EETD Communications

The OpenADR Alliance announced its formation today. Supported by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Honeywell, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Southern California Edison, the OpenADR Alliance will work to establish the OpenADR communications specification as a Smart Grid standard. The Alliance is inviting other interested stakeholders to join them. The OpenADR communications specification originated at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and was funded by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program. Further development is taking place through the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Smart Grid-standards effort, along with organizations including: the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), the Utilities Communications Architecture International User’s Group (UCAIug), and the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB).

An excerpt of the OpenADR press release and website link follows:

“Leading Smart Grid industry organizations today announced the formation of the OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation created to foster the development, adoption and compliance of a Smart Grid standard known as Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR). Smart Grid standards for Automated Demand Response (Auto-DR) will ultimately lower the cost, improve the reliability and accelerate the speed of Auto-DR and Smart Grid implementations across the U.S.

“A critical component of the national Smart Grid initiative, Auto-DR encourages businesses and homeowners to reduce their electricity consumption at critical “peak demand” times, or in response to changes in market price, by automating message delivery from the utility directly to the customer. OpenADR standardizes a message format used for Auto-DR so that dynamic price and reliability signals can be delivered in a uniform and interoperable data model among utilities, Independent System Operator (ISOs) and customer’s energy management and control systems.”

…

“The OpenADR Alliance is open to all interested stakeholders sharing a common interest in facilitating and accelerating the use and adoption of the OpenADR standard for price- and reliability-based demand response.”

http://www.openadr.org

The California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UC San Diego is operating a set of servers in a campus data center on 380-volt DC  (direct current) power. The new modular data center on campus has sensors and other instruments to measure the energy efficiency of information and communication technologies, the infrastructure that supports it – and to help researchers build greener IT systems and software.

The direct current technology in the center eliminates the need for multiple conversions back and forth between AC to DC power, which are used in AC-based data centers that are in common use today. This technology approach has been pioneered by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in partnership with the Electric Power Research Institute and numerous high technology private sector manufacturers.

William Tschudi, EETD Program Manager, “we’re pleased to be part of this project to implement DC-power technology in a major, high profile University. The DC power approach offers many advantages over traditional AC powered systems.  It eliminates several power conversions and it will involve less equipment.  This will improve reliability (fewer potential points of failure) and should reduce capital cost.  This will help operators save energy and money.  Power quality issues should also improve with the use of the DC power technology”

The project is one of the first installations in the United States to utilize system components specifically manufactured for this 380-volt DC power system topology. Switching to an all-DC power distribution is expected to increase the ‘computing work per watt,’ a barometer of energy efficiency in computing environments. In addition to significant energy savings, other potential benefits include improved power quality, reduced cooling needs, higher equipment densities, reduced heat-related failures, improved reliability (from fewer components) and greater ease of use of renewable sources.

The project was a strategic partnership between UCSD and its partners, including several members of the EMerge Alliance, an open industry association leading the adoption of safe DC power distribution in commercial buildings through the development of standards. The EMerge Alliance is developing a 380-volt DC power standard for inclusion in its hybrid alternating current (AC) and DC microgrid platform. This open architecture focuses on reducing or eliminating inefficient AC to DC conversions that occur between power sources and digital devices in commercial buildings by converting and distributing power in DC form. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is a member of the EMerge Alliance, and Tschudi is a member of EMerge Alliance’s Advisory Council.

More about the UCSD data center:

http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/release.php?id=1730

More information about the EMerge Alliance:

http://www.emergealliance.org/en/index.asp

http://www.emergealliance.org/imwp/idms/popups/pop_download.asp?contentID=19085.

The California Energy Commission has approved two research grants to Lawrence Berkeley National 
Laboratory's Environmental Energy Technologies Division to document the energy savings of two 
projects to cool large computer rooms more efficiently. 

A $200,000 grant will quantify the savings from using higher temperature cooling tower water, 
while a $400,000 grant will demonstrate the benefits of using more sensitive controls in computer 
room cooling systems.


"California's leadership in greenhouse gas reduction is a key reason for funding this specific 
type of research," said Energy Commissioner Jeffrey Byron. "By teaming up with eminent scientific 
partners, the Commission is demonstrating that R&D funding is a valuable part of our 
state's energy infrastructure."


The Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program supports public interest research and 
development that helps improve the quality of life in California by bringing environmentally 
safe, reliable, and affordable energy services and products to the marketplace. For more 
information, visit www.energy.ca.gov/research/.
				

Sila Kiliccote

Sila Kiliccote, a researcher in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, has received the 2010 GridWeek Award for Leadership in Smart Grid Acceleration. GridWeek cited Kiliccote for her “leadership, vision, non-traditional approach, ability to create step function vs. incremental change, and willingness to take risk.” Gridweek is an annual gathering of Smart Grid stakeholders whose goal is “to explore Smart Grid’s impact on the economy, utility infrastructure, consumers and the environment while answeringthe industry’s most pressing questions.” Gridweek is takes place the week of October 18 in Washington D.C.

Congratulations, Sila.

http://www.gridweek.com/2010/#2010-10-13

Bruce Nordman (left) and Michael Bennett in a Berkeley Lab data center.

The following article was written by Jon Bashor, Berkeley Lab’s Computing Sciences Division.

A newly approved standard to help reduce energy use by networked devices was driven in part by an informal collaboration between energy efficiency and network experts at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The standard, adopted September 30 by IEEE, the world’s leading professional association for technology advancement, gives network managers and consumers of networking services the tools they need to reduce energy consumption in network-attached devices, network routers and switches, computers, and printers.

Bruce Nordman, a researcher in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Berkeley Lab, has long been examining the problem of energy use by idle electronics, including computers, printers, game consoles, and the like. Even when the systems are in sleep mode, they are still consuming—and wasting—energy. Nordman and his collaborator Ken Christensen, a faculty member of the University of South Florida, have developed approaches for cutting power consumption in idle devices.

The work was part of Nordman’s research into making buildings more energy efficient. Electronics account for more than 10 percent of a building’s electricity use, and more than half of this load (currently at least 150 terawatt-hours per year) is digitally networked, and the portion is rising.

About five years ago, Nordman learned that Michael Bennett, a senior network engineer in Berkeley Lab’s Information Technologies Division, was involved in IEEE’s (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Ethernet Working Group. Nordman called him, Bennett recalled, and said “We’ve got this idea…and it took off.”

In 2005, Bennett was invited to speak at Google and was accompanied by other members of the IEEE working group. The topic of energy efficiency in networked devices came up and the wheels started to turn. Bennett arranged for Nordman to give a tutorial on his research at an IEEE plenary meeting in San Francisco. While some in the audience understood the importance of the work, many others did not. “Most network chip designers weren’t focused on energy use back then,” Bennett said.

Nonetheless, under IEEE’s procedural rules, a study group was formed to consider developing a standard, and after more than six months, a project was authorized. This led to the formation of the IEEE 802.3az Energy-Efficient Ethernet Task Force, which Bennett chairs.

The task force considered two different approaches to address the issue. Nordman’s proposal was to have networked devices automatically switch to lower speeds when not in use. The other idea was to have the devices go into low power idle mode. Ultimately, the low power idle mode was adopted by the task force, but Bennett credits Nordman with the inspiration for the task force and believes his approach will continue to be influential (it has been referenced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program).

“It really was a classic example of collaboration,” Bennett said of the interactions with Nordman. “It really speaks to the openness and collegiality of the Laboratory when a researcher in one division can pick up the phone, call someone he hasn’t met, and this leads to productive research.”

The new IEEE 802.3az Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE) standard defines mechanisms and protocols designed to reduce the energy consumption of network links during periods of low utilization, by transitioning interfaces on computers and network switches into a low-power state.

When IEEE 802.3az compliant products have been fully deployed in new and existing Ethernet networks, it is estimated that power savings in the U.S. alone could reach 5 terawatt-hours per year, or enough energy to power 6 million 100-watt light bulbs. This translates into a reduction of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) carbon footprint by roughly 5 million tons per year.

“The great advantage of using products supporting EEE is that there is no complex configuration necessary,” Bennett said.” In most cases, energy will be saved automatically.”

