Steven Nadel

Utility DSM: What have we learned? Where are we going?

Utility demand-side management (DSM) programmes have been operating for approximately two decades. During this period DSM has progressed from an emphasis on information and loan programmes to a resource acquisition strategy emphasizing rebates. Now the electric utility industry is being restructured, including the role of DSM. This paper reviews the experience and lessons of the past two decades, so that as DSM is restructured, we can build upon the lessons of the past. This paper then proceeds to make some predictions about the role of DSM in the electric utility industry of the future.

Electricity end-use efficiency: Experience with technologies, markets, and policies throughout the world

There is a wealth of experience among industrialized countries with technologies and policies to increase electricity end-use efficiency. Some developing countries are beginning to adopt these technologies and policies as well. Technologies include efficient residual appliances. HVAC equipment, light, motors and efficient industrial processes. A small number of market failures that limit the acceptance of these efficient technologies in both industrialized and developing countries are described. Experience with policies to overcome these failures and promote electricity end-use efficiency, including information programs, appliance efficiency standards, financial incentives to appliance manufacturers, commercial building energy standards, integrated resource planning, and demand-side management, is reviewed.

A review of U.S. and Canadian lighting programs for the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors

We discuss both the technical potential for lighting savings and the achievable potential from existing programs aimed at realizing those savings in both the U.S. and Canada. Approximately 422 TWh or 57% of projected lighting electricity could be saved in the U.S. by 2010 if most cost-effective, commercially available measures were implemented in all applicable buildings. The estimate includes 306 TWh or 66% of projected commercial lighting energy, 60 TWh or 47% of residential lighting energy, and 56 TWh or 38% of industrial lighting energy. We estimate the achievable savings potential from utility programs and regulations (35 to 46%, or 261 to 345 TWh of all U.S. lighting energy). According to this analysis, about 70 to 80% of the technical potential could be saved in 2010 by a combination of regulations and utility programs.

The China Motor Systems Energy Conservation Program: Establishing the Foundation for Systems Energy Efficiency

Industrial electric motor systems consume more than 600 billion kWh annually, accounting for more than 50% of China’s electricity use. There are large opportunities to improve the efficiency of motor systems. Electric motors in China are approximately 2-4% less efficient on average than motors in the U.S. and Canada. Fans and pumps in China are approximately 3—5% less efficient than in developed countries. More optimized design, including appropriate sizing and use of speed control strategies, can reduce energy use by 20% or more in many motor-driven system applications. Unfortunately, few Chinese enterprises use or even know about these energy-saving practices. Opportunities for motor system improvements are probably greater in China than in the U.S. or Europe.

Appliance Energy Efficiency: Opportunities, Barriers, and Policy Solutions

Substantial progress has been made in recent years in improving the energy efficiency of appliances. In the U.S., for example, the energy use of major appliances has decreased by 25–65% over the past 25 years (see Figure 1). However, for many products in the U.S., appliance energy efficiency has stagnated in recent years due to the presence of many market barriers and the lack of a significant policy push. In other markets, such as China, appliance energy efficiency continues to make significant strides. In both the U.S. and Chinese markets, there are large remaining opportunities to increase the efficiency of appliances, if market barriers or policy inertia can be overcome. This paper reviews the technical opportunities for improving appliance energy efficiency, discusses barriers that constrain appliance efficiency improvements, and discusses policies that have shown potential for overcoming these barriers. Since it is not possible to discuss the entire world in a survey paper as short as this one, we focus on the U.S. and China as illustrative of opportunities and barriers in the developed and developing world.

A Perspective of Energy Codes and Regulations for the Buildings of the Future

Today’s building energy codes focus on prescriptive requirements for features of buildings that are directly controlled by the design and construction teams and verifiable by municipal inspectors. Although these code requirements have had a significant impact, they fail to influence a large slice of the building energy use pie – including not only miscellaneous plug loads, cooking equipment and commercial/industrial processes, but the maintenance and optimization of the code-mandated systems as well. Currently, code compliance is verified only through the end of construction, and there are no limits or consequences for the actual energy use in an occupied building. In the future, our suite of energy regulations will likely expand to include building efficiency, energy use or carbon emission budgets over their full life cycle. Intelligent building systems, extensive renewable energy, and a transition from fossil fuel to electric heating systems will likely be required to meet ultra-low-energy targets. This paper lays out the authors’ perspectives on how buildings may evolve over the course of the 21st century and the roles that codes and regulations will play in shaping those buildings of the future.

Utility Energy Efficiency Programs: Lessons from the Past, Opportunities for the Future

Utilities have been offering energy efficiency programs for more than 30 years. This chapter summarizes these developments, focusing in particular on recent and projected trends. In recent years, programs have expanded in terms of the number of utilities offering programs, and many utilities are achieving growing savings each year. In fact, some utilities are already saving more each year than underlying load growth, resulting in load decline, not growth. Furthermore, the number of utilities targeting and hitting this milestone is increasing.