EETD News #8, Vol. 2, No. 4
Table of Contents

The California Energy Crisis: A Brief Summary of Events

The energy crisis in California has been in the news since 2000, when rapidly rising energy prices in the San Diego area first hit the headlines. Described as the consequences of the failure of the state's experiment in utility restructuring, the crisis, characterized by high wholesale prices of electricity, increasing frequency of Stage I, II, and III power alerts, and rolling blackouts, spread to the rest of the state in 2001.

The California Energy Crisis: Long-and Short-Term Solutions

Researchers at EETD have worked with agencies in California and its utilities since the Division's beginnings in 1974 to help the state use energy more efficiently, reduce its energy bills, and thereby improve its productivity. During the current electricity crisis in the state, Division researchers have provided technical consultation to the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Public Utilities Commission, the state legislature, and other agencies of the state, as well as worked on a number of formal projects funded by the CEC through its Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program.

High-Performance Commercial Building Systems

The California Energy commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program has funded a three-year, $9 million research initiative to reduce the energy use of commercial buildings. Commercial buildings use one-third of all electricity consumed in California. EETD research suggests that the energy use of these buildings can be reduced by 30 to 50%, but capturing these savings requires an integrated program of research, development, demonstration, and market transformation to bring the necessary technologies and practices into common use. Having a roadmap for the program is particularly important in view of the fact that in the buildings sector, with its complex relationships among builders, vendors, designers, and contractors, new innovations can take 10 to 20 years to diffuse into the market.

Supporting the Cool Roofs Standard

In August 2000, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) released the first public review draft of its proposed residential ventilation standard entitled "Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings." The Standard Project Committee (SPC 62.2P) responsible for developing this draft is now reviewing the results of that public review and will likely make changes to it, but the fundamental principles are unlikely to change.

Meteorology, Energy, and Air Quality

In theory the energy and air quality implications of climate and meteorological changes are relatively well established. Climate fluctuations on spatial and temporal scales have significant impacts on energy use, emission of pollutants, atmospheric chemical reactions, and other parameters such as diffusion, transport, and deposition of airborne pollutants.

High-Performance Fume Hood Reduces Energy Use 50%

Fume hoods, devices that are widely used by high-tech industries, hospitals, and universities, help keep workers safe, but can use a lot of energy—a single fume hood running 24 hours a day uses as much energy as an entire house. New fume hood technology developed by researchers at Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division reduces energy use by 50% or more. This technology has been demonstrated successfully in testing at Berkeley Lab and at the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Pathology.

The New Berkeley Lamp Lights the Way to Energy Savings

EETD researchers have developed a new high-performance, energy-efficient table lamp that is designed to save energy in homes and offices while increasing lighting quality and visibility. The lamp provides both a task light and an "uplight" for room illumination. "Widespread use of this lighting system in offices and homes could greatly reduce the current power problems we have in California while increasing the quality of the lighting environment," says EETD scientist Michael Siminovitch. "To our knowledge, nothing currently available in the office, hospitality, or residential marketplace has both the high-performance lighting quality characteristics and energy efficiency of this new lamp."

Two Web Sites Help Californians Save Energy

To help Californians reduce their energy use and the danger of rolling blackouts in the state, EETD researchers developed two new web sites: The 20% Solution (savepower.lbl.gov), that can help Californians reduce energy use by 20% or more, and California Electricity System Status (energycrisis.lbl.gov), which shows electrical demand in the state and the availability of generating resources to meet the demand.

Research Highlights

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