—Jon Bashor

JBashor@lbl.gov

To read more about the IEEE 802.3az standard, see the IEEE news release at www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101005007144/en/IEEE-Enables-Reduction-Network-Energy-Footprint-IEEE.

Read more about Bruce Nordman’s research in this area.

Research conducted by a team of scientists led by Dustin Poppendieck at Humboldt State University and EETD’s Evan Mills shows that kerosene lamps used by more than one-quarter of the world’s population in developing nations emit high levels of particulates, resulting in concentrations substantially exceeding ambient health guidelines.

The research was published in the journal Indoor Air. Researchers tested several types of simple wick lamps, hurricane lamps, which have a glass casing, and other types of light sources commonly found in developing nations. The conditions for the testing simulated the enclosed kiosks typically used by vendors in outdoor air markets in many developing nations. The scientists measured the concentrations in the air of a range of particle sizes, including the PM_2.5, which impact human health.

They found that vendors who use a single simple wick lamp in market kiosks will likely be exposed to PM2.5 concentrations that are an order of magnitude greater than ambient health guidelines. Exposure levels to particulates from simple wick lamps may be even higher in most residential indoor environments, as these tend to have lower rates of air exchange (less ventilation) than kiosks. Using a hurricane lamp will reduce exposure to PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ concentrations by an order of magnitude compared to using a simple wick lamp. Vendors who change from fuel-based lighting to electric lighting technology for enhanced illumination will likely gain the ancillary health benefit of reduced particulate matter exposure.

Up to 1.6 billion people, conducting business and performing tasks after dark, are exposed to high particulate matter concentrations as a result of these inefficient lighting sources. Inefficient wood and other biomass cookstoves in kitchens also contribute substantially to human exposure, which can lead to such health effects as respiratory disease. Broader efforts are under way to introduce and study the health and economic effects of clean light-emitting diode (LED) based lamps into the developing world to reduce exposure to smoke from inefficient-burning light sources.

The research was sponsored by the Art Rosenfeld Fund at the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California at Berkeley.

J. Apple, R. Vicente, A. Yarberry, N. Lohse, E. Mills, A. Jacobson, D. Poppendieck. “Characterization of particulate matter size distributions and indoor concentrations from kerosene and diesel lamps.” Indoor Air 2010; 20: 399–411

http://offgridlighting.posterous.com/clearing-the-air

For more information, contact emills@lbl.gov

Climatewire/New York Times coverage of this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/10/20/20climatewire-bringing-clean-light-to-poor-nations-and-mov-88428.html?pagewanted=1

From the U.S. Department of Energy:

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy & International Affairs David Sandalow announced today that Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will receive $12.5 million over the next five years to lead a consortium on energy-efficient building technologies under the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC). The funding will be matched by the consortium partners to provide at least $25 million in total U.S. funding. Chinese counterparts will contribute an additional $25 million.

“The U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center will help to save energy and cut costs in buildings in both the United States and China,” said Assistant Secretary Sandalow. “This new partnership will also create new export opportunities for American companies, ensure the United States remains at the forefront of technology innovation, and help to reduce global carbon pollution.”

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will lead a consortium that includes Oak Ridge National Lab, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Davis, the National Resources Defense Council, the Energy Foundation, ICF International, the National Association of State Energy Officials, the Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions, The Dow Chemical Company, Honeywell, General Electric, Saint-Gobain, Bentley, ClimateMaster, and Pegasus Capital Advisors.

President Obama and President Hu Jintao formally announced the establishment of the CERC during the President’s trip to Beijing last November. At the time, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu joined Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang and Chinese National Energy Administrator Zhang Guobao to sign the protocol launching the Center.

In the United States, buildings account for nearly 40 percent of energy consumption and carbon emissions, and nearly half the new floor space built in the world every year is built in China. As such, the U.S. and China will play central roles in the world’s transition to an energy efficient building sector in the years ahead.

Read the rest here:

http://www.energy.gov/news/9657.htm

From the Berkeley Lab press release:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has been chosen to lead a consortium for a U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center on Building Energy Efficiency. The Center will develop technologies for low-energy residential and commercial buildings, as well as work on commercialization of those technologies and research how human behavior affects building energy use.

