Business Silver Member
As told at the Spring 2017 VAEEC Meeting Member Round Robin.
As Local Energy Alliance Program, Inc. (LEAP) was preparing the content for their 2016 Annual Report, they considered presenting “zip codes served” as a measure of the geographic variety of individuals who had received some service from them. These services ranged from comprehensive energy audits to providing Dominion’s weatherization package to consulting on clean energy options by phone or email. Andrew Grigsby of LEAP thought the answer might be 40 or 50. He was floored – and very proud – when the database said it was 101. LEAP’s very small staff touches a lot of people – in a lot of different Virginia communities. LEAP aims to beat the number of those serviced in 2017.
Individual Member
As told at the Spring 2017 VAEEC Meeting Member Round Robin.
BEM Controls has developed an open architecture platform for monitoring and control of any IoT device using sensors from building automation to building surveillance to roof top solar to battery storage and others. BEM Controls has developed a low-cost and low-maintenance solution for small and medium-sized buildings, which are available for larger buildings from commercial vendors at 50 times the cost. The company saw the opportunity to provide monitoring, and control management of small to medium-size class B and class C buildings for energy efficiency applications. The BEM Controls solution can also be deployed in larger class A buildings.
Buildings where BEM Controls solutions have been deployed are saving 10-30 % electricity by deploying heating/cooling and lighting controls. Despite these results, it can still be a challenge convincing building operators that such low cost solution can be effective and save energy. If commercial buildings across the state widely implement similar solutions that BEM Controls provides, the state of Virginia can save 10% or more in electricity usage. BEM Controls says VAEEC members should work early on with building operators to learn specific information about their building operations, and their priorities for these programs to reach their full potential.
Scientific consensus shows that increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide contribute significantly to rising sea levels, extreme weather events and degradation of natural resources. These trends threaten national security, human health, food supply, natural ecosystems and global economies. Climate change clearly is one of the biggest global crises of the 21st century.
The American Institute of Architects asserts that architects play a vital role in combating climate change. Buildings are major producers of carbon, so climate change poses both major obstacles and opportunities for the profession. We accept these challenges.
We uphold the following principles:
The US must lead the fight against climate change. The federal government must maintain America’s global leadership in the design and construction of carbon neutral buildings. Current federal policies that set goals by 2030 for carbon neutrality in federal buildings are already creating major advances in energy efficient design.
We believe that the business case for reducing the carbon footprint of buildings is stronger than ever before. Studies show that sustainable and energy efficient buildings command rent premiums of 2 percent to 8 percent, occupancy increases of 3 percent to 10 percent and sales premiums of 3 percent to 12 percent. High performance and sustainable homes in the Washington, DC market command sales premiums of 3.5 percent. (Source: Energy Efficiency in Separate Tenant Spaces – A Feasibility Study)
Read more (American Institute of Architects)
Are you happy to have cheap, efficient light bulbs that don’t flicker and hum? How about a large refrigerator that uses less electricity than the old incandescent bulb? A small government office has played a key role in all of these innovations and now helps the average American family save almost $500 each year in lower energy bills.
Yet this silent saver is under attack. Like ENERGY STAR® and other effective federal energy efficiency programs, the Building Technologies Office (BTO) would be slashed in the administration’s proposed budget for 2018. It may not be “sexy,” as the last president once called insulation. But few offices are more important to consumers.
Our recent fact sheet shows how BTO helps consumers save money, creates jobs, fosters innovation, makes businesses more competitive, and helps states and local governments. BTO is one of 11 program offices in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office, which in turn is a small part of the Department of Energy.
At a cost of less than $2 per household, BTO is helping you save almost $500. Actually, that’s just in appliances, equipment, and lighting covered by efficiency standards that BTO issues. BTO helps throughout what I call the virtuous spiral of energy efficiency market transformation.
Read the full story. (ACEEE)
Government Member
As told at the Spring 2017 VAEEC Meeting Member Round Robin.
Arlington County has expanded its Energy Lending Library with the County library system, whereby residents can check out a box of LED light bulbs to try different bulbs in different lamps at home. There is a phenomenal variety of light bulb choices consumers are faced with as they replace incandescents and fluorescent bulbs. This tool, available at a half-dozen library branches, helps people avoid buyers regret with this new technology. The box of bulbs adds to the innovative technology Arlington lends to residents from their libraries, which also includes infrared cameras and electric metering devices. Other northern Virginia jurisdictions have contacted Arlington seeking advice on how to duplicate this Energy Lending Library in their own jurisdictions.
When the Trump Administration published its proposed budget in March, most government programs aimed at investing in energy efficiency were on the chopping block, including one of the most successful public-private collaborations of all time: the Energy Star program created under George H.W. Bush and managed by the Department of Energy.
