2004 ACEEE
Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings
PANELS 12 & 13 Thinking
Outside the Box: And Now for Something Completely Different...
| Session 1 |
| Managing
Water and Energy Use in Buildings: Parallels, Complements,
and Trade-offs |
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| Gary
Wolff, Pacific Institute |
Session
Moderator
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| David Broustis, City of Seattle |
Session
Moderator
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| Jim
Lutz, LBNL |
Discussant
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| John
Koeller, CUWCC Consultant [invited] |
Discussant
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A
growing number of specialists in water conservation and
energy efficiency recognize the close linkages between
water and energy systems, from resource extraction to
end-use and even beyond the initial end-user, in
the cases of non-consumptive water use or thermal energy
recovery and heat cascading.
However, it would be far too demanding for one Roundtable
session (and beyond the scope of this Summer Study)
to explore all of these links. Instead, this Roundtable
will focus on water and energy use in buildings,
and especially on the linkages positive and negative
between measures that save or manage energy and
those that save water.
At least half of the session will be reserved for
participatory audience discussion. To provide an initial
framework, the Discussion Leaders will offer comments
from their unique analysis and program perspectives:
- Gary
Wolff will discuss the buildings- and energy-related
aspects of his recent study of urban water use and
conservation in California, and forthcoming analyses
of energy and water use.
- David Broustis will offer his perspectives as a senior
program manager for urban water conservation closely
linked to energy management, and as a leading advocate
for a national campaign to label water-efficient products.
In response to the participants' interests, the Roundtable
will explore energy-and-water topics including (but
not limited to) the following:
- Hot
water distribution - how large are thermal losses
and wasted water, and their respective costs, in residential
and commercial building DHW distribution systems?
What measures could reduce either or both types of
distribution system losses?
- Cooling
towers - What are the tradeoffs between energy savings
and water consumption for typical cooling towers?
What changes in tower design and operation can improve
the terms of these tradeoffs (i.e., jointly optimize
for energy and water)?
- Water
pumping systems in buildings - what systems and component
efficiency improvements can reduce water pumping loads
in buildings (or shift them off-peak), including pumping
for heating and cooling, DHW, fire safety, landscape
watering, decorative water features, etc.?
- What
are the energy savings associated with onsite recovery
and reuse of graywater and rainwater?
- How
do landscape choices affect water use and energy (including
embodied and off-site energy for fertilizers, pesticides,
etc.)?
- Data
- How well can we characterize (quantify) the relationships
between water and energy end-uses in residential and
commercial buildings? What key data are missing? Are
there opportunities to collect energy data through
water studies or vice-versa?
- Analysis
methods - What parallels are there between measuring
and analyzing energy and water, in terms of end-use,
time of use, savings potential, demand-shifting, economics,
markets, and regulatory policy? Are any of the tools,
methods, or perspectives transferable from one sphere
to the other?
- Economics
- How much do energy costs (on-site for heating, and
indirect for supply and treatment) contribute to the
value of saved water in buildings? Conversely, how
much do water costs (for producing power or fuel)
contribute to the value of saved energy?
- Policies
and programs - What are some concrete suggestions
for more closely linking energy efficiency and water
efficiency? (For example: improvements in Energy Star
ratings for hot-water-using appliances, or changes
to the LEED rating system for energy and water efficiency
in sustainable buildings.)
Discussion of these issues will be continued at the
Informal Session at 2:00
pm Monday.
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| Session 2 |
| Debate |
K-12
EducationIs it a Good Use of Scarce Energy Efficiency
Funds? |
|
| Marilyn
Brown, Director, Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
|
Moderator |
| Merrilee
Harrigan, Director of Education, Alliance to Save
Energy |
|
Debater |
| David
Cohan, Evaluation Coordinator, Northwest Energy
Efficiency Alliance |
|
Debater |
|
Energy efficiency funds are limited and leaders
in the field hold strong opinions about whether
school-based educational programs are worth the
cost. There is significant disagreement about
whether educating K-12 students about energy efficiency
promotes significant market transformation or
really helps to establish energy efficiency as
an important social value. Do young people shape
how energy is used today? Will their education
about energy efficiency influence how they use
energy in the future when they are adults in their
own homes and face purchasing decisions? Do the
kinds of behavioral and operational changes students
make in the Alliance to Save Energy's Schools
Program lead to sustained energy savings or retrofits?
What happens after support for the program endsdo
teachers continue to teach energy efficiency principles
at the same high standards that the program established?
