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Couldn’t make it to Tahoe City for the 30th annual Utility Energy Forum? You can still find out what everyone was talking about by downloading the speaker presentations!

Draw on the expertise of utility professionals with years of experience in demand-side management. Learn about the latest government programs to promote energy efficiency. Discover new technologies that could change the way we use energy.

The presentations are on the agenda page, so you will get to see all the great networking events the forum offers, too. While you are there, check out Western’s entry in the Poster Session, Video Game Consoles: An Energy Heist?.

If perusing the information- and fun-packed schedule makes you feel like you missed out on a great opportunity for professional development, don’t despair. Plan to attend the 31st annual Utility Energy Forum at Granlibakken in 2011.

Today, there are more opportunities than ever to build large-scale solar projects in the West.   Utilities, developers and governments that want renewable energy to be a part of the region’s economic recovery are invited to attend Opening Transmission Constraints for Solar Development Locally and in the West on June 17, from 1 to 5 p.m. 

The Department of Energy Solar Technologies Program and Western Area Power Administration are sponsoring this workshop on the Arizona State University campus.

Attendees will learn about opportunities in the Solar Technologies Program, about Western’s unique borrowing authority for transmission infrastructure granted in the Recovery Act and about transmission issues from the perspective of large-scale solar developers. Participants will also discuss the steps for moving projects forward.

Utilities, real estate developers and transmission providers and should plan to attend this informative session.  For more information, or to register for the workshop, please e-mail Peggy Plate or call 970-493-5786 by June 10. You will need to provide your name, professional title, company, address, phone number, e-mail and website URL, if applicable.

Attendees at the Utility Energy Forum indulged their inner gadget lovers at the emerging technology session Friday morning. Presenters from the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and E Source Technology Assessment talked about the latest in energy-efficient equipment and systems and demonstration projects now underway.

Karl F. Johnson of CIEE talked about lighting projects with California universities that will bring the state closer to its goal of reducing energy use for lighting by 60 percent. To learn about potential partnerships for future CIEE projects, Johnson urged utilities to visit the PIER Partnership Demonstration website frequently.

Research, development and demonstration are critical to accelerating the commercialization of new technologies, according to Omar Siddiqui, EPRI program manager. Tests and pilot programs have uncovered structural flaws, like air pockets in the potting material of an LED product that caused overheating and early failure. Operational flaws also emerge during tests, like long recovery times for heat pump water heaters that have been completely drained. Identifying such problems before a product reaches the marketplace increases the likelihood that consumers will accept and invest in energy-saving equipment.

Micah Allen from E-Source showed off efficient technologies already on the market or soon to be available. Aerogel is a super-light insulating material that is still expensive but can be cost-effective in applications where space is at a premium. Wide adoption of plug-in electric vehicles could offer big carbon savings even using coal generation to charge them, but cost, charging station and battery issues must still be resolved. The solar-canopy illumination system, digital controls that integrate with conventional building systems and high-bay LED lighting show promise for reducing building energy use.

A Saturday afternoon shopping trip inspired Paul Reid, general manager of Azusa, Calif., Light and Water, to launch a new rebate program.

Reid was strolling through the electronics department of a department store and noticed that the plasma screen televisions were giving off a lot of heat. Further down the aisle, he realized that there was no heat coming off of another flat screen model. “I assumed it was an LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, which it was,” Reid recalled. “But it was also LED backlit.”

It was about the same time the state of California was considering efficiency standards for TVs. Reid decided that this was a great application for a rebate program.

LCD screens come in two formats—cold cathode fluorescent backlit or LED backlit. The LED screens use about 90 percent less energy than plasma screens, and about 25 percent less than cold cathode LCDs. That efficiency comes at a price, however, and Reid designed the rebate to help offset the price difference.

Customers send the municipal utility proof of payment and the box label for a 25 percent rebate (up to a maximum of $750). “It works out to splitting the difference in price between the LED and the cold cathode TVs,” said Reid.

