Login
Advocacy Quicklinks
More Information
DOE to Save $13 Million in Annual Energy Costs at Four National Labs
DOE announced that it has signed contracts for $140 million in energy efficiency improvements at four of its national laboratories: Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The energy efficiency improvements will help DOE save about $13 million on energy and energy-related costs per year. The contracts are the first ones signed under DOE's Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) initiative, which aims to have 7.5% of the energy used at all DOE facilities supplied by renewable sources by 2010. The TEAM initiative also seeks to reduce energy intensity by 30% and reduce water consumption intensity by 16% in all DOE facilities by 2015.
At Idaho National Laboratory, the energy source for the boiler will be changed, eliminating 600,000 gallons per year of fuel oil purchases to yield an annual savings of $1.7 million. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will receive an upgraded energy management control system, which will result in $1.3 million in savings per year. The National Energy Technology Laboratory will receive a variety of green upgrades, including biogas boilers, green roofs, hybrid lighting, advanced metering, solar lighting, rooftop wind turbines, and natural gas well dewatering, which will reduce energy consumption by more than 27 billion Btu per year and reduce water use by more than three million gallons, resulting in approximately $800,000 in savings per year. And on top of implementing other general energy conservation measures, a biomass steam plant will be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, allowing for nearly $8.7 million in savings per year.
The energy efficiency improvements will be installed under Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), under which energy service companies or utilities provide the funding required to purchase equipment and system enhancements for an organization, and are paid back from the energy savings that result from increased energy efficiency. Over one billion pounds of carbon dioxide can be avoided by the potential ESPC projects currently in development at DOE. This is equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from more than 83,000 vehicles. See the DOE press release (http://www.energy.gov/news/6449.htm).
DOE Pursues Zero-Net Energy Commercial Buildings
DOE launched the Zero-Net Energy Commercial Building Initiative (CBI), with the goals of developing new commercial buildings that produce as much energy as they use and making these buildings marketable by 2025. Such zero-net energy commercial buildings will minimize their energy use through cutting-edge energy efficiency technologies and will meet their remaining energy needs through on-site renewable energy generation. To help with the CBI, DOE has also formed the National Laboratory Collaborative on Building Technologies (NLCBT), which will allow DOE and five of its national laboratories to work closely on the research, validation, and commercialization priorities that are critical to the success of zero-net energy buildings. Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will be working together under the NLCBT.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by President Bush in December 2007, authorized DOE to collaborate with its national laboratories, other federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to advance high-performance commercial green buildings. With help from the NLCBT, DOE's Building Technologies Program will carry out the intent of that act through the new CBI and its existing partnerships, including such efforts as developing new technologies, sponsoring pilot and demonstration projects, providing technical assistance, developing training materials, working with organizations that set building codes, analyzing incentives, developing ways to measure energy savings, and educating the public. In 2005, commercial buildings accounted for 18% of U.S. energy use as well as 18% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.
See the DOE press release (http://www.energy.gov/news/6454.htm).
San Francisco Imposes New Green Building Requirements
Mayor Gavin Newsom signed San Francisco’s groundbreaking green building ordinance that imposes strict new green building requirements on newly constructed residential and commercial buildings, and renovations to existing buildings. The ordinance specifically requires newly constructed commercial buildings over 5,000 sq ft, residential buildings over 75 feet in height, and renovations on buildings over 25,000 sq ft to be subject to an unprecedented level of LEED and green building certifications, which makes San Francisco the city with the most stringent green building requirements in the nation.
The City's Climate Action Plan found that energy use in buildings and facilities is responsible for approximately 50 percent of San Francisco's greenhouse gas emissions. In 1990, San Francisco's energy use resulted in a total of approximately 4.5 million tons of CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere, making green building a critical component in the fight against climate change.
Some of the significant cumulative benefits this ordinance is expected to achieve through 2012 are: reducing CO2 emissions by 60,000 tons, saving 220,000 megawatt hours of power, saving 100 million gallons of drinking water, reducing waste and storm water by 90 million gallons of water, reducing construction and demolition waste by 700 million pounds, increasing the valuations of recycled materials by $200 million, reducing automobile trips by 540,000, and increasing green power generation by 37,000 megawatt hours.