These kinds of issues will be debated in this
session. |
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| Session 3 |
| Major
Trends Affecting Efficient Energy Use in Buildings |
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| Rick
Diamond, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Moderator
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| Katherine
Johnson, KJ Consulting and John Reed, Innovologie |
Presenters
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Paper #470: "The Future of Commercial Buildings:
The Major Trends, Influences, and Factors Driving
Change in the Commercial Buildings Market"
|
|
| Rick
Diamond/Mithra Moezzi, Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory |
Presenters
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Paper
# 460: "Changing Trends: A Brief History of the
US Household Consumption of Energy, Water, Food,
Beverages and Tobacco"
|
|
| Rich
Brown and Bruce Nordman, LBNL and Leo Rainer, Davis
Energy Group |
Commentators
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re: Information Technologies in Buildings
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Energy
use in buildings and opportunities to save energy
through efficient technologies and practices are
influenced by many trends both within and outside the
realm of either the buildings sector or the energy sector.
Some of these include:
-
continuing advances in technology, especially information
technology, and the rapid market penetration of those
new technologies especially favored by consumers (e.g,
mobile phones, digital photography)
- age,
income, and household demographics
- evolving
cultural and social norms, and the still increasing
tempo of daily life
- consumer
preferences for increasing levels of convenience,
amenity, health and safety and the ability
to pay for them
- changes
in market structure, including ownership concentration,
financing, and services outsourcing
- increasing
uncertainty, for many consumers, about energy prices
and price structure, availability, and reliability
- a
shift in the locus of energy efficiency policy initiatives,
from the federal level to states, local governments,
and non-governmental organizations (like the US Green
Building Council)
In this Roundtable session, we will consider these
and other trends, beginning with two background papers
and then inviting attendees to contribute to the list
of trends. As a group, we will consider, for each trend:
- the
potential consequences for energy use and energy efficiency
in buildings, and
- implications
for energy efficiency policies, programs, and R&D
priorities
While this session focuses on discernable or suspected
trends, we also recognize that other influences, more
sudden and less predictable, have also had significant
impacts on energy use and efficiency in the past. "Out
of the box" thinkers who come to this Roundtable will
be encouraged to remind the rest of us of past surprises
and to expect future ones.
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| Session 4 |
| Debate |
Neither
Just People Nor Just Technology-Moving Past the Impasse
in the Conservation vs. Efficiency Debate |
|
| Rick
Diamond, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
|
Moderator |
| Mithra
Moezzi, Ecole des Mines, Paris |
|
Debater |
| Mark
Levine, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
|
Debater |
|
While efforts to increase energy efficiency have
contributed to lowering projected U.S. energy
consumption, absolute levels and per capita energy
consumption continue to increase. In energy policy,
energy efficiency is routinely called upon to
deliver absolute reductions in energy consumption
and carbon emissions. In the United States, improved
levels of technical energy efficiency over the
past 25 years have not led to such absolute reductions.
Some argue that technical efficiency has inherent
limitations, and nothing short of dramatic changes
in behavior and social values are needed to achieve
stabilization of energy demand or atmospheric
carbon concentrations. Others say that social
values and behavioral changes cannot be forced,
or that the problem lies in insufficient penetration
of energy-efficient technologies, so that the
solution lies in ensuring that more efficient
technology is developed and commercialized. The
issue is further complicated by overlapping definitions
of conservation and efficiency. Do policymakers
need to focus more on individual behaviors, social
structures, organizational innovation, and cultural
meanings and values? Or should the principle focus
be on identifying inefficient use of energy, and
developing and commercializing the technology
needed to improve it? Can policymakers and the
research community even frame the debate in non-market
terms, or do political considerations both limit
the terms of discussion and constrain potential
outcomes? This debate will explore these important
and complex questions toward achieving a balanced
view and a better framework for continued productive
discussions. |
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| Session 5 |
| Beyond
the Price Signal |
| |
| Skip
Laitner |
Moderator
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| Adrienne
Vayssières Kandel, California Energy Commission |
Presenter
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Paper #369: "Beyond the Price Signal: Rethinking
the Economic Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Programs
and Policies" (submitted only for review and discussion
at the Roundtable)
|
|
| Alan
Sanstad, LBNL, and Marvin Horowitz, Demand Research
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Commentators
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A
growing literature suggests that standard economic models,
relying largely on the price signal to coordinate markets
and consumer behavior, may actually constrain the development
of innovative technologies and policies. Hence, they inadequately
inform policy-makers about new market potential. This
may be especially true with respect to the nation's energy
policies. This Roundtable discussion will open with a
background paper that both reviews the evidence of this
limitation and then explores the extent to which economic
models might reflect a more dynamic characterization of
policy opportunities. The presentation will then be followed
by 10 minutes of thoughts and reactions from each of the
commentators. We will then invite attendees to contribute
their own insights about the role and value of price signals
and non-price policies as they might encourage new energy
efficiency opportunities. |
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| Session 6 |
| Debate |
Stronger
Codes or Vigorous Enforcement: What's More Important? |
|
| Floyd
Barwig, Director, Iowa Energy Center |
|
Moderator |
| Jeffrey
A. Johnson, Executive Director, New Buildings
Institute |
|
Debater |
| Z.
