06/10/2008 08:25 AM

Page: 1  | 2  | 3

Weekly Clean Energy Roundup: June 12, 2008

Page 1

World's Top Energy Ministers Launch Energy Efficiency Effort

The energy ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized countries and from China, India, and South Korea agreed this weekend to establish the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC).The IPEEC will serve as a high-level forum for facilitating a broad range of actions that yield significant gains in energy efficiency. The partnership will support the on-going energy efficiency work of the participating countries and relevant international organizations by exchanging information on best practices, policies, and efforts to collect data.

The IPEEC members will also develop public-private partnerships for improving energy efficiency, participate in joint research and development efforts, and facilitate the dissemination of energy-related products and services. The energy ministers plan to hold the first IPEEC meeting before the end of the year. See the IPEEC declaration (PDF 26 KB).

The G8, by the way, includes Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which was represented by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The energy ministers from this "G8 plus 3" group of countries also discussed high oil prices and a wide range of energy sources, including renewable energy.

The ministers committed to "enhance vigorously" their efforts to address and supply disruption risks, to improve energy efficiency, to promote non-conventional oil and alternative energy resources, and to diversify supply routes. They also noted that developing alternative transport and fuel technologies is essential to reduce the oil dependence of transportation throughout the world. See the DOE press release and the joint statement from the G8 plus 3 (PDF 46 KB).

The IPEEC declaration noted that energy efficiency is one of the quickest, greenest, and most cost-effective ways to address energy security and climate change while ensuring economic growth, a conclusion supported by a recent study from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

The report, released last week, notes that a 20% efficiency gain in the U.S. economy by 2030 could provide an estimated 800,000 net jobs while contributing to a slight increase in the nation's gross domestic product. ACEEE notes that most national energy modeling efforts fail to account for energy efficiency's contribution. According to ACEEE, if the energy efficiency resource were properly characterized by these models, the estimated costs of energy security and climate change policies would fall, while the benefits, net job creation, and consumer savings would rise. See the ACEEE press release and the full report.

DOE and Partners to Offer Prize for Efficient Lighting

DOE announced in late May that it plans to offer at least a $1 million prize for the development of energy efficient, solid-state lamps. The Bright Tomorrow Lighting Prize competition, or L Prize for short, was authorized by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and challenges the lighting industry to develop LED (light-emitting diode) replacement technologies for today's most widely used and inefficient lighting products. Specifically, the L Prize aims to find replacements for the 60-watt incandescent light bulb and the 4.75-inch-diameter halogen reflector lamp, technically referred to as a "PAR 38" ("PAR" stands for parabolic aluminized reflector, and "38" is the lamp's diameter in eighths of an inch).

The replacement for the 60-watt bulb must use only 10 watts-an 83% energy savings-while the PAR 38 replacement will use only 15 watts, for an energy savings of about 87%. The winners must also meet a number of technical requirements relating to the warmth of the light, the distribution of light from the lamp, the dimensions of the lamp, the product lifetime, and the company's ability to mass-produce the lamp. A future L Prize competition will call for the development of a "21st Century Lamp" that delivers more than 150 lumens per watt (lm/W), much more than the 90 lm/W required for the 60-watt bulb replacement and the 123 lm/W required for the PAR 38 replacement.

The legislation authorizes prizes of $10 million for the incandescent light bulb replacement and $5 million for the halogen lamp replacement, but actual prize amounts will depend on future DOE appropriations and private funding contributions. DOE currently plans to contribute $1 million to the prize purse. For the winner, the real winnings could be much larger than the actual prize, because the legislation also calls for federal procurement of the winning LED lamps. The lamps will also be promoted by the four major utilities in California, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding between those utilities and DOE. See the L Prize Web site and the full competition requirements (PDF 6.85 MB).

 next »