The Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a report: The Efficiency Boom: Cashing In on the Savings from Appliance Standards. The Efficiency Boom is a series of analyses assessing the impact of existing standards and energy savings potential for new and revised appliance standards in the U.S.

Based on the report, national efficiency standards for appliances, lighting, and other equipment will save consumers and businesses more than $1.1 trillion and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas pollution and other emissions by 2035.

Additionally, this report evaluates potential new or updated standards for 34 product categories that could be adopted within the next four years, all of which are technologically and economically feasible, and many of which are already being considered for regulation or revision by the U.S. Department of Energy. Products with the biggest potential additional energy savings include electric water heaters, reflector light bulbs, distribution transformers, electric motors, and computers. The largest net economic savings would come from new clothes washer and outdoor lighting standards.

For more details, please see the files available for download below.

Access files:

• Executive Summary
• Report

Around the world, energy performance requirements and test methods are being implemented and regularly revised for a range of domestic, commercial and industrial products and equipment. A significant amount of analytical effort is required to develop these requirements and optimise them to best reflect overall policy objectives; however, very often this work is done with only limited or partial knowledge of similar activities that have been done in other economies. Effort can be saved and outcomes improved for many products through properly reviewing published studies in other economies and utilising the information that is relevant in the local context. This paper presents a practical illustration of the potential to improve the quality of such analyses through four examples working on transformers, televisions, electric motors and external power supplies. This paper also discusses barriers to leveraging these analyses and makes recommendations around leveraging cross-economy analyses to accelerate global adoption of test methods and energy-efficiency requirements.

Around the world, equipment energy
efficiency standards and test methods are being implemented and regularly
revised for a range of domestic, commercial and industrial products. A
significant amount of analytical effort is required to develop these
requirements and optimise them to best reflect overall policy objectives;
however, very often this work is done with only limited or partial knowledge of
similar activities that have been done in other economies. Effort can be saved
and outcomes improved for many products through properly reviewing published
studies in other economies and utilising the information that is relevant in
the local context. This paper presents a practical illustration of the
potential to improve the quality of such analyses through four examples working
on transformers, televisions, electric motors and external power supplies. This
paper also discusses barriers to leveraging these analyses and makes
recommendations around leveraging cross-economy analyses to accelerate global
adoption of test methods and energy-efficiency requirements.

Authors:

Michael Scholand, Navigant Consulting Europe

Paul Waide, PhD, Navigant Consulting Europe

Frank Klinckenberg, CLASP

Anita Eide, CLASP

This ‘Electricity Consumption and Efficiency Trends in the European Union’ report, issued by the JRC Institute for Energy (IE), calculates the market share of energy-efficient appliances and equipment and the energy consumption by sector in 2007. It also identifies the appliances in which energy efficiency has the largest potential: domestic, street and office lighting; televisions and stand-by appliances in households, as well as electric motors in industry.

This report summarises the outcome of the results of an in-depth survey of electricity consumption in buildings in the EU-27 conducted by the JRC, the main findings of the first preparatory studies for implementing the Eco-design Directive, as well as other recent analyses and studies on different aspects of the electricity final consumption in EU27. One of the aims of this report is to show the present status of electricity consumption of the main appliances and equipment, the energy efficiency progress and estimates of the saving potential in the EU-27 electricity sector. The report summarises the policy actions introduced at EU level and some of the national policies for the building sector and for the electric motor systems.

Information from: European Commission

Download file: Electricity Consumption and Efficiency Trends in the European Union

This study analyzes impacts from energy efficiency standards and labeling in Mexico from 1994 through 2005 for four major products: household refrigerators, room air conditioners, three-phase (squirrel cage) induction motors, and clothes washeras. It is a retrospective analysis, seeking to assess verified impacts on product efficiency in the Mexican market in the first ten years after standards were implemented. Such an analysis allows the Mexican government to compare actual to originally forecast program benefits. In addition, it provides an extremely valuable benchmark for other countries considering standards, and to the energy policy community as a whole.

The methodology for evaluation begins with historical test data taken for a large number of models of each product type between 1994 and 2005. The pre-standard efficiency of models in 1994 is taken as a baseline throughout the analysis. Model efficiency data were provided by an independent certification laboratory (ANCE), which tested products as part of the certification and enforcement mechanism defined by the standards program. Using this data, together with economic and market data provided by both government and private sector sources, the analysis considers several types of national level program impacts. These include energy savings, environmental (emissions) impacts, and net financial impacts to consumers, manufacturers and utilities.

Energy savings impacts are calculated using the same methodology as the original projections, allowing a comparison. Other impacts are calculated using a robust and sophisticated methodology developed by the Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas (IIE) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), in a collaboration supported by the Collaborative Labeling and Standards Program (CLASP).

The impact of MEPS of the four products focused on in this report on the Mexican electricity system has been significant. Taken together, standards for these four products reduced electricity demand by 13.3 TWh in 2005, or 15.3 TWh of gross generation. Total gross generation in Mexico in 2005 was 160 TWh. Therefore, standards for these products accounted to a 9.6% reduction in demand in this year. In terms of capacity, standards reduced the need for total generating capacity of 3440 MW, or 6.4% of capacity installed by 2004 of 53561 MW.

Since passage of the Energy Efficiency law in 2001, Brazil has moved aggressively toward a mandatory standard for three-phase motors with the plan to regulate three additional appliances in 2005. CLASP, with generous support from the UN Foundation / UNDESA and USAID, coordinated a study related to Minimum Efficiency Performance Levels (MEPS) for motors proposed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). This study was commissioned in order to evaluate the Brazilian government’s proposed target program for motors up to 250 HP and estimate the potential savings of mandatory standards for three-phase motors up to 500 HP, in consultation with the other Brazilian regulatory agencies, PROCEL and INMETRO.

