From EERE News.
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced 15 research and deployment partnerships to help dramatically improve the energy efficiency of American homes. These highly-qualified, multidisciplinary teams will receive a total of up to $30 million for the initial eighteen months of the projects to deliver innovative energy efficiency strategies to the residential market and address barriers to bringing high-efficiency homes within reach for all Americans. A total of up to $20 million per year will also be made available for the partnerships for three potential one-year extensions. These research and deployment partnerships will provide technical assistance to retrofit projects and will leverage industry expertise and funding to support DOE’s energy efficiency retrofit programs. This effort will support the Department’s Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative, announced by Vice President Joe Biden in April, which brings communities, governments, private sector companies and non-profit organizations together to deliver energy-efficiency upgrades—or retrofits—to whole neighborhoods and cities.
“Home energy efficiency is one of the easiest, most immediate and most cost-effective ways to reduce carbon pollution and save money on energy bills, while creating new jobs,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. “By developing and using tools to reduce residential energy use, we will spur economic growth here in America and help homeowners make cost-cutting improvements in their homes.”
The partnerships announced today will provide additional support to ongoing retrofit initiatives that are making cost-effective energy efficiency retrofits easily accessible to hundreds of thousands of American homes and businesses. These partnerships will research and deploy new technologies and demonstration projects, and provide systems engineering, quality assurance, and outreach for retrofit projects throughout the country.
Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting—such as air-tight ducts, windows and doors, heating and cooling systems, insulation and caulking—can reduce energy use by up to 40% per home and cut energy bills by $40 billion annually.
The following selections were made though the DOE Building Technologies Program, which forges research partnerships across the residential building industry to develop cost-effective solutions that dramatically reduce the average energy use of housing while improving comfort and quality. To find out more, visit the Buildings Technology Program Web site.
To further support the broad deployment of energy efficiency building retrofits, DOE is hosting the Residential Building Energy Efficiency Meeting 2010 in Denver, Colorado from July 20-22, to present cutting-edge research results, identify key stakeholder and market transformation needs, and facilitate collaboration opportunities between conference participants. This conference is targeted to researchers, architects, contractors, manufacturers, builders, utilities, legislators, lenders, realtors, auditors, raters, installation technicians, HOA representatives, and anyone else interested in creating substantial connections with the field.
The following is a brief description of the selected teams, which will each receive between $500,000 and $2.5 million depending on their performance:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=370
From EERE News – June 17, 2010
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced awards totaling more than $76 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support advanced energy-efficient building technology projects and the development of training programs for commercial building equipment technicians, building operators, and energy auditors.
The 58 projects selected today will help make the nation’s buildings more energy efficient and cost-effective. They will also support programs to train workers to service and operate new and existing buildings, to develop and deploy best practices resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and to establish a green workforce with technical expertise to reduce energy costs for consumers.
“These projects will help the United States lead the world in advancing energy-efficient technologies,” Secretary Chu said. “Energy-efficient commercial buildings will help our country cut its carbon emissions and energy costs while the training programs will upgrade the skills of the current workforce and attract the next generation to careers in the emerging clean-energy economy.”
The Department of Energy also released today a new video that showcases the story of Greensburg, Kansas, a town devastated by a tornado in 2007, which came back to be one of the nation’s most energy-efficient, sustainable communities. Many of the town’s government buildings use cutting-edge energy-saving technologies, such as high-efficiency windows, lighting, and heating and ventilation systems, saving local taxpayer money. Greensburg has shown that any city can reach its energy efficiency and renewable energy goals today using widely available technologies. View the video to see how Greensburg was able to “build green.”
The nation’s 114 million households and more than 74 million square feet of commercial floor space account for approximately 40% of U.S. primary energy consumption, as well as 39% of carbon dioxide, 18% of nitrogen oxides, and 55% of sulfur dioxide emissions. These projects will help lower the energy demands and emissions of commercial buildings and promote a specialized, energy-efficient buildings workforce.
Advanced Energy-Efficient Building Technology Projects
These 45 awards for advanced energy-efficient building technology projects will receive over $68.4 million and will be leveraged with more than $31.4 million in funding from private industry, for a total project value of nearly $100 million. Projects have been selected in the following five areas:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=356
From EERE News – June 11, 2010
The U.S. Department of Energy announced today that 20 communities have been selected for more than $60 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to implement local energy efficiency and renewable energy programs that will reduce energy use by American homes, vehicles, and businesses. Local governments, nonprofit organizations, and quasi-governmental organizations are among the recipients for the competitive grants, administered under the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program.
“These projects will stimulate the economy and create jobs on the main streets of local communities across the nation through innovative investments in energy conservation, efficiency, and renewable power generation,” said Under Secretary of Energy Kristina Johnson. “We already have proven technologies to reduce energy use at home and at work. These projects will provide access to those tools for more Americans, saving money for thousands of families and businesses.”
