Clean Energy EXPO 2024: Energy Efficiency

The 27th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured seven panels, including Energy Efficiency.

Highlights

Carolyn Snyder, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Buildings and Industry, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

• One third of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from the nation’s buildings, and around 30% of the energy consumed in these buildings is wasted.
• Energy efficiency increases cost savings and affordability, benefits national competitiveness and security, and promotes healthier and more resilient communities.
• In April 2024, the Department of Energy (DOE) released the U.S. Buildings Decarbonization Blueprint. If implemented, the strategy would lead to emission reductions and energy cost savings of more than $100 billion, as well as $17 billion in health savings annually. It would also stimulate over $1 trillion in clean energy investments.
• DOE is spearheading projects like the Better Buildings initiative, the Better Plants program, and the Better Climate Challenge to decarbonize and meet energy efficiency targets in buildings and industry. DOE also provides regional on-site energy technical assistance, and the department recently announced the Buildings Upgrade Prize to help communities scale building retrofits.

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

• The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which is updated every three years, sets energy efficiency requirements for new residential construction. A home built to the 2021 IECC is 40% more efficient than one built to the 2006 IECC.
• Energy codes are fuel neutral. They allow for flexibility when it comes to what energy sources are used.
• Energy codes help drive down the cost of home ownership.
• New mortgage requirements announced by the Federal Housing Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture require compliance to the most updated energy codes and create an assurance for new homeowners that their home is energy efficient, and that they will save on utility bills over time.

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

• Building thermal envelopes, of which insulation is a key component, are essential to the success of other energy-efficiency technologies. Polyisocyanurate insulation is a board insulation commonly used in commercial construction, with its largest application in commercial roofing.
• Energy codes serve as minimum standards in the commercial building market.
• Eighty percent of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are already built. Renovating existing buildings for energy efficiency is important.
• The zero-over-time concept involves making energy efficiency improvements to buildings when parts run out or reach their service life. The main barrier to this building strategy is that it requires sophisticated planning and resources. Federal policy has a critical role to play here in driving resources toward retrofitting existing buildings and upgrading building performance standards.

Timothy Unruh, Executive Director, National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO)

• The National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) is a trade association for organizations that do energy retrofits of existing public buildings, like federal buildings and schools. Such buildings comprise about 25% of all buildings. NAESCO members are energy service companies that develop, implement, and oversee the installation of energy solutions, through energy savings performance contracts.
• DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program renovates federal buildings for energy efficiency improvements.
• NAESCO members provide a broad range of building retrofit services for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; thermal envelopes; water utility efficiency; lighting; decarbonization; electrification; and microgrid installation. These upgrades help reduce overall costs, increase resilience, and improve occupants’ satisfaction with their working environment.
• There is limited funding for public building projects and a growing need to leverage existing funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (P.L. 117-169), utility rebates, and capital budgets.

Kelley Raymond, Senior Director, Sustainability and Environmental Advocacy, Daikin

• Residential and commercial buildings account for more than 40% of U.S. energy consumption, and most of that energy is used for heating and cooling space and water. Heat pumps are integral to Daikin’s Environmental Vision 2050, which sets a goal for carbon neutrality by 2050, with a first reduction of 30% by 2025.
• In 2020, 80% of the world’s heating and hot water supply systems relied on fossil fuel combustion or electric heating. These traditional heating systems can operate at 80 to 90% efficiency, but heat pumps can operate at 500% efficiency—generating five times more energy than they intake.
• Daikin is participating in the DOE’s Cold Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, which is working to develop efficient heat pumps that maintain consumer comfort in cold conditions.
• The adoption of variable speed inverter technology for heat pumps will also be a key way for the United States to accelerate progress in meeting ambitious emission reduction goals. This technology uses a compressor that continuously modulates power levels instead of just turning the pump off and on, resulting in lower overall energy consumption and environmental impact.

Compiled by Ainsley Ogletree and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.

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