NEMA Currents

Bipartisanship Reigns: Senate Committee Approves Efficiency Bill

2013-05-08T20:02:00Z

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee today overwhelmingly approved S. 761, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (Sens. Shaheen (D-NH) and Portman(R-OH)) by a vote of 19-3. That’s a one vote improvement over last year’s substantively similar bill, S. 1000.

Committee consideration of the bill moved quickly thanks to enormous amounts of work by Senators, their staffs, and industry stakeholders in the months leading up to today’s markup.

Today’s events however were less about now and more about what’s next.

So what IS next?

1. The bill sponsors continue to work with Senators and the energy efficiency community on additional consensus provisions to strengthen S. 761.

2. Energy efficiency legislation being worked on by Sens. Cantwell (D-WA), Coons (D-DE), Franken (D-MN), Hoeven (R-ND), and Manchin (D-WV) will all be heard soon by the ENR Committee and according to Chairman Wyden, all will receive a vote.

3. Sen. Franken, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, announced his Subcommittee would be holding hearings on a broad set of energy efficiency topics in the coming weeks.

4. There is “considerable interest” in energy efficiency legislation in the House, according to Wyden.

5. The bill contains no mandates and is fully offset, has broad bipartisan and bicameral support, and will deliver energy savings to the consumer and the taxpayer. So, why wouldn’t the bill be brought to the Senate floor? And soon.

This is only the beginning of the discussion of the importance of energy efficiency and the role of federal policy to support it. This bill already reflects a number of NEMA’s recommendations and we will promote additional important energy efficiency policies in the lead-up to Senate floor consideration.

Bipartisan Approach to Helium Legislation

2013-04-24T12:51:00Z

Third NEMA/Capitol Hill Word of the Week: helium. (The first two Words of the Week must be either 1) Shaheen and 2) Portman or 1) energy and 2) efficiency.)

Yesterday, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced legislation to modernize and reform federal policy to better secure supplies of helium for U.S. industry and government uses. Under current law, the Federal Helium Reserve will cease operations this fall, removing a significant source of supply from the market, and contributing to uncertainty for commercial, federal, medical and scientific users of helium. U.S. users of helium acquire much of their supply via industrial gas refining companies associated with the Federal Helium Reserve located just ourtside Amarillo, Texas.

Why do NEMA members care about helium? Put simply: manufacturers of magnetic resonance imaging equipment, light-emitting diodes, semiconductors and arc-welding equipment need a stable supply of refined helium to get their jobs done. Introduction of the Helium Stewardship Act (S. 783) will help make that happen, especially when you look at what the House of Representatives is scheduled to take up tomorrow and Friday: its own helium bill.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) and Ranking Member Edward “Ed” Markey (D-MA) introduced the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act (H.R. 527) in February and passed it out of the Committee last month. NEMA and a broad coalition representing end-users of helium are urging passage. To contact your Representative to urge their support for H.R 527, click here.

NEMA looks forward to continuing to work with its member companies, allied groups, the House, and the Senate to build support for helium legislation and secure its approval by this summer.

Our Take: Harmonious Sounds At Shaheen-Portman Energy Efficiency Hearing

2013-04-24T12:34:00Z

At yesterday’s hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources a chorus of support swelled for the bipartisan bill, with endorsements by Senators, businesses, and the Department of Energy.

The overarching message was music to the ears of NEMA members — efficiency must be the cornerstone of our country’s long-term energy plan. Kathleen Hogan, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the U.S. Department of Energy called efficiency the “untapped resource.” She went on to say that that the nation has a vital interest in bringing forth new solutions that make sense for all of industry.

Senator Lisa Murkowski echoed the urgent need for the measure — and an increased focus on energy efficiency as it relates to the economy, adding, “I also see it as a ‘bottom line’ issue — an area where it is in our best interest to find agreement due to the current fiscal constraints we face as a nation. I’d like to commend Senators Portman and Shaheen for again coming together to introduce the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, legislation that aims to increase the efficiency of our homes and buildings, as well as for the industrial sector and federal agencies. This measure is supported by some 200 organizations, including a wide range of efficiency advocates and manufacturers.”

Senators Al Franken and Senator Ron Wyden (pictured in this post) also congratulated the bill’s sponsors, noting this legislation also would actively help achieve President Obama’s goal of using less energy, while producing more.

In closing, Senator Rob Portman stressed the need to help the manufacturing sector get better equipment and technologies that will make U.S. businesses more efficient and competitive.

Such technologies are at the heart of what NEMA members do every day. We’re happy to be part of the solution. We’re happy to be part of the solution and remain hopeful that the full Senate will express the same level of harmony as their colleagues on the Energy and Natural Resources committee.

Shaheen-Portman tackles market barriers to greater investment in industrial energy efficiency

2013-04-19T20:21:00Z

NEMA took part in a Capitol Hill event on Thursday to reintroduce the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. President and CEO Evan Gaddis conveyed our thanks to Senators Shaheen and Portman for continuing their vital bipartisan effort.

