Few benefits are provided by electric power plants, coal mines, oil pipelines, and other energy supply systems aside from the energy they produce. Technologies to improve energy end-use efficiency, however, offer numerous non-energy benefits. One class of such benefits accrues at the national level--improved competitiveness, energy security, net job creation, environmental protection--while another relates to consumer decision-making.

From a consumer perspective, it is often the non-energy benefits that motivate (or can be used to promote) decisions to adopt energy-efficient technologies. A striking example is the rapid penetration of microwave ovens into the housing stock. While energy savings from microwave ovens can be substantial, the non-energy amenity and convenience factors clearly have driven consumer adoption.

U.S. Microwave Oven Penetration

Consumer awareness of non-energy benefits is also important to utilities, energy service companies, and others seeking to sell efficiency. While energy-efficient technologies help provide equivalent services at lower costs, non-energy benefits can actually add value or enhance the energy services delivered by efficient technologies. In addition, where certain market segments are not sensitive to economic arguments (e.g., in the proverbial "landlord-tenant" split-incentive situation), some non-energy benefits can assume special importance:

• Indoor environment, comfort, health, and safety--applies to measures that reduce indoor air pollution, enhance thermal comfort, or improve factors associated with health or safety, such as the ability of exhaust heat recovery systems to decrease the likelihood of insufficient ventilation rates at certain times of day or in certain parts of a building.
• Acoustical environment--applies to measures that lead to reduced noise levels, such as the sound-insulating value of highly efficient windows.
• Labor productivity--applies to measures that have lower maintenance costs, improve productivity because workers have an improved environment, or that reduce the amount of time required to do a task (exemplified by the more rapid cooking time offered by microwave ovens).
• Process control--applies to measures that enhance the control of a process, such as the use of variable-speed motors to improve quality and uniformity of a manufacturing procedure or halogen-lamp cooktops to improve control over cooking.
• Amenity or convenience--applies to measures that augment the quality of energy services or the functionality of the end-use device. For example, electronic ballasts eliminate flicker and noise from lighting systems.
• Water savings--applies to measures that lead to less water use, such as horizontal-axis clothes washers.
• Direct and indirect economic benefits from downsizing equipment--applies to measures such as the HVAC equipment and distribution system downsizing made possible by reduced solar gain through windows, from lights and plug loads, etc.

--Art Rosenfeld

For a more detailed discussion, see our new publication entitled "Consumer Non-Energy Benefits as a Motivation for Making Energy-Efficiency Improvements," by Evan Mills and Art Rosenfeld. LBL Report 35405 submitted to the 1994 ACEEE Summer Study on Buildings and available through the Center for Building Science.

Note: Art Rosenfeld has accepted the position of Senior Advisor to Christine Ervin, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, and plans to spend the next two years in Washington. He can be reached at (202) 586-6593 (phone), -9260 (fax), or via email.