These awards were open to local communities that were not eligible to receive the initial, population-based formula grants under the EECBG program. The projects announced today will continue to build on the Recovery Act’s historic down-payment for a clean energy future, empowering local communities to address their clean energy priorities through projects such as residential, commercial, and municipal energy efficiency retrofits, efficiency improvements to transportation systems, and installations of renewable energy systems to reduce fossil fuel consumption.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=352
Taken from EERE News.
May 11, 2010
Assistant Secretary Cathy Zoi of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy joined leaders from 15 countries and the European Commission today at the first Policy Committee meeting of the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) to promote global collaboration on energy-saving programs and policies. U.S. participation in this partnership, launched at the Group of 8 (G8) Energy Ministers Meeting in Rome in May 2009, continues the Obama Administration’s efforts to forge partnerships among governments to address climate change, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and grow the global clean energy economy.
At the meeting, Assistant Secretary Zoi was selected to serve a two-year term as the first Chair of the IPEEC Policy Committee.
“Smart, efficient energy use has enormous potential to reduce energy demand, improve economic development, and reduce emissions worldwide,” said Assistant Secretary Zoi. “We need to achieve unprecedented speed and scale in deploying energy-saving practices and policies to meet our global challenges, and the IPEEC partnership is an extraordinary opportunity to ramp up this work.”
Over the past year, IPEEC member countries have contributed more than $1.6 million (approximately 1.3 million euros) in funding to support six key initiatives that advance energy efficiency. These projects include:
Taken from EERE News
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced support for energy-saving commercial building projects as part of an ongoing effort by DOE to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in the United States. With money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, DOE’s national laboratories will select and fund technical experts to provide technical guidance to commercial building owners and operators. The goal of this Commercial Building Partnerships (CBP) initiative is to increase the energy efficiency of selected new and existing buildings.
DOE’s CBP initiative will foster collaborative relationships among the owners and operators of commercial buildings, researchers from DOE national laboratories and private-sector technical experts. Building owners receive technical expertise on how to design, build and maintain low-energy buildings that can reduce energy use and lower energy bills across their building portfolios. These collaborations help to move energy-saving strategies into the marketplace quickly and cost-effectively. Each of the CBP building projects will be documented in publicly available case studies that will provide detailed energy use data and best practices to other building operators across the country.
Three DOE national laboratories are managing this new effort: the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado; and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.
Applicants can apply through the laboratories for the following two initiatives:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=318
MPSC Press Release
April 19, 2010
Thousands of Michigan utility customers have reduced their energy usage and lowered their bills by becoming more energy efficient, since Michigan utilities began to offer their energy optimization programs last year, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) notes.
“The cheapest energy is the energy you never use,” said MPSC Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu. “That’s the idea behind the energy efficiency programs that Michigan utilities began to offer customers last summer and fall.”
In only a few months, thousands of electric and natural gas customers jumped on the energy efficiency bandwagon. For example, in 2009: Detroit Edison reported that some 9,000 customers recycled appliances; and Consumers Energy reported that 10,000 customers took advantage of rebates for installing energy efficient furnaces or HVAC systems.
Thousands of other electric and natural gas customers across Michigan made other energy efficiency improvements — from upgrading water heaters and clothes washers to switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs.
“Customers who have recycled old, inefficient appliances have, in many cases, replaced them with more efficient models or have not replaced them at all,” noted Commissioner Monica Martinez. “What’s more, these customers see an immediate reduction in their energy use, and as a result, have lower bills. In fact, simply getting rid of that extra fridge may result in cutting an electric bill by 5 to 10 percent.”
Each utility’s energy efficiency program is different, so customers are encouraged to check periodically with their utility on what’s currently available.
Low-income customers should ask their utility about energy efficiency programs available to them — such as weatherization.
To encourage even more energy efficiency, the state of Michigan recently announced appliance rebate programs designed to complement the utility programs. These programs provide rebates for appliances not covered by utility programs; reach rural areas not served by utility natural gas programs; and push the marketplace by providing rebates for appliances that exceed the ENERGY STAR standards.
In addition, Michigan companies – such as Whirlpool – benefit from sales of the energy efficient appliances.
Dishwashers, clothes washers, propane furnaces, and water heaters are a few of the covered items. More information is available at MIRebates.com (http://mirebates.com/).
“As you consider ways to improve the environment around you this Earth Day and every day, think energy efficiency first,” added Commissioner Greg White. “As Michigan becomes more energy efficient, all utility customers benefit because the need for new electric generation is delayed. Conservatively speaking, every dollar spent on a utility’s energy efficiency program yields $3 in savings. So, energy efficiency is the smartest and quickest approach to save on energy bills and to plan for Michigan’s energy future.”
Michigan residents are encouraged to take the ENERGY STAR pledge on its “Change the World” Web site: energystar.gov/changetheworld (http://www.energystar.gov/changetheworld) .
There, people have the opportunity to pledge to switch to energy efficient lighting, make improvements to their heating and cooling systems, weatherize their homes, and purchase ENERGY STAR qualified products. Pledgers should select “State of Michigan” as the organization that referred them.
