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
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