad Mansoor, EPRI: Talks about how to make grid more efficient. He said that the industry biggest electricity user is the electricity industry itself. It takes electricity to make, transmit, and distribute it up and down the chain. The total power lost is about 3T kwh which is equivalent to 20% or more electricitty use in California. The framework: what are things they can do in transmission? If we look at the residential sector, there are at least 500-600 facilities serving these homes, so we can target these facilities. What can be done on the distribution side? How do we create transmission efficiency? Smart grid is a 2 way communication to bring data towards efficiency. If we take 15% off that's like 40Tkwh or electricity needed to power NY. 

Ralph Cavanagh, NDRC: Tells a story about refrigerator. He says, "if utilities helping customers, they should be profitable." NDRC is one of the collaborators in the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) with Alliance to Save Energy. We have to break true addiction to natural gas and electricity because utilities is fixed cost capital intensive business. Give an example of how Idaho Power help its customers to save electricity and correlation with its financial impact when company recovers cost of investments. Briefly touched on 'decoupling.' Note: more on electric rate decoupling here.

Angela Beehler, Wal-Mart: Talk about what Wal-Mart is doing to promote sustainability within the company. 1) uses 100% renewable energy, 2) sell products that sustain the environment, 3) create zero waste. Currently have 14 sustaibility network in place. 

Frank Murray, NYSERDA: His message is "individuals do can and make a difference." NYSERDA has a budget of $600 mil a year set aside for renewable energy and energy efficiency. He thinks that these two are keys to market transformation. Talk about 'decoupling.' For example, Energy Star program influence customer behavior plus economic opportunities. The program is flexible. states to adopt program within states.

David Springe, NASUCA: The position of his organization on decoupling is on the other side of NRDC. He said that for utility companies, decoupling is a revenue mechanism, period. Revenue decoupling does separate profit from sales.

Q&A. Lots of question surrounding "decoupling." How is Walmart demand energy efficiency from vendors? A: Encourage suppliers need to deliver value. Need to engage these people for sustainability for improvement. We're moving on fast track. Get involved and make a difference. ENE.tv.

Rep. Paul Tonko (a new Congressman from NY): He served in State Assembly for 20 years. Expert on energy in NY. Challenges we must addressed, i.e. economy not only here but all over the world. Besides that, it's a great time to move forward thinking outside the box. Have to be aggressive in promoting efficiency. Talk about change the consumer behavior. Policy changes from state all the way up encourage the changes, should be complemented that allow consumers to make green choices. Cars, computers, boilers, etc. need to be made products that have highest standard of efficiency. Retrofit. Worked with Cornell U demo on retrofitting to help farmers. 70 farms realizing 30-40% save on util. simply by reducing demand. R&D is a downpayment for the future.

Rep. Waxman (D-CA): Talk about what they're doing. Doing with 3 most important issues: 1)energy eff en independent less reliance from oil producers 2) concern about the harm being done to our planet on global warming and climate change 3) economy - in a slump, modernize the economy. Passing 1 bill deal energy concern, cap-and-trade, incentives for private sectors to do more energy efficiency. All of these work in tandem. Least expensive is: energy efficiency. Save the use by just being more efficient. Crisis in California change the habit. (Then slammed Cheney for rewarding his buddies!). Determine to get the bill out of committee by Memorial Day recess. Speak highly of his staff Alexandra Teitz, recepient of the 'Unsung Heroes Award.'

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN): If you're an entrepreneur start a business now. Now is the time. Go with alternative energy. Will create new economy. Follow the investments. Presenting an "Unsung Heroes Award" to David Greene from Oak Ridge Lab.

Panel: Business Response - Are we ready to "Ramp Up" EE to its Full Potential?

