Industry Information

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

-- Click here to read about Energy Conservation Opportunities for Public Power in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

National Action Plan for Energy

-- Quick Reference Guide to National Action Plan for Energy

-- Additional information available at -- www.epa.gov/eeactionplan
 

Glossary of Industry Terms and Abbreviations

-- http://www.eia.doe.gov/glossary/glossary_a.htm 

-- http://www.eia.doe.gov/a-z_index/a-z_abbrev.html

-- http://www.eia.doe.gov/a-z_index/Energya-z_a.html
 

We Energies' Energy Efficiency Resource Library

Briefs from the California Energy Commission

With funding from the State of California's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program, the CEC has created a series of briefs about energy-efficient technologies, strategies, and tools designed to help architects, builders, energy professionals, and consumers get the most for their energy dollars. Each brief presents information on a specific technology—lighting, HVAC, building envelope, and more—and distills volumes of research results into a two-page document that discusses a specific energy-related problem, explains the best solution, and documents the benefits of implementing that solution.

Click on the links below to view recent briefs. To view new and updated briefs, click here.

Appliances & Office Equipment
 

• NEW!  Electronic Products: Making Battery Chargers More Efficient (TB-44)
  Ecos Consulting and EPRI Solutions (the Electric Power Research Institute) formed a team of researchers to come up with candidate efficiency standards for battery chargers. The first step was to create an efficiency-testing procedure that all stakeholders can agree on. The project team consulted extensively with industry and other stakeholders to develop a simple and inexpensive procedure that would avoid the ambiguity of previous test procedures. The team then applied this consensus procedure to test a wide array of battery chargers varying in size from 2 to 50 watt-hours of battery capacity to demonstrate the broad range of available efficiencies.
   
• Energy Use of Household Electronics: Taming the Wild Growth (TB-32)
  A recent study of use patterns, energy consumption, and load profiles for electronic devices in homes suggests that policy-makers should tighten standby-mode requirements and consider creating whole-product specifications that call for high efficiency when the product is in active operation.
   
• What Lies Within: Improving the Efficiency of Internal Power Supplies (TB-41)
  Researchers, industry leaders, and other stakeholders have developed test procedures to measure the efficiency of a sampling of internal power supplies used in today's electronic products in an effort to spur the development of efficiency standards for these devices.
   
• Electronic Products: Making Power Supplies More Efficient (TB-23)
  Learn how to read Energy Star labeling on energy-efficient power supplies for office equipment and consumer electronics.

Power Quality & Reliability

• NEW!  DC Power Distribution Cuts Data Center Energy Use (TB-40)
  The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory led a demonstration project that showed that alternative, direct-current (DC)–based power distribution systems can reduce the total system energy use in a data center by 5 to 7 percent compared to the most efficient alternating current (AC) systems and by up to 28 percent compared to typical AC distribution systems. DC distribution systems also reduce cooling loads and have the potential to improve reliability by reducing the number of possible failure points.
   
• Uninterruptible Power Supplies: A Data Center Efficiency Opportunity (TB-45)
  A detailed study characterized the efficiencies of various types of uninterruptible power supplies (UPSs) for data centers under a variety of operating conditions, proposed an efficiency label for UPSs, and estimated the current energy use of the existing stock of UPSs and the potential savings if efficiency standards were in place. 
   

Lighting

• NEW! Task/Ambient Lighting: Efficient, Stylish, and Portable (TB-43)
  A desk lamp has been developed to provide individually controllable uplighting and downlighting. The designs incorporate improved optics and features that will enable low-cost manufacturing. The California Lighting Technology Center worked with Full Spectrum Solutions to develop the products. Full Spectrum Solutions is an established lighting company that uses recycled materials and other sustainable practices and offers access to consumer markets.

   

• NEW!  Wireless Lighting Controls Make Retrofits Practical (TB-38)
  An innovative wireless lighting control, monitoring, and management system developed by Adura Technologies is easy to install, cost-effective, and can provide significant energy savings. It eliminates the costly and time-consuming installation of control wiring and can be easily installed by facilities personnel or contractors.

   

•  LED Hybrid Porch Light Cuts Energy, Maintenance Costs (TB-37)
  A new LED hybrid porch light fixture combined with a CFL and integrated with an occupancy sensor, addresses the problem of wasted energy in keeping outdoor areas, such as porches and walkways, illuminated all night long.

   

•  Daylight Harvesting Made Simple (TB-36)
  A new approach to daylighting called the Simplified Daylight Harvesting system (SDH) uses photosensor readings to set lights to on, off, or intermediate levels and gives users the ability to adjust the on and off setpoints to meet their own preferences—a key element in user acceptance of daylight harvesting.

   

•  Integrated Office Lighting Systems: Making it Personal (TB-33)
  Better workplace lighting and reduced power consumption can be achieved by combining lower levels of ambient overhead lighting with an efficient personal lighting sytem.

   

• Classroom Lighting (TB-1)
  Find lighting that cuts energy use in half while providing light where and when you need it.

   

• Modular Skylight Well Design (TB-3)
  The essential steps to producing an energy-efficient skylight system.

   

• Up with CFL Downlights (TB-5)
  A single-ballast, double-lamp compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) downlighting system provides more light at a significantly lower installed cost.

   

• Hybrid Lighting Fixtures (TB-9)
  Combining light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and incandescent lamps with occupancy sensors will save energy and maintenance costs.

   

• UPDATED! Sweet SPOT for Daylighting (TB-18)
  This free software package helps designers place photosensors for daylighting and can predict performance prior to field installation and commissioning.

   

• Bathroom Lights Save Energy and Boost Safety (TB-24)
  Cut bathroom lighting energy use 50 to 75 percent with motion sensors and LED night-lights.

   

• High Hopes for Low-Glare Outdoor Luminaire (TB-25)
  Cut energy use by 30 percent and minimize light pollution with glare-cutting fixtures.
   

Report from The Department of Energy

Impact Evaluation Framework for Technology Deployment Programs: An approach for quantifying retrospective energy savings, clean energy advances, and market effects

This document describes a framework for evaluating the retrospective impact of technology deployment programs. Program managers and evaluators in Federal, state, and local governments and in public entities and institutions are increasingly accountable for delivering and demonstrating results of their programs. The impact framework assists program managers and evaluators to develop and implement better and more cost effective evaluations. The seven step process, the generic templates, the generic evaluation questions, and the evaluation designs that make up the framework can be used to develop powerful and meaningful impact evaluations to refine programs, increase program effectiveness, make the tough decisions to drop ineffective program elements, and to develop credible evidence that communicates the value of the program to stakeholders. An important focus of the framework is increasing understanding of the linkages between program outputs and short term and long term outcomes (impacts). It simplifies and enriches the process of describing and developing measures of target audience response to program outputs, designing sound evaluations, and taking credit for all of effects that are attributable to the program. Created for the US Department of Energy's (US DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the framework can be applied to most deployment programs in a broad array of disciplines.