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Pricing programs give consumers clean power choices
April 22, 2008 -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) annual ranking of leading utility green power programs provides insights into how consumers change their power-use behaviors.Under these voluntary programs, consumers can choose to help support additional electricity production from renewable resources such as solar and wind. More than 800 utilities across the United States offer these programs.
Using information provided by utilities, NREL develops a Top 10 ranking of utility programs in the following categories:
- total sales of renewable energy to program participants
- total number of customer participants
- customer participation rate, green power sales as a percentage of
- total utility retail electricity sales
- the lowest price premium charged for a green power program using new renewable resources.
Energy
consumption is one of six factors incorporated into the tally of Forbes magazines's "Greenest States", closely
linked to other "green" standards, including air quality and carbon
dioxide emissions.
Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy, summarized the situation in a recent presentation to Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees: "The South is the Gobi Desert of energy efficiency."
Energy Efficiency Potential Provides Greatest Savings
While bioenergy, nuclear and other expanding energy options are important, "the potential of energy efficiency is probably greater than any other resource." She views the confluence of record prices for oil and increasing anxiety over carbon emissions as a "perfect storm" that makes the attitude of both the market and the public ripe for fundamental change.
Recognizing these trends, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are
developing an array of energy-efficient appliances, testing
energy-saving building materials and refining a zero-energy home that
literally will produce more energy than it consumes.
As world energy
demand collides with the growing public desire for a carbon-constrained
environment, ORNL increasingly is recognized as a source of expertise
for cities, states and utilities looking to trim bulging energy
waistlines. The Tennessee Valley Authority has joined state and local
government as well as non-profit energy efficiency advocate groups in
asking the Laboratory to provide input for policy, incentives and
technologies to transform the desert of consumption into an oasis of
energy efficiency.
Demonstrating a renewed commitment to energy efficiency, the TVA board recently named Joe Hoagland, former senior advisor to TVA President Tom Kilgore, to a newly created post of vice president for energy efficiency and demand response. Hoagland's first task is to determine how much energy savings TVA needs to achieve in order to meet growing energy demands over the next 20 years.
Times have clearly changed. "In order to meet the goals of low cost and
reliability, energy efficiency and demand response are now tools as
much as our assets that generate electricity," Hoagland says, adding
that TVA's strategy also incorporates environmental concerns. "A
megawatt not produced is a green megawatt.
"A megawatt not produced is a green megawatt." |
When Hoagland came to his new post last fall, he was asked to determine what was needed to generate 1,200 megawatts of energy savings, or the equivalent of one large nuclear or coal-fired power plant, by 2013. "As we begin to understand the situation better, I'm not sure that is going to be enough. I expect that we will need to cut back more, much more," he says.
Meeting the challenge will require TVA to adopt a combination of tactics, including new technologies, rate restructuring, education and customer incentives to achieve the required savings. The agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with ORNL as a first step in what Hoagland envisions as a growing, and necessary, partnership with the Laboratory.
"ORNL has a broad expertise in energy efficient technologies to help us
do things better," he says. Oak Ridge researchers have unique
experience in
- designing zero-energy homes,
- creative construction
techniques,
- new insulation technologies and
- a sophisticated set of
energy efficiency standards.
If these
initiatives prove successful, the potential impact is enormous. ORNL
researchers believe that fully one-half of the South's anticipated
increase in energy demand can be met through energy efficiency.
Read more about ORNL's Southern Energy Efficiency Initiatives
PASSIVE SOLAR SOLUTIONS -- In our focus on energy and renewable sources of energy -- and climate change, etc. we sometimes forget the simplest solutions to the problems of everyday living and working. The sun!
The sun provides a wide variety of solutions to everyday challenges and problems. Bright sun during the day wakes us up and energizes us. It gives us vitamin D directly -- and other foods through plants and animals. It provides light. It provides warmth...of air, water and soil. Sunlight also helps stir breezes.
In most U.S. climates, passive solar design techniques can significantly reduce heating requirements for residential and small commercial buildings. "Passive" means that no moving part, no photovoltaic cells, etc. are needed. You just provide for the static use of sunlight with things like windows, shades and drapes, rock floors, and overhangs.
All of these attributes of sunshine can be applied to buildings and landscapes to create beautiful spaces that provide comfortable work and living space.
WINDOWS positioned, shaped and sized for practical efficiency, provide light and ventilation.
SOLAR TUBES siphon light down from the roof into dark corners, hallways, attics, and rooms.
OVERHANGS on the South side of a building manages light -- rooms receive low, horizontal beams during the winter months, and those overhead beams of summer are shaded to light the room, but keep the heat out.
THERMAL MASS can store the heat of sunlight during the day to be released at night.
COLORS -- LIGHT COLORS can be used to reflect light, and DARK COLORS to absorb it and capture heat.
Passive Solar Design of buildings is an age-old practice. Today's architects and engineers are refining passive solar techniques to maximize efficiency and reduce problems such as too much, or too little light, leaks and managing storage of the energy.
The US Department of Energy's website for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy provides a Building Toolbox for Passive Solar Design. Check out the topics including:
- Passive Solar Heating
- Passive Solar Cooling
- Thermal Storage
- Daylighting
New construction offers the greatest opportunity for incorporating passive solar design, but any renovation or addition to a building envelope also offers opportunities for integration of passive methods. It is important to include passive solar as early as possible in the site planning and design process, or when the addition or building is first conceived.
This website brings you practical alternatives to traditional energy and fuel products. We will track progress in clean technology resources such as biomass from trees, corn and other agricultural crops to make fuel for our cars, trucks, planes and trains. We will bring you practical sources of these alternative energies.
Alternative energies for buildings make a major impact of personal and business budgets. We bring you the solutions that help you reduce electric bills and replace lighting, heat and air conditioning and ventilation with alternative energy sources from nature: wind, sunshine, water, and even dirt!
Alternative Energy Sources for Homes
Homes have been designed for decades to rely on electricity and natural gas for light as well as heating and cooling. Alternative energy sources for homes include solar panel systems that use the sunlight for both heating water (or fluids) and conversion into electricity using photovoltaics.Our solution website will connect you with information about these fast-growing alternatives and with information about innovative products that will provide you with quality lighting, comfortable room temperatures and efficient use of energy.
Alternative Energy Efficiency for Offices
Offices use energy for lighting, HVAC and manufacturing of paper products, digital equipment, and other office equipment. Task lighting and ambient lighting can be balanced using alternative energy designs and strategies to reduce growing electric bills and reduce the impact on our environment.Our web resource center will help you find creative solutions and practical product sources to make your office energy efficient and green. And that's a sustainable business ROI.
Applications of Renewable Energy and Alternative Energy Product Categories
- green technology, renewable energy, alternative energy, energies, clean energy, biodiesel, wind power, wind energy, solar, solar energy, solar electric, PV, photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind, passive solar, insulation, geothermal technology
- Solar Energy
- Passive Solar Energy
- Thermal Solar Energy
- Wind Energy
- Photovoltaic Solar Energy
- Geothermal Energy
- Natural Light
- Natural Ventilation
- Biomass Energy
- Insulation as Alternative Energy Conservation