Stephen Harper, Intel: Intel joined ASE in 2008. Talks about energy efficiency and climate change. ICT - information communication technology, the micro story. The EE of individual device. Quoted McKinsey analysis on climate change. Smart grid. Smart buildings. A lot of opportunities out there. McKinsey Global 2020, by .. carbon footprint be reduced by 30%. Huge potential for climate policy. What's missing from being fully realized? It's the policy: Market policy, climate, energy, transportation policies, etc. There will a lot of money all over the world to jump start the economy. Stimulus and green economy. A number of longer term prospect. Intel likes the R&D. It's going to be very healthful. EE and smart grid is important. Intel is the largest purchaser of RE the largest in the US. Smart grid gives potential to a number of products embedded to it. Not going to be easy, there are barriers in the utility system. From Intel standpoint it's important to advocate the macro story, continue making efficient products.

Paula Grant, American Gas Association: Can we do it? In our household "Yes, We Can!" Attributed to Pres. Obama. The AGA is the distribution component of the industry. 64 mil households. Members think it's important to help consumers to do energy efficiency. Show graph that show the declining use of natural gas residential customer since 1970 1% redux 39% less natural residential customers than in 1970. Gas consumption directly correlated to GHG. Gas customers lead in efficiency gains. 01-07 had a decrease of 7%. This is the one sector in the economy that has exceeded Kyoto Protocol guideline. How they make it happen? In 1997 $500 mil EE significant energy efficiency savings save 218 mil therms saving 1.3 mil tons of CO2. They can do this because they've been working .. decoupling remove the link between revenue and sales (?) The Association 28 utilities 20 mil customers that have fully decouple rate. Business is aligned ..goes beyond decoupling. Members committed to transition in this economy. 2 policies they promote: 1) carbon footprint labeling in appliances, 2) continue funding for LNG tech.

Raymond Scheppach, National Gov. Association: Highlights of the 3 points 1) what states can do 2) how do we swallow it 3) how ..most recent 30 of 50 gov talk about EE. 23 states EE targes 39 Comm buildings standards. In terms of stimulus 275B that come to states that has to be spent efficiently. 4 broad cat - with deficit in states $250 bil - shortfall is huge. 1) flex funds: state education, medicaid to offset cuts in budget shortfall, 2) highways, energy $100 bil (no flexibility) some can be spent quickly 3) safety net $40bil foodstamps, etc. 4) long term R&D, alt energy 31 energy programs will be getting additional funding. Emphasizing Governors to have vision. Bigger programs state: energy programs (budget 70x before) it to be comm and spent over a year, weatherization. The shortfall is going to happen a 3-year period. Serious challenge to spend money quick and wisely.

Steve Cowell, Conservation Services Group: (this is the one business adding jobs). Regulators > Program implementaion vendors ? Installation/ implementation contractors HVAC, Builder, electrical, engineering, insulation, design. Low income DOE-state-CBO-contractors work thru community-based organizations. Hire a whole host of contractors. Public buildings/ performance contrac: FEMP-agency-performace administrator- (miss this)..multiple layers..Honeywell = implementation vendors, TRW measurement & eval program design (summit) The challenge to add people to do the work..projected growth $25 bn increase Workforce add 175k new employees. The future workforce from layoffs (housing, construction). Training plan/ business development, capital (serious problem). Have to think long term to convince business to get the policy in place so state and Fed level investments can continue. Can't ignore LT strat with ST strat.

David Carmell, International Code Council: 3 steps involved in getting from the concept to higher enregy efficiency: 1) strong code, 2) adoption and 3) enforcement. Graph of Government consensus concept. Code contains all kinds of reference of standards from other organizations. Residnetial Code changes from 06 to 09 (maybe posted on ASE website) 40 states and DC adopted IECC Code. Once 2009 IECC (all the Codes used to be regional Codes). www.icee.org

Sally Wilson, CB Richard Ellis: Have big committment in sustainability. Total SF 70 bn SF. Bldgs sector + residential 39% of energy use contributes 32% CO2 emission. The # of bldgs qual for Energy Star jumped 40%. CB partnered with Energy Star.