In our view, Shaheen-Portman is one of the most important pieces of legislation this or any other Congress could undertake to benefit our country’s future.

Why? Because it tackles market barriers to greater investment in industrial energy efficiency.

NEMA recognizes there is no greater return on investment to help achieve our nation’s goals for a clean and secure energy future than to undertake energy efficiency on an industrial scale.

Shaheen-Portman is important because it focuses on accelerating the adoption of energy efficient technologies and processes across our economy.

Given that we currently waste more energy than we consume, NEMA believes efficiency is an energy source, and in fact should be our “first fuel.” The cleanest and greenest energy is energy you don’t need.

Shaheen-Portman will give us the tools to make energy efficiency more than just a buzzword in the three biggest energy-consuming sectors of our economy. They are (of course) the federal government, no. 1, followed by the U.S. industrial sector, and commercial and residential users.

This legislation will jump start the move to genuine “first fuel” efficiency, by mandating energy saving across federal agencies, providing incentives to manufacturers, encouraging public-private efforts to bring new technologies to market, and working with groups like NEMA to establish national consensus standards and codes that can reduce energy costs for consumers and businesses.

We call this a good down payment on providing America with a clean and secure energy future.

[NEMA CEO and President Evan Gaddis pictured with Senators Portman and Shaheen.]

Argonne Observations

2013-04-17T13:02:00Z

Dear Mr. President,

We at NEMA were delighted when you visited Argonne National Laboratory to raise the curtain on initiatives aimed at delivering a “clean and security energy future” to the nation.

One part of the two-part strategy you unveiled was music to our ears: making our current energy resources go farther across the economy. The other part was expanding domestic energy sources, mostly in renewables.

You spoke of an “Energy Efficiency Race to the Top challenge” that will build on the “success of partnerships with the public and private sectors to promote energy efficiency” and continue “investments in technologies that improve energy productivity and cut waste,” as noted in a White House fact sheet.

We’re all for these things. NEMA supports a comprehensive domestic energy policy that will efficiently provide affordable, safe, and reliable electricity to the American public.

But we also believe energy efficiency should be the very foundation — the “first fuel” — to meet the nation’s energy needs, even ahead of renewables. Efficiency is the cheapest and cleanest source of electricity. Everybody, everywhere can take part in helping America produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of building new generation facilities of any type.

What will it take to make this possible? Here are our recommendations to incorporate in your program for a clean and secure energy future:

Development of microgrids and energy storage facilities, and Smart Grid applications for utilities to give them greater situational awareness. These are essential to further expansion of renewables and other intermittent forms of generation that lead to instability in the grid.
Industry-supported, national consensus performance standards and energy codes based on currently available technologies to reduce energy costs for public and private sector end users and consumers. These performance standards need to be federally implemented to avoid a costly patchwork of conflicting state requirements.
Renewal of the transmission and distribution network that ensures the electricity (from whatever source) brings power to the customer also needs to be included in your plans.
And finally, make government facilities the demonstration sites of your national energy efficiency movement — thus delivering cost savings to America’s taxpayers.

Thanks for letting us share ideas from the front lines of the electrical manufacturing industry.

Signed,

NEMA

Why we like the new DOE transformer rule

2013-04-15T12:31:00Z

Recently the U.S. Department of Energy posted the Final Rule for the energy efficiency rulemaking for Distribution Transformers. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/product.aspx/productid/66

While some entities have criticized the Government’s final decision, the DOE Final Rule was largely on target. DOE worked through huge amounts of data from all sides and came to a fairly good result.

NEMA stuck to a few principles—backed up by data—throughout the negotiated rulemaking. We offered all this in this public forum and all parties were given the opportunity to discuss, debate, offering contrasting data, etc. Everyone should agree it was a very candid and productive process.

NEMA supported increasing efficiency standards to the highest level that were justified from a cost effectiveness perspective. NEMA is familiar with high efficiency transformers—our NEMA Premium program offers certain units that have 30% less loss than existing federal requirements. And our manufacturers are offering very high efficiencies on a daily basis to customers who demand them.

We were opposed to standards that would lead to an uncompetitive market. Any higher on the liquid filled side and manufacturers would be forced to use a single material currently provided in the U.S. by a single supplier. Flexibility in design and multiple materials suppliers are key to a healthy industry.

Another outcome that was avoided, thankfully, was making the cost of the new, more efficient units so high that electric utilities would choose to refurbish their old, less efficient units instead of buying new more efficient ones. That would have had an extremely negative effect on energy efficiency.

NEMA advocated on behalf of all stakeholders understanding the potential negative impacts on small manufacturing facilities if significantly higher efficiency standards were adopted. We remain concerned that the new levels for low voltage dry-type will have harmful effects of some of the smaller manufacturers.

But overall, we think DOE should be commended for a good rule and a great process to get there.

Does the U.S. really waste more energy than we consume?

