Co-Chairs’ Introduction

Welcome to the 17th Biennial ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings.

Industrialized nations worldwide must profoundly change their energy supply and demand habits, in part to better use available resources and maintain prosperity, but also to reduce carbon emissions and avoid the negative consequences of climate change.

In 2012 we find ourselves in a growing urgency to deploy energy efficiency in the marketplace, while real market barriers and obstacles continue to inhibit adoption. The world continues to struggle with economic stability, growth, and job creation, pulling attention and resources in other directions, while we continue to face the long-term global environmental threat of unbridled consumption of carbon-based energy sources. Yet in some areas of the world these dire needs are inspiring a shift to a renewables-based infrastructure and a dramatic decrease in energy use. As we attend this Summer Study, Japan is experiencing a continued energy crisis post- Fukushima, and is in the throes of peak cooling season while their utility infrastructure has decommissioned its nuclear resources without an immediate supply replacement. Our 2012 theme embraces a concept of enabling smart growth within the confines of our current infrastructure by substituting conventional supply with increased efficiency, wise energy management, and changing practices: “Fueling our Future with Efficiency.”

Recognizing these issues and the major contribution of the buildings sector to U.S. energy consumption, accounting for over 40% of total consumption and more than 70% of electricity use, the Obama administration announced the Better Buildings Initiative in February 2011. The Initiative aims at making commercial and industrial buildings 20% more energy efficient by 2020 through strategies involving partnering with leaders in industry, universities and state and local government to showcase the best energy saving strategies, challenging college students to develop solutions to persistent barriers to energy efficiency, providing tools for assessing the value of energy efficiency in the building appraisal process, developing the workforce to deliver energy efficiency services, and assisting state and local governments upgrade the efficiency of 100,000 buildings. Although ambitious and a critical contribution to improving the efficiency of the buildings sector, these actions represent only a portion of the effort necessary to fully address the challenge before us. Utility programs, codes and standards, research and development, and the commitments of individual companies, investors and homeowners are necessary to address the urgent need for greater energy efficiency and its associated benefits.

We must continue to pursue energy efficiency improvements in areas such as the building envelope, lighting, and HVAC equipment. These measures alone, however, will not enable the “deep” savings that a systems approach can provide and that we need. For example, we must target increasing miscellaneous energy loads (e.g. plug loads) and embrace opportunities at the community-scale. This year we have instituted a new panel on information technology based energy efficiency solutions. A continuing panel on human behavior and social dynamics recognizes that these areas are starting to be recognized as key elements to enabling reductions in energy consumption, yet present their own challenges to leveraging their potential. Training of service providers and operators continues to grow as a field, but must be deployed more rapidly and at scale. We must continue to create performance-based codes and standards, pricing strategies, and training programs that facilitate and encourage energy efficiency through good operation and maintenance practices, energy efficiency retrofits and system integration in existing buildings. Together, these actions will result in a cleaner, more sustainable environment while paying dividends in terms of job growth related to energy efficiency.

Achieving aggressive goals rapidly on a large scale will require well-coordinated, multi-disciplinary, public-private partnerships and substantial investments in research, development, and deployment. At this year’s Summer Study, we’ll once again discuss state-of-the-art technology, policy, and regulatory options for increasing energy efficiency in the built environment, and celebrate those who have demonstrated key achievements in these areas. Keynote speakers will likely challenge conventional wisdom in these areas and provide new perspectives. The Summer Study is possible because of the tremendous efforts by the panel co-leaders, the paper and poster authors, and the peer reviewers who worked with the largest number of abstracts and final papers in the history of the Summer Study. We’d like to thank these volunteers in particular for their dedication and efforts in supporting this event – their contributions are essential to the success of the Summer Study. We’d also like to thank the dedicated ACEEE staff, in particular Rebecca Lunetta, Glee Murray, Lynn Pyle, Steve Nadel, and Mallory Werthamer who along with many others helped assure that all who attend the Summer Study are given every opportunity to participate, learn, and network with the very best in the energy efficiency business.

Enjoy this opportunity to interact as part of the Summer Study’s unprecedented gathering of building efficiency leaders among the inspiring natural beauty of Asilomar!

Michael Brambley, Conference Co-Chair, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Cindy Regnier, Conference Co-Chair, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory