WV Conference on Economic Development Thru Energy Efficiency, June 13th

by Duane Nichols on June 7, 2017

Conference on Economic Development Through Energy Efficiency, June 13, 2017

Hosted by WV Division of Energy and the Center for Business and Economic Research, The Embassy Suites, Charleston, WV

JOIN US for this one-day FREE event!

The Economic Development Through Energy Efficiency Conference will showcase West Virginia companies and organizations involved in implementing, training, educating and advocating for energy efficiency. This event is free, with registration, and open to the general public. Attendees will hear about industrial investments in energy efficiency, performance contracting at large commercial facilities, educational initiatives, utility program offerings, training projects with the building industry, State policy that encourages efficiency and much more.

Participating Organizations – Appalachian Power, Appalachian Regional Consortium for Energy Efficiency, ASHRAE, Berkeley County Schools, Bimbo Bakeries, Energy Efficient WV, FirstEnergy, National Energy Education Development Project, Simonton Windows, US Green Building Council , WV Division of Energy, WV Office of Economic Opportunity, WVU – Industrial Assessment Center, ZMM Architects

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

Economic Development Through Energy Efficiency  – June 13, 2017

Location: The Embassy Suites Hotel, Charleston, WV

8:00 am Registration, 8:30 Welcome — Karen Lasure, Energy Development Specialist – West Virginia Division of Energy

Session 1:

Mark Adams – Weatherization Program Manager, WV Office of Economic Opportunity

Emmett Pepper – Executive Director, Energy Efficient West Virginia

Sam Butzer – President, WV ASHRAE

Jill Watkins – Chair, US Green Building Council West Virginia

10:15 Break

Session 2:

Manny Arvon – Superintendent, Berkeley County Schools

Jeremy Smith, CMTA Consulting Engineers

Berkeley County Schools Energy Savings Project

Bob Alexander – Corporate Process Engineering Manager, Simonton Windows

Leslie Adebayo – Sustainability Engineering Specialist, Bimbo Bakeries

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

Session 3:

Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan – Director, WVU Industrial Assessment Center

Ken Means – Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University

Sheila Coleman-Castells – Project Manager, Appalachian Regional Consortium for Energy Efficiency (ARCEE) Project

Caryn Turrel – Program Associate, National Energy Education Development Project

2:30 pm Break

Session 4:

Tammy Stafford – Principle Energy Efficiency/DSM Coordinator, Appalachian Power

Jim Fawcett – Customer Services and Business Development Director, Appalachian Power

Todd Kirkpatrick – Energy Efficiency & Conservation Program Manager, FirstEnergy

Adam Krason – Principal, ZMM Architects

Adjourn: 4:45 pm

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Climate Network June 14, 2017 at 2:15 am

Passive housing cuts costs – and global warming

Buildings which heat and cool themselves – passive housing – save householders money and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

LONDON, June 12, 2017 – Imagine living in a house which heats and cools itself, which saves significantly on energy costs and keeps you healthy and comfortable – and helps to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the process.

The good news is that, in the UK and several other countries, you don’t need to imagine it. Houses as good as that are available to those who can afford them, thanks in large measure to the Passivhaus Trust, an independent non-profit organisation which promotes the principles of low-energy design.

“If you want to get to zero carbon, Passivhaus gets you most of the way there, and a bit of renewable energy finishes the job”, says Jon Bootland, the Trust’s CEO.

The Trust is one of the winners in this year’s Ashden Awards, an annual international competition to encourage sustainable energy. Passivhaus topped the shortlist for the 2017 award for sustainable buildings.

The awards will be presented on 15 June by Al Gore, the former US vice-president turned climate campaigner, at a ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London, with each UK winner receiving £10,000 (US$13,300) to support their business (overseas winners receive twice as much).

Ancient forerunners

Passive cooling and heating of houses is a technique that has been used in different parts of the world for thousands of years: one example is the wind towers which are a centuries-old feature of house design in the Middle East.

The Passivhaus secret, an updated version of this ancient tradition, is no great surprise: it’s a range of practical measures, like enhanced insulation, high quality windows, and buildings that are designed to be airtight, with controlled ventilation.

They are built with great attention to detail and rigorous design and construction principles, certified through an exacting quality assurance process.

A core part of the Passivhaus standard, obviously, is passive design, which makes the greatest use possible of daylight for lighting, the sun’s warmth for heating in the winter, shading to reduce heating in the summer, and ventilation to provide summer cooling.

“If you want to get to zero carbon, Passivhaus gets you most of the way there, and a bit of renewable energy finishes the job”

With good insulation and close attention to keeping buildings airtight, most homes can be heated for much of the year by a combination of sunlight, waste heat from electrical appliances, and the body heat of occupants.

Ventilation in colder months is provided mechanically, but with a heat recovery system to capture heat from the outgoing air and use it to warm the incoming air. In warmer months occupants often open vents and windows to provide a natural flow of air through the building.