The rebate also applies to computer monitors, including iMacs which have the computer built into the LED screen. Reid prorates the average rebate for a TV screen based on the diagonal inches of the computer screen.

Simplicity also applied to program marketing. Azusa announced the rebate in bill inserts and placed an ad on a calendar put out by a local recycling company. “Bill inserts are super-effective,” said Reid, “and the calendar worked really well. We didn’t need to do more than that.”

Since the program debuted last July, Azusa has paid out about two dozen rebates, and receives two to three requests weekly. Reid includes the program in his state energy savings reports and has determined that it is more cost effective than cool roof or window replacement incentives. Now, that’s efficiency.

The Home Star Energy Retrofit Act cleared a major hurdle today when the House of Representatives passed the bill 246 to 161. The bill would authorize $5.7 billion over two years to provide rebates for homeowners to make energy-efficiency improvements. An additional $600 million would be available to states for programs to make mobile homes more energy-efficient. Some 3 million households would be expected to take advantage of the program.

There are two components to the bill:

• The Silver Star program offers rebates of between $1,000 and $1,500 for each improvement installed, or $250 per appliance. Benefits do not exceed $3,000 or 50 percent of total project costs. Covered measures under Silver Star include air sealing; attic, wall and crawl space insulation; duct sealing; window and door replacement, furnaces, air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters and appliances.
• The Gold Star program provides $3,000 to consumers who conduct whole-house energy analyses and install technology that improves their overall home energy efficiency by 20 percent. They could receive an additional $1,000 rebate for each additional 5 percent improvement, to a maximum of $8,000. The rebate is limited to 50 percent of the total project cost.

The Home Star initiative differs from the tax credit in last year’s economic stimulus bill that paid up to $1,500 for energy-efficiency improvements. That tax credit expires at the end of this year.

President Obama called Home Star a common sense bill that will create jobs, save consumers money and strengthen the economy. Supporters say it would create almost 170,000 jobs in the construction industry and reduce home energy costs by almost $10 billion over 10 years.

Presentations focused on improving energy efficiency at the community level, as the Utility Energy Forum moved into its second day.

Streetlighting project
The City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) is conducting a pilot program to evaluate the potential energy savings and lighting quality of LED and induction streetlights. Project Manager Christine Tam explained that the municipal utility operates and maintains 6,300 high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps ranging from 70 to 250 watts. The city streetlights are on a five-year replacement plan.

LED and induction technologies both have life spans of 100,000 hours compared to 24,000 hours for HPS, reducing their operation costs. A further advantage LED has over the other lamps is that it contains no mercury.

The city installed alternative lighting in three test areas—one with 20 LED lamps, a second with 30 LEDs and a third area with induction lights. As part of the evaluation, residents and city workers offered feedback on their opinion about the light quality. In Palo Alto and other cities that have installed LEDs, some residents complain about bright white light. City workers, however, often prefer it to dimmer HPS lights. Installing dimmers on LED streetlights can mitigate complaints, but adds to the cost.

The results of the pilot program indicate that for Palo Alto, LEDs are marginally cost-effective, especially where the lights are new installs. Tam points out that the city is calculating the savings based on its own avoided cost of $.08 per kWh. A city that pays a utility for electricity will probably have greater savings. CPAU expects to release a full report on the lighting pilot this summer.

Working with ARRA funding
The challenges of using funding from the American Recover and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was the subject of a presentation by Tara Vogel, renewable energy analyst for Nevada State Energy Office.

As exciting as it is for energy agencies to have access to funding, meeting Federal regulations in addition to state and internal provisions can slow implementation. Many rules are still under review for exceptions, and vendors may resist buying materials until procurement requirements are settled.

Even the so-called “shovel-ready” projects may hit stumbling blocks. The State Energy Office had worked on many retrofit projects on schools with NV Energy. When some districts realized that Federal money was available, they asked to change their proposals to stretch the dollars further. “They had no idea of the paperwork that was involved in changing the project specifications,” said Vogel. 