For the next five months at least, the initiative remains fully funded with about $50 million, according to the Alliance to Save Energy (the exact amount isn’t broken out separately). That’s basically the same annual amount that has been allocated to the program for the past 15 years, but the impact of that investment has been sizable — the estimated savings related to Energy Star guidelines from appliances to buildings is pegged at around $430 billion over the lifetime of the program, according to the EPA. Even electric vehicle chargers are covered, an addition made in the waning days of the Obama administration.
Perhaps just as compelling, as of 2014 (PDF), at least $165 billion in private-sector investments was linked to the effort. There are at least 16,000 Energy Star “partners” — organizations that have invested in the strict, ongoing certification program.
Some other stats more likely to be persuasive with the new president’s advisers: about 2.2 million jobs are pegged to energy-efficiency initiatives across the United States, including those in manufacturing, installation, retrofits and construction. More than 20 cities and states use its metrics to help benchmark the progress of their own regional energy-efficiency projects.
Despite those compelling numbers and the short-term reprieve in early May, the program’s long-term fate is far from certain and the business community is speaking up. More than 1,050 companies — including giant door and window manufacturer Andersen, HVAC powerhouses Ingersoll Rand (parent of the Trane brand) and United Technologies, real estate companies CBRE and Jones Lang LaSalle, and tech giant Samsung Electronics — added their signatures to a letter (PDF) sent to four key U.S. senators and representatives Congress in late April urging them to stand up for energy efficiency in general and Energy Star in particular.
Read more (Green Biz)
As lighting technologies evolve and adapt to federal standards, lighting in U.S. homes is in a state of transition. Data from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) show that, as of 2015, most homes in the United States used more than one type of lightbulb, primarily a mix of incandescent and compact fluorescent (CFL). Adoption of light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs has been increasing, with 29% of U.S. households reporting at least one LED bulb installed.
Residential lighting generally shifted from less energy-efficient lighting, primarily incandescent bulbs, to more energy-efficient lighting, including CFLs and LEDs. In 2009, 58% of all households used at least one energy-efficient bulb indoors. In the 2015 RECS, which was administered from August 2015 to April 2016, 86% of households reported using at least one CFL or LED bulb. Nationwide, 18% of households reported that they had no incandescent bulbs in their homes.
Increasing the use of energy-efficient lighting has been a focus of many programs conducted by state and local governments and electric utilities. Between the two most recent iterations of the RECS (2009 and 2015) the lighting standards specified in the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 began to influence residential lighting. EISA increased the minimum efficiency standards for general service bulbs (the type most commonly found in homes) starting in 2012, requiring that new bulbs be about 25% more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs.
Efforts such as the federal ENERGY STAR program and the Lighting Facts labeling program were intended to help consumers make informed lighting choices. Energy efficiency programs administered by utilities and agencies in many states offered free or subsidized high-efficiency bulbs and provided education about energy efficiency.
Read more (U.S. Energy Information Administration)
At the end of this month, a working group convened last year by Gov. Terry McAuliffe and tasked with recommending “concrete steps” to reduce carbon pollution from Virginia’s power plants will deliver its report to the governor’s desk.
And in the final months of the governor’s term, environmental groups are expecting McAuliffe to deliver what they see as an unfulfilled campaign pledge for meaningful action at the state level in the fight against climate change.
“We helped bring him to the governor’s mansion,” said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, at a sparsely attended news conference Tuesday at the Capitol Square Bell Tower. “Now, at the end of that process, it is time for the governor to act. We’ve heard enough rhetoric; we’ve heard enough words. Now we need action, bold action by the governor to address climate change.”
The working group created by Executive Order 57, which McAuliffe signed in June, was led by Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward and included Secretary of Commerce and Trade Todd Haymore; Department of Environmental Quality Director David Paylor; Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy Director John Warren; and John Daniel, a deputy attorney general for commerce, environment and technology.
Read more (Richmond Times Dispatch)
President Trump has named Dan Simmons, an opponent of policies meant to promote renewable energy, to lead the renewable energy office at the Department of Energy.
Simmons formerly worked at the Institute for Energy Research, a self-styled free-market energy think tank that is funded largely by fossil fuel interests.
An Energy official announced Simmons’ appointment to lead the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in a recent email to employees, which noted that Simmons started at the department during the Trump administration’s transition period.
Read More (Green Tech Media)
Utility Dive: Last-Minute Congressional Budget Compromise Saves EPA, ARPA-E Funding
- The bipartisan budget compromise reached by Congress over the weekend salvaged funding for both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and clean energy research conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
- The EPA’s budget was trimmed by 1%, and ARPA-E actually received a $15 million boost instead of being eliminated, as previously proposed by the Trump administration. The deal runs through the remainder of the government’s fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.
Energy Matters: Australia Hits New Solar Energy Record
The Australian Photovoltaic Institute (APVI), with data from the Clean Energy Regulator, says the country has a new solar energy record.
There are now 6 GW of solar power across the country, enough to meet the electricity needs of 1.3 million households.
Read more (Greentech Media)
