NEMA Currents : Environment

Congressional Unveiling of Major Energy Savings and Carbon Reduction...

Hansen, Dain — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:22:00 GMT

Do you want to save 4.48-7.95 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon annually (equivalent to removing approximately between 3-5.4 million automobiles annually)?

Do you want to save 25 to 42 Terawatt hours (billion kWh) per year (equivalent to 3 to 6 nuclear power plants or 6 to 10 coal-fired plants)?

Do you want to drive innovation and spur technology?

If you do, see NEMA’s newly unveiled consensus agreement outdoor lighting standard.

Today, Senator Bingaman, Senator Murkowski, Senator Pryor, Representative Harman, Representative Upton, NEMA’s President and CEO Evan Gaddis, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the National Resources Defense Council announced a consensus agreement for federal outdoor lighting standards. For the first time ever, pole-mounted outdoor lighting will have federally mandated efficiency standards.

For many months, NEMA has led negotiations with manufacturers, energy advocates, utilities, lighting designers and others to develop thoughtful and thoroughly vetting consensus standards. As you can see from the statistics mentioned, this agreement will have a monumental impact on energy savings, carbon reduction and technological innovation.

Another "Baby Bottle" finding . . . . Whom do you believe?

Kohorst, Mark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:57:00 GMT

This morning brought an announcement of another “official” government finding concerning the hazards of bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical building block used primarily to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. If you’ve paid even minimal attention to current events the past few years, you know that BPA, while enormously useful, effective and versatile, is quite controversial because of its use in food and beverage packaging and plastic baby bottles. Studies performed in animals have suggested that BPA acts like the female hormone estrogen, and is linked to cancer and infertility. Consequently, activists have campaigned worldwide for its prohibition and various governments have enacted sales restrictions.

Now, however, the principal government guardian of public health among Canadians, Health Canada, has completed a study and concluded that exposure to BPA from jarred baby food products, water bottles, and other food packaging items is well below levels that would pose a threat to human health. In water bottles, the average concentration of BPA detected in the study was 1.5 parts per billion. At that rate, an adult weighing 130 pounds would have to consume about 264 gallons of bottled water in one day to approach Health Canada's tolerable daily intake. Not a very realistic scenario.

We can add this regulatory “acquittal” of BPA to those provided earlier by the European Food Safety Authority, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Danish Environmental Protection Agency, French Food Safety Authority, the Swiss Office for Public Health, and Food Standards Australia-New Zealand. Nevertheless, the drumbeat will continue in the NGO community that BPA must be eliminated to “protect the children.” Responding to market pressures, manufacturers are increasingly supplying non-BPA alternatives and parents who prefer to err on the side of caution are free to seek them out. More and more, however, it appears safe to allow BPA to fall further down our list of modern day ‘hazards” while we focus our attention on avoiding things that could really do us harm.

REACH – Two Years In

Kohorst, Mark — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:58:00 GMT

Earlier this week I attended a day-long seminar at a DC law firm that provided a status report on implementation of REACH, the ground-breaking regulatory program for chemicals under construction in the European Union. In a landmark “paradigm shift,” the entry-into-force of REACH in 2007 made suppliers, not government, responsible for assuring their products are safe before they are allowed to enter (or remain on) the market. There were many take-aways from the various presentations at the seminar, but for me the most vivid was the breathtaking cost and resource burden this regulation now imposes on the global manufacturing industry. We heard detailed reports from lawyers and consultants who are helping companies execute their obligations under REACH about the problems and uncertainties they face, the market disruptions that are inevitably appearing, and the growing momentum for similar legislation in the US. The one thing we didn’t hear about, however, was whether the European population is, or will be, any safer once the full impact of REACH is realized throughout the continent. Many of us will be anxiously awaiting this benefits report, if it ever appears.

NEMA Call to Action Legislation is Introduced

Kohorst, Mark — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:22:00 GMT

Last week saw many months of effort by NEMA staff and member company reps rewarded by introduction in the US House of Representatives of HR 2420, The Environmental Design for Electrical Equipment Act ("EDEE Act"). This proposed legislation would codify into US law Phase I of the NEMA Call to Action, the industry's voluntary commitment to conform to substance thresholds set in the European RoHS Directive wherever NEMA products in the scope of that directive are sold. The bill was introduced by Rep. Michael Burgess (R, TX), a physician who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has oversight on environmental and energy matters. Like the RoHS Directive, it establishes thresholds on the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and two flame retardants in certain electroindustry products. The bill contains exemptions for certain applications when necessary to ensure continued compliance with industry's rigid safety and performance standards. It also would set a level-playing field for domestically made and imported products, and discourages the proliferation of a patchwork of inconsistent state laws and regulations that are not a workable solution in interstate and global commerce.

NEMA believes that if enacted, this legislation will prove to be a win for industry, a win for the public, and a win for the environment. We've received uniformly positive feedback in our informational briefings on Capitol Hill and expect to have additional sponsors soon. More information can be obtained by visiting: NEMA's Environmental Call-to-Action Initiative.

HPB Congressional Caucus Issues Recommendations on Federal Buildings Acquisitions

Moldoveanu, Andrei — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Several days ago the High Performance Building Congressional Caucus issued a series of recommendations regarding Producing High-Performance Federal Buildings. The first one on the list asks Congress to require that for all Acquisitions of Federal Buildings True Life-Cycle Analysis and Decision - Making be performed. The second would require total building commissioning for all the federal Building Stock.

When translated into legal language this would change the way business is conducted in a very significant way. Initially it would definitely look like the bureaucratic mission from hell. However when industries manufacturing building products would drill down this analysis to components there's a very good chance that many beneficial changes would become apparent. Greener products would compete for business in an economy that would have put a price on this color.

Green Claims Advisory: Coming Soon to a Marketing Department Near You

Silcox, Clark — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:59:00 GMT

I have been thinking a lot lately about the sea change in policy and the role of government we are witnessing here in Washington with the new Administration and the current Congress. While there is a much larger story to tell on that subject, it was a small story in today's Washington Post that caught my attention. The FDA sent a warning letter to General Mills about marketing claims in connection with its Cheerios cereal product. Cheerios packaging claims that by eating the cereal "you can lower your cholesterol 4 percent in six weeks." General Mills has been making these kind of claims about the health benefits of soluble fiber from oats for some time, so why only now is the FDA rolling up its sleeves? In an online article, a Washington Post writer subtly asks the same question and notes that the "science behind [General Mills'] claim seems to be fairly sound." The story conjures up memories of the late 1970s when a Washington Post editorial labeled the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the "National Nanny" for chasing after advertising promoting products with high sugar content aimed at children. Which brings me to my real point --- one that hits closer to home for electrical manufacturers.

In the 1990's, the FTC published its "Green Guides" --- Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims. These guides addressed potential environmental "overstatements" and stated the principle that "an environmental marketing claim should not be presented in a manner that overstates the environmental attribute or benefit, expressly or by implication. Marketers should avoid implications of significant environmental benefits if the benefit is in fact negligible." Specific guidance was provided with respect to general environmental claims ("environmentally friendly"), degradable/biodegradable claims, compostable claims, and recyclable/ recycled content claims, source reduction claims, refillable claims, and ozone friendly claims. In late 2007, the FTC announced it would be looking to update its Green Guides and will focus on claims of "sustainability" and "renewability." The FTC received public comments during January and February 2008, and later held a workshop on "green packaging" claims in April 2008. It is expected that the FTC will update the Green Guides soon, in the summer of 2009. It might be expected that revised Green Guides will address today's hot topics --- "Green Building" claims and carbon reduction claims.

