01.23.2010 - Labor leaders Raise Concerns about Maine Smart Meter Project
Labor union leaders in Maine have expressed concerns that a planned smart meter installation will result in substantial job losses. Central Maine Power (CMP) plans to install smart meters for all 600,000 commercial, industrial, and residential customers.
01.22.2010 - Autodesk, Sharp, Itron, Henkel Among 10 ‘Greenest' Public Companies
After a review of more than 2,000 companies, mutual fund Portfolio 21 has identified what it considers to be the 10 greenest publicly traded companies in the world, according to a press release. Here's a look at the list (in alphabetical order).
01.21.2010 - Organizations Bring Energy Efficiency to Their Buildings
Motion sensors, living walls, solar rooftop panels and energy conservation measures are growing trends in many federal office buildings, corporate offices and airport terminals. This piece offers a few examples.
1.20.2010 - Eleven Governors Commit to a Regional Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
Governors of 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states have signed an agreement to develop a regional low-carbon fuel standard. The standard would follow the example of a similar standard adopted by California, which went into effect on January 12.
01.19.2010 - Prices of Various Energy Sources
As we continue to develop biomass as a renewable source of energy, it is important to keep the cost of energy in mind, because this has a very strong influence on the choices governments and individuals will make.
01.18.2010 - Economists Try to Put a Price Tag on Nature
The concept that nature provides valuable services is nothing new, but putting a monetary value on "ecosystem services" is adding a twist. Ecologists and economists are trying to put a price tag on nature because much of mankind's harm may simply be a misallocation of resources.
Photo by sylvar
ENERGY STAR® is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping to save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices. In addition to establishing energy-efficiency standards for products, ENERGY STAR uses a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) for qualification of energy-efficient houses, and offers energy management and benchmarking tools for commercial and industrial businesses.
For about a dozen business sectors (such as healthcare, hospitality, and retail), ENERGY STAR offers three major resource sections: What You Can Do (offers tracking, benchmarking, and more), What Others Are Doing (list of partners, testimonials, and so forth), and Success Stories (sector specific case studies). The organization also offers a number of useful tools for financial analysis of energy-efficiency investments.
A downloadable Building Upgrade Value Calculator (BUVC), developed by the U.S. EPA, is a product of the partnership between ENERGY STAR, BOMA International, and the BOMA Foundation. This calculator was developed as part of BOMA's Energy-Efficiency Program (BEEP), a series of courses designed to help commercial real estate practitioners improve their buildings' energy-efficiency performance. Required inputs are limited to general characteristics of the building, plus information on the proposed investments in energy-efficiency upgrades. ENERGY STAR's Cash Flow Opportunity calculator addresses three financial investment questions:
- What is the anticipated savings that can finance energy-efficiency investments?
- Should we invest now or wait?
- What is the potential financial loss from waiting to invest?
ENERGY STAR's Financial Value Calculator uses the prevailing price/earnings ratio of company financials to estimate the market value of increased earnings that can result from increased energy efficiency.
Efficient management of resources requires effective data management. ENERGY STAR's secure online Portfolio Manager helps commercial and industrial facility managers streamline their portfolio's energy and water data, and track a number of key consumption, performance, and cost factors portfolio-wide:
- Track multiple energy and water meters for each facility
- Customize meter names and key information
- Benchmark your facilities relative to their past performance
- View percent improvement in weather-normalized source energy
- Monitor energy and water costs
- Share your building data with others inside or outside of your organization
EPA's building energy performance rating system, based on source energy, accounts for the impact of weather variations, as well as key physical and operating characteristics of each building. Buildings rated 75 or greater may qualify for the ENERGY STAR. Based on the information you entered about your building, such as its size, location, number of occupants, number of PCs, and so forth, the rating system estimates how much energy the building would use if it were the best performing, the worst performing, and every level in between. The system then compares the actual energy data you entered to the estimate to determine where your building ranks relative to its peers.
To estimate how much energy your building would use at each level of performance, EPA conducts statistical analysis on the data gathered by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration during its quadrennial Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). The rating system's 1-100 scale allows everyone to quickly understand how a building is performing. A rating of 50 indicates average energy performance, while a rating of 75 or better indicates top performance.
01.15.2010 - Don't Blame Higher Electric Bills on Meters
Consumers have been unfairly blaming their higher electric bills on newly installed smart meters, concludes a Texas utility investigation.
01.14.2010 - CA Approves Stringent Statewide Building Code
California approved the most stringent, environmentally-friendly building code in the United States that will apply to new commercial buildings, hospitals, schools, shopping malls and homes, reports USA Today.
01.14.2010 - A Blueprint for Greening New York City's Buildings
Buildings in the United States consume more energy than any other sector of the economy. A new report looks at the challenges posed by green buildings and strategies to address it.
