appliance efficiency standards

The energy efficiency industry and the world lost a parent, a gifted scientist, and a change-agent last week, with the passing of Dr. Art Rosenfeld.

We take this opportunity to celebrate his life and contributions, and to express our personal as well as professional appreciation for this wonderful and influential member of the energy efficiency family.

The time is now to voice support for strong minimum efficiency standards for residential gas furnaces and boilers (both gas and oil).

Regional efficiency stakeholders have a lot riding on the outcomes of several important federal appliance standards rulemakings in the fourth quarter of 2014, including proposal stages for residential gas furnaces, residential boilers (gas and oil) and commercial package air conditioner/heat pumps —commonly referred to as roof-top units.

The U.S.

It’s always interesting to witness a convergence of events that serve to highlight and illustrate an issue raised in the course of public debate. Such a convergence has occurred in recent weeks, in this case involving energy efficiency standards set by the states and the federal government, which date to the days when Ronald Reagan was governor of California and public consciousness began turning to the idea that energy was a vital commodity that needed to be regulated via public policy. On December 31, with most of us ensconced in a holiday glow against the biting cold, the Associated Pres

“The courage to act before it’s too late.” That’s how President Obama framed his address on Tuesday on climate change.

You may be surprised to hear that Distribution Transformers (which include the round barrel-looking devices on telephone poles) offer significant energy savings opportunities.  Although most transformers are quite efficient (efficiencies over 98%), the sheer volume of these deployed throughout the country mean even small improvements can result in big savings. A few weeks ago, DOE published

 In a recent blog post, Penni McLean-Conner of NSTAR, highlighted the tremendous innovation spurred on by the new EISA standards enacted on January 1.

Our most recent Policy Tracker is available now.   Key developments include:

• State Policy Updates: Delaware Policy Status, New Hampshire Energy Policy Study, New York SBC IV, Rhode Island's New Savings Targets, and Vermont Energy Efficiency Budgets
• New NEEP Resources: Codes Conference Presentations, Home Energy Efficiency Basics for Real Estate Professionals, and update on DOE Appliance Efficiency Standards
• New Reports: Energy Efficiency Financing in Vermont and IMT Buliding

Future appliance standards could eliminate growth in residential sector energy use through 2035, according to an analysis conducted for the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2011. While modest improvements to the efficiency of products "covered" by the federal appliance standards efficiency program will achieve sizable savings, by adopting more aggressive standards for the products currently covered and by adding new products to the program (i.e.