The study was executed by a team of experts from the Alberto Luis Coimbra Post-Graduate and Research Engineering Institute at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ). Experts at COPPE provided an analysis that took advantage of both detailed insights into the Brazilian motors market as well as an overview of the standard-setting process for motors in various other countries.

The result of this effort represents the most comprehensive and technically detailed assessment to date on all aspects of standards implementation and market transformation from a specific set of efficiency target levels in Brazil. Major topics include:

• Cost-benefit Analyis of Efficiency Improvement
• National Energy and Financial Impacts of MEPS
• Comparison of Proposed Efficiency Levels to International Best Practices
• Comparison of Test Procedures to Internationally-Recognized Standards
• Institutional Framework and Evolution of Standards Process

After soliciting comments from Brazilian stakeholders and international experts, CLASP delivered the final version of this report to MME in September, 2005.

The full text of the report is available in English and Portuguese.

English version

• Final Report
• Appendix

Portuguese version

• Relatoio Final
• Apendice

Authors: Sebastiao Ercules Melo de Oliveira, Agenor Gomes Pinto Garcia, Tatiana Lauria Vieira da Silva, Luis Fernando Correa Monteiro

Information from: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA)

The purpose of this study is to list the measures that are in place throughout the world and to make it easier to assess the options and feasibility of introducing a minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) for three-phase cage induction motors.  The study was produced as a result of several of the APEC-ESIS project team receiving queries from more than one economy interested in considering the introduction of minimum efficiency requirements for cage induction motors.

The contents are believed correct at time of writing. However, it is possible that certain details have been overlooked, and APEC-ESIS cannot accept any responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions. Readers with particular knowledge of the measures in an economy are welcome to submit additional material for inclusion in future editions of this study.

This particular study on three-phase cage induction motors draws on material collected from the series of conferences on Energy Efficiency in Motors Driven Systems (EEMODS) organized by, among others, Dr Paolo Bertoldi and Professor Aní­bal de Almeida, as well as from the standards listed by APEC-ESIS. The study lists the efficiency requirements set by various MEPS and then gives graphical comparisons between them, taking into account the three complicating factors of different supply frequencies, different test procedures and the difference between weighted average and absolute minimum requirements.

No attempt is made to evaluate the economic costs and benefits of introducing any particular MEPS for cage induction motors, although some notes are provided in Appendix A. Local circumstances will always need to be taken into consideration in such an exercise. However, it is probably fair to say that if a significant proportion of the global market adopts the same, stringent mandatory requirements, economies of scale will make that stringency level the most economic.

It is in the hope of assisting progress towards that situation that this survey is being produced.

Author: Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Standards Information System (APEC ESIS)

Information from: APEC ESIS

Industrial electric motor systems consume more than 600 billion kWh annually, accounting for more than 50% of China’s electricity use. There are large opportunities to improve the efficiency of motor systems. Electric motors in China are approximately 2-4% less efficient on average than motors in the U.S. and Canada. Fans and pumps in China are approximately 3-5% less efficient than in developed countries. More optimized design, including appropriate sizing and use of speed control strategies, can reduce energy use by 20% or more in many motor-driven system applications. Unfortunately, few Chinese enterprises use or even know about these energy-saving practices. Opportunities for motor system improvements are probably greater in China than in the U.S. or Europe.

In response to this opportunity, China has established the China Motor Systems Energy Conservation Program in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Energy Foundation. This paper will describe the overall structure of the program. Elements include work to develop minimum efficiency standards for motors, a voluntary “green motor” labeling program for high-efficiency motors, efforts to develop and promote motor system management guidelines, and an intensive training, technical assistance and financing program to promote optimization of key motor systems in two pilot provinces, Shanghai and Jiangsu.

This year, an international team of experts is working with twenty Chinese experts in a series of “train the trainer” sessions designed to assist Chinese experts to integrate a systems approach into their work in Chinese industry. We will focus on progress to date including plant assessment techniques and significant considerations in adapting market-based voluntary program techniques to the Chinese business environment.

Authors: Aimee McKane, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Zou Guijin, China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation

Robert Williams, United Nations Industrial Development Organization

Steven Nadel, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

Vestal Tutterow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Information from: 2002 Proceedings, Energy Efficiency in Motor Driven Systems (EEMODS) Conference in Treviso, Italy

Ghana recently enacted the first appliance standards regulations in sub-Saharan Africa, covering room air-conditioner units. The comprehensive legislation also includes provisions for appliance labeling, and will soon cover a range of products including refrigerators, lighting systems, and electric motors and drives. Ghana’s move to improve its energy efficiency is part of a larger energy sector reform designed to support the country’s long-term economic development plans. Ghana’s appliance standards program is also providing a successful model and leadership to other countries in the region seeking to improve their efficiency.

Section 1 details the history of the Ghana Appliance Efficiency Labeling and Standards Program, including efforts at building stakeholder support and developing the appropriate enabling legislation. This successful model of consensus building is applicable to many developing economies, particularly those without significant appliance and equipment manufacturers.

Section 2 analyzes the process of establishing the air conditioner standard, including a description of the various economic and political concerns that the policy makers faced. Partnership with the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP) gave Ghana access to expertise and sophisticated tools, including computer-based impact models, which helped to refine and improve the final standard.

Section 3 examines the possibilities for regional replication of the Ghana model, including “Fast-Track” agreements with Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Ghana is a key port of entry for West Africa, and for much of the continent’s interior.