01.13.2010 - EIA Sees Gasoline Hitting $3 per Gallon by Summer
DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) is predicting that the price for regular-grade gasoline will rise above $3 per gallon by summer. The EIA's most recent "Short-Term Energy Outlook" also projects an increase in the price of diesel fuel to around $3 per gallon.
01.13.2010 - Four Solid State Lighting Trends for 2010
How will technical advancements in 2010 improve quality and drive down pricing for LED lighting? Will the much discussed mass adoption of solid state lighting finally arrive?
01.12.2010 - OPEC Grows Accustomed to $100 per Barrel Oil
According to Imad Al Atiqi, Kuwait's senior OPEC representative, crude prices would have to rise to $100 per barrel, or more than 22%, before the organization's member countries would consider changing production quotas.
01.12.2010 - Leading Economist Says Cap & Trade is a Ticking Time Bomb
According to Dr. Severin Borenstein, an outspoken economist and thought leader on energy-related issues, cap & trade models represent a ticking time bomb.
01.11.2010 - Ten Green Building Trends for 2010
The Earth Advantage Institute has released a list of the top ten "green" building trends in 2010 that range from energy "scores" for homes to web-based displays that track energy usage in real time.
Photo by BlatantNews.com
The government is reporting "well above average" natural gas stockpiles for this time of year and Clean Skies News talks with Michael Roberts, lead energy analyst with the energy management firm Prenova, for a deeper analysis of those figures.
Window technology has continued to advance over the years with the particular intent to decrease heat loss or gain. Window coatings/films are one enabling technology that involves low-emissive (low-e), spectrally-selective, heat-absorbing (tinted), and reflective surfaces. Another enabling technology is gas-filled windows which decrease heat conduction between panes of glass.
State-of-the-art superinsulating windows, or superwindows, combine all the typical advanced features, "low-e coatings, gas fill, good edge seals, insulated frames, and airtight construction", according to Edwin Datschefski at BioThinking. A clever alternative is to apply the low-e coating to one or two sheets of Southwall Corp.'s Heat MirrorTM, a transparent polyester film placed between the glass panes. The product gives windows whole-unit ratings of up to R-6 insulation value-about twice as efficient as the same thickness of fiberglass. Testing by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's (LBNL) Mobile Window Thermal Test (MoWiTT) facility has shown that, for cold, overcast days, the 24-hour net average heat loss is smaller for the super-window than for an R-15 insulated wall. According to the Efficient Windows Collaborative, "Insulated superwindows with three or more layers will virtually eliminate condensation on the interior surface of the glass-even under extreme cold weather conditions."
Heat Mirror comes in roughly a dozen different designations that transmit varying amounts of solar radiation. The product designations generally represent the amount of light allowed to pass through the coated film. For example, Heat Mirror 77 will transmit more light than a Heat Mirror 22 product. Several manufacturers (such as Gilkey Window, Traco, EFCO, and Alpen) use Heat Mirror as the enabling technology for their superwindows. Superwindows are somewhat expensive, so they are most likely to attain a decent payback in only very cold climates. In hot climates, you are better off buying less expensive low-e windows and using shading techniques instead.
Also under development are chromogenic (optical switching) glazings that will adapt to the frequent changes in the lighting and heating or cooling requirements of buildings. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), "Electrochromic coatings (EC) are switchable thin-film coatings applied to glass or plastic that can change appearance reversibly from a clear tint to a dark Prussian Blue tint when a small dc voltage is applied." The University of Minnesota Center for Sustainable Building Research describes a variation of the technology based on the orientation of suspended particles:
"Suspended Particle Device (SPD) windows utilize a thin, liquid-like layer in which numerous microscopic particles are suspended. In its unpowered state the particles are randomly oriented and partially block sunlight transmission and view. Transparent electrical conductors allow an electric field to be applied to the dispersed particle film, aligning the particles and raising the transmittance."
These smart windows are generally categorized as either passive or active glazing types. Passive glazings vary their light transmission as driven by changes in sunlight (photochromic) and their transmission of heat as driven by changes in ambient temperature (thermochromic). By contrast, active (electrochromic) window transmittance properties are driven by use of a small electric current from an outside power source.
LBNL further states that, "Low-voltage power is required to switch EC windows and for some types of windows, a small applied voltage is needed to keep the EC in a constant state, irrespective of the level of tint." For instance, SAGE Electrochromic's commercially available EC window requires constant power. LBNL field tested the window technology and reported the following power consumption levels (end use power at the wall outlet) for an array of (15) 35x18 inch windows:
- "If no power is applied, the EC window rests at the clear state. The level of tint at the clear state will vary slightly between windows (for example, visible transmittance (Tv) = 0.60-0.70) and may be discernable when comparing two side-by-side windows. The EC window can be left unpowered during the night.