Nevertheless, Nevada is charging forward on ARRA projects—ahead of schedule, in some cases. Panel moderator Janis Erickson of Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) observed that the ARRA era is new territory for energy-efficiency programs, and utilities and municipalities must be flexible and ready to learn.

Partner with your local community college
That sentiment was echoed by Sandy Kirschenmann, Vice Chancellor, Los Rios Community College District in the Sacramento area. Los Rios has a long-standing partnership with SMUD, most recently focusing on developing curriculums around the skills needed to install smart grid and renewable technologies.

Kirschenmann urged utilities to reach out to local community colleges to supply the training component necessary for many ARRA grants. “Community colleges, like ARRA, are all about jobs, jobs, jobs,” she said.

Contacting the president or chancellor of the college is the most important step a utility can take. “The presidents are very in tune with the needs of their communities, and they are always looking for ways to keep their curriculums current and relevant,” Kirschenmann said. “The president will take your call.”

 She also advised finding an advocate on the teaching staff who is developing the training programs. Sometimes, the utility representative becomes that person. Scott Terrell of Truckee Donner Public Utility District told the audience that, after 25 years of developing water and energy conservation programs for utilities, he had started teaching classes at the new community college in Truckee.

After establishing contact with the community college, utilities can bring economic development agencies, workforce investment entities and advisory boards into the partnership.

Above all, Kirschenmann concluded, be tolerant of ambiguity. “ARRA money rolled out very fast and things change from day to day,” she said. “The utilities that can respond to those changes will emerge as the real leaders.”

The Utility Energy Forum kicked off today with keynote speaker Ed Pollock, residential team leader for the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Program.

Pollock told the audience about DOE’s Builders Challenge residential energy program with its goal of getting net zero energy homes into the market by 2020. The DOE launched Builders Challenge two years ago to build on the pass/fail system of Energy Star for Homes.

The program addressed the “obvious” measures first, tightening building envelopes, retrofitting windows and putting efficient equipment and appliances in new and existing homes. Vampire loads are the next challenge in this phase, said Pollock. “They can’t be addressed in construction,” he noted. “We have to educate consumers to buy the most efficient appliances and monitor their energy use.  Utilities can encourage consumers with time-of-use rates and demand response programs.”

Another area of focus is equipment that can easily be adapted to retrofits to help bring up the efficiency standards in existing homes. Improving energy consumption in the nation’s 110 million-plus existing homes represents a tremendous opportunity for energy savings. Utilities’ experience in retrofit programs could be very helpful in shaping this aspect of Builders Challenge. 

The program will unveil more stringent requirements in 2011. Bringing consistency to the various standards in the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) and other rating programs is necessary to gain consumer acceptance, Pollock said. “If one rating method says a home is efficient, and another rating  says it is not, consumers don’t believe any rating and they don’t make any upgrades.”  

Pollock hopes that utilities will offer feedback on metrics that would be valuable from their perspective. Builders made it clear that the cost of energy is the most important marketing point, so Builders Challenge labels now display that information. The program is working to make it easy for builders see what they need to do to make their product more competitive. A series of 10 homes that exceed program standards have been built, and builders who joined the program early on are finding that their homes are selling better in the slow market.

While consumers and the building industry are gaining appreciation for the value energy efficiency adds to a home, banks have yet to factor it into their appraisals. HUD is hoping to change that by developing a “green” appraiser certification to teach real estate appraisers to value efficient features.

Pollock expects that there will be a lot of activity in the area of home performance rating in the next couple of years. Money is flowing to sponsors and prospective sponsors of energy-efficiency programs, he said, and utilities’ demand-side management programs may qualify for funding. The issue is also on legislators’ radar, with a bill for the new Federal Home Star program making its way through Congress this week. Home Star could release a new round of rebates for both individual measures, and whole house upgrades.