March 26, 2010
Today while visiting Seaway Manufacturing Corporation—an energy efficient window manufacturing company in Erie, Pennsylvania—Secretary Chu highlighted the tax credits available to American families as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Taxpayers are eligible for up to $1,500 in tax credits for a range of home energy efficiency improvements—such as adding insulation, installing energy efficient windows, or replacing water heaters.
“Investing in energy efficiency is one of the quickest and most cost-effective ways reduce the energy bills in your home,” said Secretary Chu. “We want to make sure that families that made those investments are taking advantage of the Recovery Act tax credits, which can put up to $1,500 into their pockets.”
“Thanks to the Recovery Act, homeowners can save as much as $1,500 in tax credits for energy improvements—a major savings for families. With quality, energy efficient products made right here in Erie, homeowners in our region can save money and support local businesses at the same time,” said Rep. Dahlkemper. “Western Pennsylvania boasts an innovative and hardworking manufacturing base; our region is poised to be a leader in new energy technologies.”
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=310
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy today outlined a series of steps to further strengthen the trusted ENERGY STAR® program. This action comes at a critical time for American consumers, many of whom struggle to keep up with their monthly energy bills. In addition to third-party testing already underway, EPA and DOE have launched a new two-step process to expand testing of ENERGY STAR qualified products. This week, DOE began testing of some of the most commonly used appliances, which account for more than 25% of a household’s energy bill, and both agencies are now developing a system to test all products that earn the ENERGY STAR label. The steps are part of an overall effort by the Obama Administration to improve the energy efficiency of homes and appliances to save families money.
“Energy efficiency is more important than ever to American families,” Gina McCarthy, EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation said. “As our economy gets back on its feet, ENERGY STAR is an easy way for consumers to save money and help fight climate change.”
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=309
The program will spur economic growth, save energy, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by encouraging appliance replacements. This program will create jobs in retailing and manufacturing and Michigan companies make many of the products included in this program. The Michigan strategy will have the following objectives:
- Complement existing utility energy optimization programs by providing rebates for appliances not covered by utility programs.
- Reach rural areas not served by utility natural gas programs.
- Push the marketplace by providing rebates for appliances that exceed the ENERGY STAR standards.
The program will start on February 10, 2010 and end when funds run out. Rebates are not retroactive. Only Michigan residents will be eligible to participate and rebates are limited to one per product per household. Appliances have to be replaced. Customers can go online or call a toll-free number to reserve a rebate. Participants will be required to mail in a rebate application and valid receipt for proof of purchase.
| Products to be Rebated |
Rebate Level ($) |
Targeted Quantity |
Total Cost |
| Clothes Washers Tier 3* |
$50 |
30,764 |
$1,538,200 |
| Refrigerators ENERGY STAR |
$50 |
30,000 |
$1,500,000 |
| Refrigerators Tier 3 |
$100 |
28,073 |
$2,807,300 |
| Dishwashers ENERGY STAR |
$25 |
10,601 |
$265,025 |
| Dishwashers Tier 2 |
$50 |
10,600 |
$530,000 |
| Propane Furnaces –AFUE 95% |
$300 |
4,280 |
$1,284,000 |
| Propane Storage Water Heaters EF>=.67 |
$100 |
1,280 |
$128,000 |
| Propane Tankless Water Heaters EF>=.82 |
$100 |
3,000 |
$300,000 |
| Oil Furnaces ENERGY STAR |
$300 |
770 |
$231,000 |
| Solar Water Heaters ENERGY STAR |
20%, max $1200 |
200 |
$240,000 |
| Total Rebates |
|
119,568 |
$8,823,525 |
* Tiers refer to Consortium for Energy Efficiency standards.
Websites to reserve rebates:
http://www.MIrebates.com/ – Refrigerators, dishwashers, & clothes washers
http://www.michrebate.com/ – Furnaces & hot water heaters
Call-In Numbers for additional information or to reserve a rebate:
1-866-621-8782 – Refrigerators, dishwashers, & clothes washers
1-888-MICHNRG (1-888-642-4674) – Furnaces & hot water heaters
MPSC Press Release, February 8, 2010
The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today issued an order approving $1,686,370 in Michigan energy efficiency grants for all customer classes to two organizations.
“My fellow Commissioners and I are extremely pleased to announce these grants,” said MPSC Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu. “The grants awarded today will move Michigan forward in garnering the research and tools needed to establish the feasibility of the deployment of offshore wind technologies in Michigan.”
The Commission on November 20, 2009 issued a request for proposals for Michigan energy efficiency grants for all customer classes. Based on its review, the MPSC awarded the following grants:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, in partnership with the University of Michigan Memorial Phoenix
Energy Institute – $1,336,370 to conduct and/or perform studies to explore the feasibility of deployment of offshore wind technologies in Michigan.
Superior Watershed Partnership – $350,000 to conduct and/or perform studies to explore the feasibility of deployment of offshore wind technologies in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The grants are part of the Low Income and Energy Efficiency Fund, which provides energy bill assistance for low income customers and promotes the efficient use of energy by all customer classes.
The MPSC is an agency within the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.
Case No. U-13129
