by Shane Henson — January 14, 2013—New technologies and innovative program designs are combining to create the next generation of energy efficiency programs that can meet the aggressive saving targets being set by many states, finds a new report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), an organization working to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors nationwide.
The report, Frontiers of Energy Efficiency: Next Generation Programs Reach for High Energy Savings, finds that these technologies and programs can offer the potential to achieve and sustain high savings—27 percent of forecasted electricity use and 19 percent of forecasted natural gas use by 2030.
The report examines a total of 22 different program types and concepts, from residential lighting to commercial buildings to industrial processes, and examines a wide range of energy efficiency technologies, including light-emitting diode (LED) lighting; high-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment; and combined heat and power (CHP) systems.
As the report notes, energy efficiency programs for utility customers have been in place for over three decades in many areas in the United States. These programs have experienced unprecedented growth over the past decade, in significant part because of policies that establish high, specific energy savings targets to be achieved through energy efficiency programs.
Over the next two decades, achieving and sustaining high savings levels presents challenges for energy efficiency programs. Increasingly stringent building codes and energy efficiency standards for appliances and other technologies are moving baseline energy efficiency performance higher. Achieving high participation rates has been difficult for certain types of programs. The technologies and programs profiled in this report offer an answer to these concerns, says ACEEE.