This ordinance also continues San Francisco's efforts to reduce the City's greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2012, a goal outlined in the City's 2004 Climate Action Plan. In addition, by reducing San Francisco's emissions, this ordinance also furthers the State's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions statewide as mandated by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
In 2007, Mayor Gavin Newsom established a Task Force on Green Buildings for the City comprised of ten members from San Francisco's ownership, developer, financial, architectural, engineering, and construction community. The mission of the Task Force was to advise and recommend to the City's policy makers: mandates, incentives, education, and outreach in order to increase the number and improve the quality of green buildings in San Francisco, and to assess the impacts of the Task Force's recommendations.
DOE to Invest in Grid Integration Systems for Solar Energy
DOE announced that it plans to invest up to $24 million over a number of years to develop products that connect solar power systems with the electrical grid in an interactive way. DOE has selected 12 industry teams that will receive $2.9 million in current fiscal year funding to develop conceptual designs and market analyses for such Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) projects. The projects will focus on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and will involve such efforts as developing systems that can communicate with an interactive utility grid and advanced power meters to respond to power price changes over the course of a day, systems that can work with energy storage devices and "smart" appliances to respond to utility price signals, and systems that can interact with building energy management systems.
The goal is to maximize the value of PV systems and offer consumers greater control over their electric consumption and costs. In the future, and subject to congressional appropriations, additional funding will be provided for the projects that achieve the most promising technological advancements while demonstrating a high likelihood of commercial success. See the DOE press release (http://www.energy.gov/news/6477.htm) .
New York Expands Renewable Net Metering and Green Roof Incentives
New York Governor David Paterson signed a legislative package that will encourage people throughout the state to install grid-connected solar and wind power systems, systems that generate power from farm wastes, and green roofs. Most of the bills relate to net metering, which allows homeowners and businesses to earn credit for any excess power that they feed back into the electric grid. Senate Bill 7171 (http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S07171&sh=t) expands net metering to include non-residential solar power systems up to 2 megawatts in capacity, or equal in size to the customer's peak load, whichever is less, and increases the maximum solar power system size for residential customers to 25 kilowatts, up from 10 kilowatts. The bill also attempted to increase the limit for farm-based anaerobic digesters to 1 megawatt, but a separate bill, S. 8415 (http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S08415&sh=t), knocked the limit down to 500 kilowatts, which is still an improvement over the previous limit of 400 kilowatts. S. 7171 also requires each utility to develop a model contract and reasonable rates, terms, and conditions for net metering of non-residential customers, and to develop safety standards for interconnecting these customers. It also includes a requirement for an external disconnect switch, which is rarely needed for modern grid connection equipment.
Senate Bill 8481 (http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S08481&sh=t) applies similar changes to net-metered wind power generators, allowing farms to net meter wind turbines as large as 500 kilowatts, up from 25 kilowatts, and expanding net metering of wind turbines to include non-residential customers, who can net meter wind turbines as large as 2 megawatts or the customer's peak load, whichever is less. As with S. 7171, S. 8481 requires utilities to develop model contracts and reasonable rates, terms, and conditions for non-residential customers wishing to net meter their wind turbines.
Two additional bills relate to tax abatements for buildings in New York City with solar power systems and green roofs. S. 8145 (http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S08145&sh=t) creates a four-year real property tax abatement of up to $62,500 per year for buildings owners that install solar power systems, with a greater tax abatement available for systems installed before 2011, and a lesser tax abatement for systems installed in 2011 or 2012. S. 7553 (http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S07553&sh=t) creates a similar tax abatement for buildings that install green roofs. The one-year tax abatement applies to buildings that cover at least half of their rooftop space with vegetation and is equal to $4.50 per square foot of green roof, up to the tax liability on the building or $100,000, whichever is less. The green roof tax abatement is in effect from 2009 through 2013. Both laws apply only to properties located in cities with populations of one million or more, which limits them to New York City. See the governor's press release (http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/press_0808083.html).
California Air Resources Board Introduces GHG Control Database
The California Air Resources Board’s clearinghouse of non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) control technologies is now available online. ARB has developed a clearinghouse of available technologies that can be used to reduce emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases, such as methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and black carbon (BC). You can access this information at http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/non-co2-clearinghouse/non-co2-clearinghouse.htm.