- If the EC window is in the process of being switched, peak power consumption is 0.26-0.32 W/ft²-glazing (5-6 W for a 42.5x60 inch EC window).
- If the EC is being held constant at any level of tint, steady-state power consumption is 0.07-0.15 W/ft²-glazing (1.2-2.6 W for a 42.5x60 inch window), assuming a 1-to-1 relationship between the EC window unit and its window controller. This includes power to the window, electronic circuitry for control, and parasitic losses due to the efficiency of the power supply.
- Average daily power consumption of the EC system (window + controller + power supply) during a 12-hour day was monitored to be the same as steady-state power levels in the bullet above. These consumption levels can be reduced to 25% to 30% of current levels, if the control circuitry and power source are designed more efficiently."
In early 2009, Innovative Glass Corporation (Plainview, NY) completed the installation of 59 interior and 9 exterior windows using SPD-SmartGlass technology at the Indiana University Health Information and Translational Sciences Building. The SPD technology was developed by Research Frontiers and produced by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. PPG Aerospace is supplying Alteos interactive electrochromic window systems for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet.
Like any emerging technology, EC windows are expensive (around $100/ft²-glazing). The cost is expected to decrease as production volumes increase and economies of scale begin to apply. With the cost of spectrally selective low-e windows averaging $10 to $15/ft²-glazing, the much higher cost of EC windows cannot be justified at this time by direct energy savings alone. You will also have to consider cost savings indirectly related to the use of EC windows such as the reduction in HVAC capacity and maintenance requirements, the reduced need for blinds or shading systems, and greater productivity of employees from increased comfort levels.
Sources
Windows Systems for High-Performance Buildings - Center for Sustainable Building Research. 2007. University of Minnesota and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
About the Electrochromic Window Technology - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. July 2006. Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Buildings Technologies Department.
Advances in Glazing Materials for Windows - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. November 1994. U.S. Department of Energy.
Photo by Il conte di Luna
Permission to use this article was granted by Tech Resources, Inc.
A summary of last week's top energy management news . . .
01.08.2010 - Wal-Mart, Shop-Rite Complete Solar Installations
Retail chains including Wal-Mart and Shop-Rite continue to ramp up their solar installations in order to reduce energy use and lower their carbon emissions. Solar power systems may also find new homes on the rooftops of stripmalls. [read more]
01.08.2010 - 4 Models for Solar-Powered Charging Stations
April Streeter examines four models of solar-powered charging stations used around the world. Among them are a container-based charging station used by Beautiful Earth Group in Brooklyn and a charger canopy installed at a McDonald's location in Pacific Beach, Calif. [read more]
01.07.2010 - DOE Announces Energy Efficiency Enforcement Action against Haier
DOE has announced that it has entered into a Consent Decree with Haier America, resolving a probe into whether the appliance manufacturer violated DOE energy efficiency standards. The company will work with consumers to fix defective parts that caused the freezers to use more energy. [read more]
01.05.2010 - EPA Rules to Impact Manufacturers, Utilities
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced two separate actions that could significantly impact several industries including power and water utilities. The EPA has identified the chemical, petroleum, coal , and utilities as targets for CO2 reductions. [read more]
01.04.2010 - U.S. State Regulators Vetting Smart Meters
Connecticut Light & Power Co. has completed a large test of homes using smart meters. But on the heels of California power customers complaining over smart meter-based electric bills, state regulators are investigating if smart meters are a benefit to consumers or just a boon to utilities. [read more]
Photo by break.things
As solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies enter the market, there is much skepticism about performance claims made by manufacturers and retailers. The Department of Energy (DOE) has begun to independently test commercially available SSL products. The intent is to provide an unbiased evaluation of product performance in order to support market penetration of SSL products. The DOE Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) group's Market-Based Programs section formed a specific program for SSL testing in 2006. The program name is Commercially Available LED Product Evaluation and Reporting (CALiPER) program. One aspect of the program is to benchmark SSL performance against traditional lighting across a range of standard lighting measures. This article reviews the results of three CALiPER benchmark reports that evaluated LED replacements for linear fluorescent, halogen incandescent, and regular incandescent lamps.
Study 1: T12 and T8 versus LED
Performance of T12 and T8 Fluorescent Lamps and Troffers and LED Linear Replacement Lamps (January 2009)
In the tests comparing T12 and T8 florescent lamps with LED linear replacement lamps, various elements were tested to achieve a better understanding of performance. According to the report issued by CALiPER, the tests were designed to evaluate, "a range of standard lighting measures, including power usage, luminous flux, photometric distribution, source and luminaire efficacy, correlated color temperature (CCT), and the color-rendering index (CRI)."