2013-04-11T12:59:00Z

A few years ago someone introduced me to the collection of energy flow diagrams published by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Energy, under whose auspices the work was performed. The most recent diagram including the data for 2011 is included below, or at https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/.

There are a number of things that are interesting about the diagrams. First is the fact that from year to year to can see the rise or fall in overall energy consumption. For example, there was a huge decrease between 2008 and 2009; roughly 5% overall. This isn't surprising given the economic downturn and the number of business that either downsized or closed their doors and the general fact that many consumers tightened their belts as well. However, there was also a slight decrease (about 1/2%) between 2010 adn 2011. Because economists tell us that the recession ended prior to January 1, 2011, you'd think that the belt-tightening had ended and that these gains were due to improvements in energy efficiency. The 2012 data will allow us to see if this trend continues.

The second interesting observation is that on the output side of the flow diagram, more energy ends up in the "Rejected Energy" bucket than in the "Energy Services" bucket. This is the case for each of the diagrams on the front page of the Livermore site -- going back through 2008. The footnotes explain the gymnastics the Livermore staff used to arrive at their conclusions but if their forumlas are correct, the diagram shows that there is a lot of room for improvement in the "Electricity Generation" sector of the economy. In fact, the rejected energy from electricity, 26.6 quadrillion BTUs is almost 1-1/2 times greater than the inputs from coal at 18.0 quadrillion BTUs. That makes prospect of effeciency improvements not only the "best fuel" for the economy, but also the greenest.

Three Questions for Energy Nominee Moniz

2013-04-09T19:56:00Z

In 2012, I had the honor of being selected as one of the country’s 75 Smart Grid pioneers by Smart Grid Today. Thanks to the luck of alphabetical ordering, it just so happens that my name appears on that list immediately before Dr. Ernest Moniz, MIT faculty member and the Obama administration nominee for Secretary of Energy. In light of Dr. Moniz’s confirmation hearing today, I have three questions (really six with the follow-on questions) that I would like to ask him:

If a lot of money is spent modernizing the electric grid (saving consumers money and improving utility operations) but no one hears it, did it make a sound?

Though DOE Recovery Act funding spent over $4 billion on modernizing the grid, state utility commissioners are reporting they aren’t getting data from DOE demonstrating the value and efficiencies that could spur more Smart Grid deployments in their states. What can the Department do to translate all it has learned from the Smart Grid Investment Grants and Smart Grid Demonstration Projects into actionable information for electricity providers and state utility commissions?

Is the R&D effort supporting Smart Grid worth a tax incentive?

The talk of tax reform in DC means that everything is on the chopping block. As Secretary, would Dr. Moniz go to bat for tax credits that support research innovations for interoperability, embedded intelligence, and cybersecurity in the grid?

How can DOE help the Northeast rebuild “smarter” in the wake of Superstorm Sandy?

$60 billion in federal funding is being made available to the states impacted by the storm. Ironically, this is in the same ballpark as some estimates for the overall economic impact; $30 billion to $50 billion as reported by US News & World Report in November 2012. In wholly impractical terms the feds can either reimburse everybody who was affected and thus wipe the financial impact of Sandy off the books, or they can improve the resilience of the infrastructure against future storms. Given that the latter is the most effective use of taxpayer dollars, what suggestions can DOE offer?

Paul Molitor is a national figure in the U.S. Smart Grid effort and the head of communications for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) in Rosslyn, VA.

Everyone agrees, so let's act!

2013-03-19T15:59:00Z

Not a day goes by that some industry or political leader endorses the notion of rebuilding and modernizing our electrical infrastructure.

Yesterday, the American Society of Civil Engineers released its 2013 report card of America's infrastructure. Our Energy infrastructure received a grade of D+. Today in The Hill, leaders from PG&E and IBEW have made the case that now is the time to fix our grid. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has been promoting her Energy 20/20 blueprint. The Bipartisan Policy Center establishes the way foward for a modern and reliable grid. President Obama's lent his support in his 2013 State of the Union address.

And of course NEMA has been vocal in its support of rebuilding smart.

I'm sensing a trend here.

Rebuilding "smart" after Sandy with new NEMA publication

2013-02-25T14:46:00Z

Superstorm Sandy highlighted the fragile nature of our nation's electric grid. One thing is clear: our grid needs some updating.

In an effort to assist federal, state, and local policymakers with solutions to harden the nation’s electric grid, improve its resiliency to withstand severe weather, and improve energy efficiency, NEMA published Storm Reconstruction: Rebuild Smart. As communities continue to rebuild after Sandy, incorporating "smart" technologies into the grid can benefit us later on when harsh weather strikes again.

The publication highlights several technologies that contribute to Smart Grid:

microgrids, energy storage, and decentralized generation
backup generation
wiring and cable

In addition, it also provides information about replacing or relocating equipment, and the steps that should be considered when preparing or recovery from a disaster.

A digital copy may be downloaded at no cost on NEMA's Storm Reconstruction webpage. For a hard copy, contact NEMA's Communications team by email at communications@nema.org.