Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Wrong incentives: If the energy used in a building is
not paid for by the building owner, the incentive is to
install the lowest-cost systems rather than the most
ef
cient systems.
Stalled innovation:
If manufacturers do not produce
ef
cient products, consumers have no choice but to
purchase what is available even if it is not very ef
cient.
Utility pro
ts coupled to sales:
If utilities can make
more pro
t only by selling more energy they have no
incentive to promote ef
ciency. This is the situation in
most states.
It seems clear that only regulation will drive the build-
ings sector to more ef
ciency.
What Works
Appliance standards:
rst
energy standards for refrigerators, furnaces, air condition-
ers, and other appliances sold in that state. Since the
California market was so large, manufacturers produced all
of their products to meet the California standard. In
In
California set the
nationwide federal standards were imposed that included
more products, and appliance energy use continued to
decline. For example, compared with
,refrigerators
today use only
% as much energy, gas furnaces
%as
much, and central air conditioners
%asmuch.Many
more appliances now fall under federal standards and the
energy savings continue to increase as older systems wear
out and are replaced with newer, more ef
cient ones.
The APS report estimated that by the year
electri-
city use would be
% below what it would have otherwise