Green marketing is serious business these days, a growing business -- and it is a focus of competitive strategy. The new Administration's energy and environmental programs can only be expected to stimulate this growing business even more. Electrical products currently on the market provide energy conservation solutions for those who wish to reduce their "carbon footprint." While the current version of the FTC's Green Guides have been around for over a decade now, there has been no FTC enforcement activity, and with the introduction of revised Green Guides and the priority the Administration is giving to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction, companies should expect to see some enforcement activity, if only to raise the public visibility of the issue as the FDA has recently done with General Mills. To date, according to one report, private enforcement, largely through the dispute resolution forum of the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Bureaus interpreting the Green Guides, has allowed competitors to argue the merits of whether green claims are "overstated." This is how Sony's dispute with Panasonic over whether plasma televisions containing no lead or mercury were "environmentally friendly" was resolved, and the NAD determined that catchphrase "environmentally friendly" was an overstatement because of their larger consumption of electricity compared to other televisions. Panasonic was free to tout that it had eliminated mercury and lead from its product. According to this same report, States might be expected to step into the fray as well. The FTC's Green Guides have their foundation built upon its 1983 Advertising Substantiation Statement , which require some substantiation be in hand providing a "reasonable basis" for a claim before making claims. Companies making claims about energy efficiency and carbon reduction should ensure they have the supporting information for their claims on file and they are prepared to defend their representations, while at the same time paying attention to how the NAD has been resolving these types of disputes as well.

Fact Versus Fiction on Energy Storage Systems

Schweitzer, Eric — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:45:00 GMT

Often, important emerging technologies get caught up in misconstrued facts and misunderstandings of capacities and roles in an already technology-driven and confusing world. An example of this can be found in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, "Getting Real on Wind and Solar" by James Schlesinger and Robert Hirsch. It's great they included a reference to energy storage systems (ESS) as a necessary component of the smart grid architecture for renewable energy. And they're right that the wind doesn't always blow, the sun doesn't always shine -- so having a stockpile of energy that can be tapped into on demand, and especially during high demand or "peak demand" hours, is very important to ensuring adequate energy is always available. But their main thesis that renewable energy can't be pursued without adding coal-based utility resources or without using hydroelectric dams as energy storage tanks is wrong.

Using today's readily available technologies, ESS can run without the support of a hydroelectric dam or a coal based utility. The NEMA Energy Storage Council includes companies that produce flow cell batteries, flywheel generators, batteries (lithium ion, lead acid, lead carbon, sodium sulphur, zinc bromine, vanadium redox, etc), thermal systems, concentrated solar panels; even Plug-in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles that show great potential as a distributed mass ESS. The list goes on and on and it will continue to grow as existing and emerging technologies vie for the top spot. While stationary (flywheel, flow cells, etc.) ESS does require a larger footprint in terms of space requirements and can be used in some cases as "spinning reserves" for hydroelectric dams; their value must not be unappreciated or misrepresented. Both stationary and mobile ESS (Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicles) provide a vastly untapped revolutionary resource with the ability to alleviate our present and rapidly growing energy crisis and ensure a future success towards building a "smart grid." ESS can provide solutions to current grid capacity issues, residential/ commercial/ industrial/ military back-up generation, load leveling, frequency response just to name a few."

It's important that NEMA continue to serve the role of advocate during these organizational periods where stakeholders grapple with the feat of learning where to go to for accurate and timely information.

FOX - Misleading viewers on batteries

Kohorst, Mark — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:47:00 GMT

The FOX media network’s “Green It-Mean It” video campaign took a turn for the bizarre recently with a segment on single-use batteries. Entitled “Batteries,” the video asserts that most batteries sold each year are disposed in landfills where they “leak toxic chemicals into our land and air.” Behind a menacing figure of a skull and crossbones (not much subtlety there), the voiceover concludes with a suggestion that viewers “check to see if your favorite brands make rechargeable batteries.”