These lamps were evaluated in two settings: basic lamp performance, and performance with regular and parabolic troffer luminaires.
The lamp performance between T8 and T12 lamps is dependent on the type of ballast used and the coating. Usually T12 lamps come with a magnetic ballast, which does not have a high range of adjusting power quality. The halophosphor coating used on most T12 lamps also does not provide much color rendering, as it was created to produce one basic color (white). Conversely, the T8 lamp includes an electronic ballast, which has better light output and efficiency. The T8 lamp also uses a "triphosphor blend," to include an even amount of red, blue, and green.
LEDs differ from traditional T12 or T8 lamps in that they are not constructed with mercury to emit light and produce a more focused, directional light source.
The troffer, or the structure that houses the lamp, can have an effect on the light output based on its shape. The parabolic troffer is curved around the edges and the 'lensed' or typical troffer has straight angled edges.
The conclusions offered by this research shed light on the differences between the types of lamps and their adjoining fixtures.
Based on the formula for fixture efficiency (or luminaire efficiency), CALiPER found that, "the fixture efficiency for parabolic louver troffers ranges between 64% and 90%, averaging approximately 74%. The CALiPER-tested parabolic louver troffer achieved a fixture efficiency of 60%, lower than its rated efficiency of 76%."
Another important measure for a troffer is its light distribution. CALiPER found that the best possible light distribution for a parabolic troffer is to be at 90 degrees horizontally and 45 degrees vertically, at 3,940 cd/m².
In the area of LED replacements for T8 and T12 lamps, LEDs do not compare in light output. According to CALiPER, "the best performing bare lamp using LEDs produces only one-third the light output of a typical 4-ft fluorescent lamp." Furthermore, when LEDs were compared with both T8 and T12 lamps in spacing criteria, the LEDs had a lower overall value for spacing, meaning that more fixtures would need to be installed to achieve the same amount of light output as a fluorescent lamp.
Power efficiency and compliance with ENERGY STAR standards was the most significant area in which the two types of lamps differed. ENERGY STAR requires a 0.7 to 0.9 power factor, and, "none of the LED replacement lights met the minimum ENERGY STAR commercial power factor requirement of 0.9." Though CALiPER professes that florescent lights are not at top performance, they recognize that the LED is not an adequate replacement.
Study 2: MR16 versus LED
Performance of Halogen Incandescent MR16 Lamps and LED Replacements (November 2008)
CALiPER also conducted a benchmark study on the differences between MR16 and LED lamps. Once again, the tests were designed to evaluate, "a range of standard lighting measures, including power usage, light output and distribution, source efficacy, correlated color temperature (CCT), and the color rendering index (CRI)."
MR16 (or multifaceted reflector) lamps are primarily used for directional lighting in retail, residential, and commercial applications. Low-voltage lamps, must be designed to withhold 10 times that of a line-voltage lamp. This is due to the low-voltage lamp containing a shorter filament. They also may require transformers to provide the proper amount of transference of electrical current to the lamp.
Power (W) = Supply voltage (V) x Supply Current (A)
Additionally, these lamps emit varying levels of light output, from low to medium. Their light distribution is based on its beam angle, or beam spread, which is meant to focus on a single object or location. The MR16 is also constructed with an aluminum or dicroaic coating. Dicroaic coating reflects light forward and infrared radiation backward, and aluminum is opaque, directing the light only forward.
The LED replacements for these types of lamps vary significantly. Unlike MR16 lamps, LEDs emit very small amounts of infrared radiation. Although this may be a plus, the LED replacements would not be very compatible with the electronic transformers because they do not use enough load for operation of the lamp. Other control devices, like dimmers, would not work with LED replacements due to "minimum load requirements" as well.
Similar to the results with T8 and T12 lamps, the LED light output does not match up with the halogen MR16. The tests reveal that, "only one or two of the LED products come close to matching the lumen output of the lamps they are intended to replace." In evaluating efficacy, it would take multiple LED lamps to produce the same amount of light output as an MR16, negating their, "potential energy saving," characteristics.
Also, the size and fit of LED MR16 replacement lamps is problematic. Most LED replacements are either too long, too wide, or do not work in the socket.
Overall, LEDs would only be a more useful replacement for MR16 lamps, if they were used in an area that requires a lower amount of light. CALiPER cites many manufacturing claims about both LED replacements and MR16 lamps to be incorrect, so they recommend testing before buying large quantities.
CALiPER Summary Reports
The DOE publishes Summary Reports following completion of each round of CALiPER testing. The Summary Reports provide detailed analysis of the test results for all products included in each round of testing. Over 200 products have been tested through the CALiPER program to date.
Permission to use this article was granted by Tech Resources, Inc.