Wasted miscellaneous energy loads could power a large country
Commercial and residential buildings account for 41 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States each year. With more than 2 billion in use, devices and equipment commonly found in U.S. homes and businesses consume more energy each year than many large countries use to power their entire economies, according to a new analysis from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
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Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Clemens Tertel |
These devices are referred to as miscellaneous energy loads (MEL) because they do not fit into traditional energy-use categories such as refrigeration, HVAC or lighting. MELs include a long list of appliances, as well as fume hoods, vending machines, gas fireplaces and ceiling fans -- and are not only the largest category of building energy use but the fastest growing, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Household devices such as ceiling fans, TVs, computers, and other electronics, and commercial equipment such as elevators, icemakers, and MRI machines use 7.8 quadrillion Btus, or 20 percent each year -- more than the primary energy use of Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and 200 other countries. This is also more than the amount of oil the U.S. imports from the Persian Gulf and Venezuela each year, according to ACEEE.
The diversity of the devices makes it difficult to implement efficiency measures, but with existing technology, these devices could be made to use 40 to 50 percent less energy, the research contends. In the meantime, utilities can include MELs in their energy efficiency portfolios and behavioral initiatives can be developed to raise awareness and modify consumption habits. Initiatives aimed at building owners, facility managers and building occupants might include not only energy conservation through marketing and messaging but also environment redesign.
"If consumers upgraded to the most efficient products on the market today, we could save as much energy as Argentina uses in an entire year," Sameer Kwatra, lead author of the research, said.
And interest in improving energy-efficiency standards is high, as President Obama identifies establishing new goals for energy efficiency standards as a top priority in his plan to tackle the growing threat of climate change.
Mandatory and voluntary efficiency standards can be leveraged to encourage manufacturers to upgrade products so that the best-performing products become commonplace in the market, according to ACEEE. Some devices, like ceiling fans and ice makers, are already covered by federal energy efficiency standards, while others like TVs and computer monitors are covered under voluntary efficiency specifications. Federal standards for distribution transformers were revised recently, although there is potential for beyond this.
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