Clean Energy EXPO 2023: Energy Efficiency Essentials

The 26th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucus serving as honorary co-host. It featured six panels, including Where It All Begins: Energy Efficiency Essentials.

Highlights

Paula Glover, President, Alliance to Save Energy

• New programs, such as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that was created under the Inflation Reduction Act, offer opportunities to more broadly apply energy efficiency measures, including through tax credits.
• Energy efficiency measures need to target buildings, particularly old buildings that do not have the structural or financial capacity to incorporate energy efficiency and resiliency upgrades on their own.
• New construction should leverage all available tools and pathways for energy efficiency.

Curt Rich, President and CEO, North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA)

• Energy efficiency begins in the built environment. 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are associated with buildings, from the building materials themselves to the power needed to operate the buildings.
• About 1.5 million new homes are built each year. Challenges persist in driving down carbon emissions from these homes and making them as energy efficient as possible.
• As climate change continues to instigate more frequent extreme weather events, homes must be built to be more climate-resilient, including through electrification.
• In a study completed last month, the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories found that in a power outage, a well-insulated “passive house” can remain livable for seven days, compared to 1.5 days in a standard inefficient home and three days in a home built to the 2021 international model code. In this way, energy efficiency promotes climate resilience.
• An issue brief published by the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy found that homes that were air sealed and retrofitted with electric appliances saw a 30 to 75 percent reduction in energy use, which led to significant utility bill savings.
• A report by the consultancy ICF, the Insulation Industry Opportunity Study, examined all sectors of the built environment and found that basic improvements in home insulation resulted in a 20 to 40 percent reduction in energy use and costs.

Justin Koscher, President and CEO, Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA)

• The flat roofs typically used in commercial buildings like schools and government buildings are drastically under-insulated. These roofs were largely installed in a time of weaker energy efficiency standards.
• A report published jointly with ICF, Life-Cycle Benefits of Energy Code-Compliant Roof Replacements, found that replacing the flat roofs of commercial buildings reduced energy use in the building by eight to ten percent.
• Unlike homes, commercial buildings are not highly regulated. There is immense opportunity for federal policy to provide information and financing through tax credits and direct grants.
• Policy and technological solutions need to address not just new buildings, but existing buildings as well.

Bryon Krug, Treasurer, National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO); President, CEG Solutions LLC

• Energy service companies connect building owners with technologies that improve resilience and energy efficiency and lower energy costs. These benefits are almost always paid for over time through energy savings, with no real up-front cost to building owners.
• Performance contracts can leverage and stretch the energy investments from federal appropriations and private capital.
• Federal regulations require every federal building to be audited for energy improvements every four years. The Energy Act of 2020 (passed as part of the Fiscal Year 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act) requires 50 percent of economically viable improvements identified during these audits to be implemented through performance contracts.
• 87 percent of the federal government’s Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions come from buildings. Regulations that have been promulgated to improve energy efficiency in these buildings, however, have not yet been implemented.

Compiled by Nicole Pouy and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.