This video, which NEMA has requested Fox to remove from its “Green It-Mean It” rotation, is a classic example of how well-intended media campaigns can contribute to damaging misperceptions about common household products. As I noted in a related post earlier this month, it serves no purpose to mislead consumers into believing that ubiquitous AAA, AA, and 9 volt batteries represent a threat to their health or the environment. The facts are that primary batteries contain nothing toxic and are considered non-hazardous under strict Federal waste management rules. Those seeking comprehensive and accurate information on the matter should read the pamphlet issued by NEMA's dry battery section entitled “Household Batteries and the Environment,” which is available on NEMA's Environmentally Conscious Design and Product Stewardship Program page. Meanwhile, NEMA will continue to be remain vigilant at spotting misinformation and getting its message out.

Misinformation at a California Conference

Kohorst, Mark — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:28:00 GMT

This week I flew to the West Coast to make a presentation on behalf of several NEMA sections at a solid waste management industry conference. The morning after my arrival, I took the opportunity to stroll the conference exhibit hall, where a number of waste industry product and service providers were manning display booths, handing out literature, and chatting with colleagues and potential clients. I was unfamiliar with most companies in the hall, but recognized one as perhaps the most widely known waste management firm in the US. I was therefore dismayed when I came across a hand-out on the company's table that stated: "Batteries are hazardous waste and do not belong in the trash or recycling. They need to be disposed of at a hazardous waste facility or through (the company's disposal program)"

This is not only inaccurate, it is reckless and irresponsible. It serves no purpose to mislead consumers into believing that common, household AAA, AA, and 9 volt batteries represent a threat to their health or the environment. NEMA and the members of its dry battery section expend substantial time and effort countering this sort of misinformation. The fact that it is being disseminated in a public forum by such a large and influential industry presence is discouraging and suggests the industry needs to remain vigilant at getting its message out. Consumers have enough real hazards to worry about - they don't need irrational fears hoisted on them as part of a marketing campaign.

For the record, I relayed my concerns to the employee manning the exhibit booth (a marketing staffer) and intend to follow up shortly with company officials. Anyone seeking accurate information about characteristics of household batteries, including disposal practices, can find it by accessing www.nema.org, or by contacting Mark Kohorst at NEMA (mar_kohorst@nema.org, 703-841-3249).

Energy Storage Technology Is Vital For "Smart" Grid Efforts

Schweitzer, Eric — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:08:00 GMT

NEMA is taking the lead in making Smart Grid and Energy Storage technologies a reality. The NEMA Energy Storage Council (ESC) has held successful meetings where attendees have drafted a list of application categories that help define where Energy Storage (ES) and Distributed Generation (DG) technologies should play a role. The NEMA ESC consisting of manufacturer, utility and government representative stakeholders further established and tasked a NEMA ESC Technical Committee (Stationary and Mobile Subcommittee) to identify specific action items aimed at facilitating the promotion of ES/DG technology to commercial and non-commercial markets. The result of the NEMA ESC Technical Committee meeting January 15, 2009 was an agreement to present a proposal for an all encompassing ES/DG demonstration program to prove the criticality of ES/DG technologies to the Department of Energy. It was fully agreed and can not be understated here that without the complete integration of ES/DG technologies to our ailing National electricity grid there can be no realized “Smart Grid.” Through this proposed demonstration program ES/DG manufacturers aim to prove the essentiality of ES/DG technologies to Smart Grid functionality and to demonstrate to the Government and Federal Agencies that ES/ DG technology can drive increased grid reliability, further reduction of carbon emissions, advanced T/D/G (Transmission/ Distribution/ Generation) capability, islanding capability, renewable energy penetration, interconnection realization, voltage support for public transportation systems, remote area power system capability (RAPS), zero net energy building capability, energy security, economic studies/ cost benefit analyses, and where electrical standards are required. The NEMA ESC has asked the Government Relations Department at NEMA to immediately get the message to Capitol Hill, The Obama Administration, DOE, FERC, NERC and other governmental agencies that NEMA is leading an effort to ensure Smart Grid success in addition to facilitating Energy Storage tax incentives equivalent to those being awarded to renewable technologies such as wind, solar, and hydro. For more information please contact Eric Schweitzer, NEMA Technical Program Manager at Eric.Schweitzer@NEMA.org