Todd Taylor, Manager, Residential Codes R&D, Pacific
Northwest National Lab |
|
Debater |
|
With respect to codes, what is the most effective
way to improve the energy performance of the nation's
homes and to save significant energy at the national
level? Which path will lead to the biggest gains,
now and in the long run? Should the primary focus
be on increasing the stringency of national model
energy codes, and demanding higher levels of home
energy performance? Or should we invest most of
our effort on implementing existing codes by working
with local communities and states to enforce codes
that are already on the books? Alternatively,
if a hybrid approach is the answer, what should
the relative weight of our efforts be? These are
critical issues facing decision makers facing
tight budgets at all levels of government and
the need to prioritize scarce resources. This
important debate will argue these questions in
the context of today's needs as well as long-term
energy challenges. |
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| Session 7 |
| Limits
to Efficiency |
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| Skip
Laitner |
Moderator/Presenter
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Paper
#749: "How Far Energy Efficiency?"
|
|
| Dan
Kammen, Energy Resources Group, UC-Berkeley, and
James McMahon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Commentators
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Analysts agree about the need for developing new and cleaner energy resource technologies. At the same time, some argue that energy efficiency will provide only a minimal role in meeting future energy needs. Hence, energy supply is encouraged while energy efficiency is supported only minimally. Analysts Douglas Lightfoot and Christopher Green suggest in a series of papers, for example, that there are practical limits that will constrain the rate of efficiency improvement to no more than about one percent per annum over the next 100 years. This paper explores the assumptions that underpin such "practical limits" and concludes that efficiency gains could more than double the rate suggested by Lightfoot and Green. The question is not one of practical limits; rather, the issue is one of choosing to develop energy paths that allow greater system efficiencies to emerge.
In this Roundtable session we will discuss the extent of practical limits for energy efficiency compared to policy options that might encourage greater efficiency innovations. The session will open with a 15-minute presentation of the background paper, and will then be followed by 10 minutes of thoughts and reactions from each of the commentators. We will then invite attendees to contribute their own insights into the emerging energy efficiency trends and opportunities.
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| Session 8 |
| Time for a National Energy Efficiency Data Center? |
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| Alan Meier, International Energy Agency |
Moderator
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| Marvin Horowitz, Demand Research |
Presenter
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Paper
#374: It's Time for a National Energy Efficiency
Data Center" (distributed only for review and
discussion at the Roundtable)
|
|
| Steve Nadel, American Council for an Energy-Efficiency
Economy, and Jon Koomey, Stanford University
|
Commentators
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Energy-related
national policy issues, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions
to enhancing national security, are demanding increasing
attention. Unfortunately, energy and environmental organizations
labor under a significant handicap; while policy discussions
are increasing in intensity and importance, the data needed
for informing energy efficiency-related policies are inadequate.
National time series data that measure the costs and quantities
of energy efficiency resources are either lacking or of
questionable coverage and dependability.
The purpose of this roundtable will be to discuss
some of the basic issues related to the creation of
a national energy efficiency data center and to gather
innovative ideas that might support its creation. Topics
to be opened for discussion by the roundtable will include:
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What are the most critical data needs for policy development?
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What are the most critical data needs for quantitative
modeling?
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What indicators or indexes of realized and potential
energy efficiency would be most useful for policy
development, planning and evaluation?
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Should the energy efficiency data, and various indicators
and indexes, be coordinated with international efforts?
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How should the data be collected, at what frequency
and level of granularity?
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How should the data be standardized and quality-controlled?
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What should the formal reports consist of?
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How should the data be made available to the public?
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What other activities should the data center undertake?
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How should the data center be funded?
The session will open with a 20-minute presentation
of the background paper, and will then be followed by
10 minutes of thoughts and reactions from each of the
commentators. We will then invite roundtable participants
to contribute their own insights into the need and potential
for a national energy efficiency data center.
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