The Clean Energy Resource Center (CERC) will receive $12.5 million over five years. The funding will be matched by consortium partners to provide at least $25 million in total U.S. funding. Chinese counterparts will contribute an additional $25 million. The consortium includes seven research partners: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Natural Resources Defense Council (Beijing branch), ICF International (Beijing branch), National Association of State Energy Offices, Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Davis.

The consortium also includes contributions from a number of industrial partners—Dow Chemical Company, General Electric, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Saint-Gobain, Bentley, Pegasus Investment Advisors and Climate Master—as well as several other organizations. Together they have committed more than $16 million in in-kind resources (primarily research staff) and cash over a five-year period.

Berkeley Lab scientist Mark Levine, head and founder of the China Energy Group.

“The U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center will help to save energy and cut costs in buildings in both the United States and China,” said Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow. “This new partnership will also create new export opportunities for American companies, ensure the United States remains at the forefront of technology innovation and help to reduce global carbon pollution.”

Read the rest here:

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2010/10/07/berkeley-lab-awarded-12-5-million-to-lead-a-u-s-china-clean-energy-research-center/

Contact:

Mark Levine, MDLevine@lbl.gov

Technical contacts: Ryan Wiser (510) 486-5474, RHWiser@lbl.gov
or Galen Barbose (510) 495-2593, GLBarbose@lbl.gov

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study Thursday documenting the design of and early experience with state-level renewables portfolio standard (RPS) programs in the United States that have been specifically designed to encourage solar energy.

The study finds that these state-level RPS programs have already proven to be an important driver for solar energy deployment in the U.S., resulting in more than 250 megawatts (MW) of new solar capacity through the end of 2009.“These impacts are expected to grow considerably in coming years; however, states and utilities are likely to face a number of challenges in meeting aggressive solar energy targets,” says report co-author Ryan Wiser with Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division.

Read the rest here:

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2010/10/07/new-berkeley-lab-report-assesses-renewables-portfolio-standards/

Contact: Allan Chen, 510-486-4210, a_chen@lbl.gov

Technical Contact: Merrian Fuller, 510- 486-4482, MCFuller@lbl.gov

Hundreds of millions of dollars in public money are flowing into programs to support improvements in home energy efficiency. Ensuring that these funds have their maximum impact by motivating homeowners to seek out home energy improvements is the subject of a new report from researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

“Convincing millions of Americans to divert their time and resources into upgrading their homes to eliminate energy waste, avoid high utility bills, and help stimulate the economy is one of the great challenges facing energy efficiency programs around the country,” says Merrian Fuller of the Electricity Markets and Policy Group.

“Usually, when policymakers address the issue of energy efficiency benefits, they examine the technical and economic potential of energy efficiency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but neglect the issue of how to motivate consumers to take advantage of home energy upgrade programs.  This is often a missing element in policy discussions and a primary impetus for us in writing this report,” she continues.

The new report is aimed primarily at policy makers and energy efficiency program designers, especially those new to the field.  More than 2,000 towns, cities, states, and regions are recipients of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds aimed at building the green economy and are currently working to develop their clean energy programs.  This report provides insights into the best ways to provide incentives for comprehensive home energy improvements, energy efficiency-focused upgrades to residential buildings such as air sealing, insulation, window replacement or enhancement, duct sealing, furnace or heat pump replacement, water heater replacement, air conditioner replacement, solar thermal water heating and high-efficiency lighting.

Successful marketing and outreach for home energy efficiency programs

The study draws numerous conclusions about the successful marketing and outreach of home energy improvement programs, as well program design and implementation, drawing lessons from 14 successful home energy efficiency programs around the country.

“It’s important to find an appealing draw such as health, comfort, energy security, competition, or community engagement,” says Charles Goldman, a co-author, “It’s not enough to provide information about energy efficiency—programs must sell something that people already want.”

The report also recommends studying the target population—“A blanket marketing campaign to reach ‘everyone’ will likely be ineffective and expensive,“ according to the report. “Find and target early adopters, then tailor messages specifically to this audience.  Demographics can help segment the market and select optimal strategies, but you can also segment the market by personal values, interest in hot issues such as health concerns, or likelihood of getting savings.”