Over 1,000 Passivhaus homes and buildings in the UK are expected to be completed by the end of 2017. Bills for heating and hot water in can be £500-£1,000 a year lower than in normal houses, depending on the size of the home. Annual space heating energy use is limited to 15 kilowatt hours per square meter (15 kWh/m2 per year).

The result is that households in Passivhaus homes are less likely to experience fuel poverty, because their energy bills are so low despite the homes being at a comfortable temperature. More than a quarter of the UK’s energy use and CO2 emissions result from domestic energy use, the greater part of it for heating.

Out of reach?

The Trust says there is emerging evidence that health benefits result from Passivhaus homes, probably because the controlled ventilation avoids excessive humidity and high indoor CO2 levels, and the use of filters on the ventilation systems reduces the presence of pollen and particulates within the homes.

Across Europe over 20,000 houses, schools, offices and other buildings have been designed, built and tested to the Passivhaus standard. Meeting those standards often adds to the cost of a new building.

But the technique’s supporters say it is not just something reserved to the well-off. Several housing associations in the UK have been using the standard in housing designed for low-income occupants, because of the benefits it brings to their tenants. Its principles should work as well in tropical countries as they do in temperate Britain.

In eastern England the city of Norwich plans to develop hundreds more Passivhaus homes over the next four years and has worked with the Trust to develop its own training programme, equipping builders to deliver the planned £47 million of Passivhaus construction work.

Norwich’s commitment to eco houses extends beyond the council building projects. In the city the University of East Anglia’s Enterprise Centre, winner of several awards for environmental sustainability, is Passivhaus certified.

See also: Climate News Network

Source: http://climatenewsnetwork.net/passive-housing-cuts-costs-global-warming/

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ACEEE June 16, 2017 at 10:47 am

http://aceee.org/blog/2017/06/results-are-here-are-most-energy

The results are in: here are the most energy-efficient utilities in the U.S.

Our first-ever scorecard of US utilities, released today, reveals striking regional differences and identifies the best — and worst — performers on energy efficiency. The 2017 Utility Energy Efficiency Scorecard looks at the performance of the 51 largest electric utilities in the United States and highlights cutting-edge efforts. Topping the list are Eversource Massachusetts and National Grid Massachusetts, which both earned the same score. Rounding out the top five are Pacific Gas & Electric, Baltimore Gas & Electric, and Eversource Connecticut.

Dominion Energy is second from the bottom .…..

FROM: Irene Leech

And in Virginia, Dominion wrote the rules that govern what they earn for what. They told legislators that we were trying to advantage renewables when in fact, they had advantaged everything else. They wrote the rules and were the expert so the General Assembly went along with them. That’s how we got in this mess. They flat out lied and made sure fossil fuels had the advantage. Like we couldn’t fix it in 07, we’ve not had luck trying to rectify it since. Legislators believe them that what we have now is a level playing field for fuels, etc. That law is what must be changed but they have such a stranglehold on decision makers that I don’t know how we’ll get it done. Irene

From: Thomas Hadwin
Subject: Re: Dominion scores lowest in efficiency

As long as utilities are governed solely by cost-of-service rates, the only way they can make more is to build more. Utilities are not the best organizations to pursue the highest yield energy efficiency projects (commercial, industrial, and public buildings). And they add no value to solar, just an extra 10% to the price tag of utility-scale solar units. These opportunities are best met by third-parties who can offer lower costs and greater innovation.

Distributed generation and energy efficiency hurt their bottom line under the current rules. We need to give them an opportunity to prosper by doing what is good for the ratepayers. Otherwise, we will continue to get more proposals for 20th century projects.

FROM: Mary Wildfire
Ah, but when they invest in new pipelines, FERC GUARANTEES them all costs recovered—from their ratepayers—plus 14% profit. With that kind of sweet deal, the more expensive the better! And this is why we need to harp endlessly on the wrongness of that arrangement, and push to get it changed. If the gas and pipeline companies, and the banks that fund them, had to actually risk their own money, they’d be much more cautious and frugal, and it would be easier for us to talk the banks into divesting—and reinvesting in renewables.
Mary Wildfire in WV

From: Irene Leech
Cc: Stop Pipeline WV VA
Subject: RE: Dominion scores lowest in efficiency

Dominion lags on both solar and efficiency. Seems those are low hanging fruit to tap before investing in expensive things like pipelines and new nukes. Yes, they are firmly rooted in the last century, not embracing the future I see.

Subject: Re: Dominion scores lowest in efficiency

This is the third year in a row that Dominion has been one of the bottom dwellers. Notice they are also joined by several Duke Energy utilities and by Southern Company (Alabama Power). What does this say about the owners of the ACP. Are they all firmly entrenched in the 20th century energy model? How can we help them embrace the future?

Latest rankings of utilities by efficiency from ACEEE has Dominion right at the bottom but one.

Source: http://aceee.org/blog/2017/06/results-are-here-are-most-energy

Lorne Stockman, Senior Research Analyst
Oil Change International, 714 G Street SE, Suite 202
Washington, DC 20003

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