William Millar, American Public Transportation Association: Talks about energy savings thru public transportation. 6500 diff org systems 10 bil passengers to 30 systems provide 70% boardings (NY, SF, DC, LA) rev $47 bil, 380k employees. Transit saves 4.2 bil gal of gas a year= 40% of import oil from Saudi Arabia. Transit saves energy. Nice picture of showing how if we take cars from the road and replace it with transit, i.e. photos of 60 cars in traffic jam vs. people packed up in a transit system (bus, train, etc.). People in HK because of density, use bike and transit system heavily. We do need increase in our investments in public transit. What is needed investment, integration of land use & transportation, national commitment to reduce energy use.

Sen. Bingaman (D-NM): Briefly talked about ARRA and work in the Committee. Manufacturing tax credit ceiling $2.3 bil that Treasury has to allocate to projects. Have hearings on smart grid, portfolio standard, additional hearings water efficiency, development in public land, etc. within next two or three weeks. Bill out of Committee maybe in next 3-4 weeks with 4 goals: 1) step up committment to EE, 2) implement American made energy technologies on broader scale: solar, wind, CSS - bring clean energy to market as far as job creation, RPS, 3) financing mechanism to fully support renewable power. Some legislative changes to loan guarantee, 4) focus on clean energy cutting edge R&D for long-term. He said he's not clear how Senate going to solve cap-and-trade. It's outside the jurisdiction of his committee. He then take questions from audience.

Panel: Are we ready to measure success? Managing the challenges of EM&V (energy, measurement and valuation)

Kathleen Hagan, EPA: EE measurement is important because EE is critical to meet climate change objectives. The impact is price impact. Price alone doesn't let energy efficiency come to the market. Need a way to measure the impact, effectiveness of the policy. How do you measure the policy? Potential EE funding to further cliamte change/ enviro objectives. Dingel-Boucher proposed climate leg $20bn for energy efficiency. When measuring EE you measure energy saved. It's an estimate. Going over EPA experience, i.e. Energy Star, protocol document evalution guide for NOx emission; national action plan model EE program (07). Energy Star producing sig benefits developing methods for best practices. Natl Action Plan for EE. Vision for 2025 provides 10 policy framework. epa.gov/eeactionplan.

Joe Loper, VP Policy ASE: The pressure's on: more money on stimulus and DSM, performance-based funding from cap & trade allowance, performance-based compensation from carbon offsets, energy saving credits (white tags), performance-based regulation - natl. EERS. EM&V is very rich. There's so many info out there on EE. Gov program usually cost-and-reimburse. You don't go out and pay people for achieving results.

Acronyms (from his presentation): GO NAPEE, NEEP, EVO, LBNL, EPA, DOE, IEA. More experts is needed, 3k new experts needed in 2009, projected number of experts needed in 2010 about 6,000. Program certification AEE/EVO, CMVP, IEA/LBNL.

Steven Schiller, Schiller Consulting: Talks about Documenting the Benefits of EE. Jimmy Carter expressed concern that US was the only world industrial country that didn't have national energy policy. (Interesting). >> Note: Egrid database.

On Q&A someone asked about training or education for grad students. Looking at the schools that have programs offered: UC Davis. MIT. Starting the program. One of the panelists said that 1) depending on program ..Kathleen chimed in, she said that she's been meeting with people trying to identify programs currently in place. ASEE website has info on certification program; it's a 3-day intensive program (for people with energy background), International Energy Agency also might have some information about training. 

At the end of the event, I heard that Alliance is going to put the presentation online. When? That's a good question...

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Additional Resources:

Energy Efficiency in the Recovery Bill

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus) 

Electric Revenue Decoupling Explained

Less Demand, Same Great Revenue

Comments

[Seb@ Create Renewable Energy Guide]

Hey there, great post. I know how hard it is getting word on the street about helping to fight Global Warming, however on my site there is a way you can beat Global Warming and the recession too. Thanks for the update, I'll bookmark this for later :-)
Seb

[Laundry Room Solutions]

The only way to truly spread the message of energy efficiency is to talk to the people who are suppose to represent you. You have to pass your idea to influential people so that they can spread your word. I commend everyone who showed up for this event.

[Energy Efficient Lilia]

I am so sad that I missed great energy efficiency day. I love learning about the different ways to be efficient, and I'm sure there were some new ideas presented. Do you know when they're going to have another one?