An interesting message of the report is that “language is powerful.” It notes that words like “retrofit” and “audit” often have negative connotations to most consumers. The authors recommend experimenting with language that people have more experience with, and using vivid examples to help personalize general information into how homeowners themselves can reduce their energy bills and increase their comfort.  The report itself uses the terms “home energy improvements” or “upgrades” instead of “retrofits,” and “energy assessment” instead of audit, while noting that “no one has found the silver bullet for the best language to use in the home performance improvement industry.”

Program design successes

The report also examines program design practices that have proven successful in the field.  The authors conclude that, “Success will require multifaceted approaches that acknowledge a deeper understanding of what motivates homeowners and contractors.  Effective programs will tend to be tailored to the location, thoughtfully researched and piloted, personalized to the target audience, and more labor-intensive than simple incentive programs.”

The study emphasizes that “contractors are the key point of sale for home energy improvements.  They already understand the traditional renovation and home improvement market…It is imperative to design a program that contractors want to sell—and convince them that the opportunity is worth the time and money to get the appropriate training and equipment.”

Learning from successful programs

The authors examined 14 residential energy efficiency programs, conducted an extensive literature review, interviewed industry experts, and surveyed residential contractors to draw lessons from first generation programs, highlight emerging best practices, and suggest methods and approaches to use in designing, implementing, and evaluating these programs.

The programs they examined include the Bonneville Power Administration’s Weatherization Program in the Pacific Northwest, the City of Houston’s Residential Energy Efficiency Program, and other programs from such areas as Minneapolis, Kansas, Boston, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington D.C.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program.

The report, “Driving Demand for Home Energy Improvements: Motivating residential customers to invest in comprehensive upgrades that eliminate energy waste, avoid high utility bills, and spur the economy,” was written by: Merrian Fuller, Cathy Kunkel, Mark Zimring, Ian Hoffman, Katie Lindgren Soroye, and Charles Goldman. Soroye currently works for Pacific Gas & Electric.

Download it here:

http://drivingdemand.lbl.gov/

Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Berkeley Lab:

http://eetd.lbl.gov

Owners and operators of non-residential facilities are considering the use of on-site electrical storage or photovoltaic (PV) generation to reduce their carbon emissions and energy costs. When doing so, however, it is difficult to determine which options (or combination of options) are the most efficient and cost-effective. Vendors can help, but they are unlikely to offer an unbiased presentation of the technical and economic benefits of their products.

To simplify the decision and provide an independent voice, Michael Stadler, of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (Berkeley Lab) Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), has developed a web-based tool that helps building owners, operators, and managers determine not only their optimal energy system, but also how best to operate it.

Users can access the Storage Viability and Optimization Web Service (SVOW) for free by secure remote login and create a profile of their unique situation, specifying factors such as electrical load profile, local tariff, available technologies, and solar radiation at the site. This can be done using predefined inputs or by providing their own data.

“For example,” says Stadler, “the current version contains California tariffs because the project was funded by the California Energy Commission’s PIER Program, but a user could also define a tariff for his or her site. Users can define all of the parameters specifically if they want.”

Once the selections have been made, SVOW analyzes the data and produces a table detailing an optimal combination of utility electricity purchase, installed on-site generation, and storage, in terms of cost, capacity, and carbon emissions. An accompanying graph shows an optimal operating schedule for a user-selected month and time range, identifying the best times for each technology to provide electricity. The results help users decide whether or not to pursue electric storage or PV options further.

The SVOW’s analysis is performed by Berkeley Lab’s almost technology-neutral Distributed Energy Resources Customer Adoption Model (DER-CAM), a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) written and executed in the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS™) optimization software (more information can be found at http://der.lbl.gov)

Although currently SVOW includes only electrical storage and PV technologies, Stadler is already working on an extension to include fuel cells and other combined heat and power (CHP) technologies likely to be used in non-residential facilities. “There are a number of other promising technologies we could include,” he says, “and we’d like to add those to the mix.”

—by Mark Wilson

In addition to the PIER Program, the project was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. .

For more information about the SVOW, see http://der.lbl.gov/microgrids-lbnl/current-project-storage-viability-website.