Energy, Environment and Resources Center

Jack Barkenbus EERC Executive Director

FROM THE DIRECTOR………

Efficiency Standards:
Partial Success

In our struggle to meet national energy challenges, the United States has witnessed remarkably few success stories over the past 30 years. Indeed, our dependence on foreign oil has increased over time; the reconciliation of energy and environmental goals remains elusive; and substantial government research and development (R&D) funding has yet to produce large-scale breakthroughs. Some small success stories, however, deserve to be recognized.

For example, we should feel good about the gradual promulgation of new energy-efficiency standards for appliances, technological devices, and other equipment. Everyday products of our civilization have become increasingly efficient, requiring less energy to provide reliable service.

The process for establishing and updating new minimum efficiency standards for appliances was set forth in little-heralded Congressional legislation during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since then, the federal government has established efficiency standards for 18 different products, including refrigerators, water heaters, clothes washers, heat pumps, and furnaces, and other product standards are in the works. The modern refrigerator could easily pose as the poster child for efficiency. In fact, today’s refrigerator, while larger than those of thirty years ago, uses less than a third as much energy. In addition to the environmental benefits derived from using less energy, new standards generally save consumers money over the lifetime of the product. The Department of Energy estimates, for example, that the new efficiency standards will save purchasers of new clothes washers about $48 per year on utility bills.

In energy terms, Howard Geller, in Energy Revolution (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2003) estimates that these energy efficiency standards reduced energy use by 1.2 Quads (quadrillion BTUs) in 2000 and will increase this savings to 3.3 Quads by 2010. Steven Nadel, in his excellent summary of standard setting across the board, says these standards have displaced 21,000 MW of generating capacity, roughly equivalent to 21 very large electric-power generating stations. (“Appliances and Equipment Efficiency Standards,” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment [Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 2002]).

Energy legislation now being considered by Congress appears likely to maintain the momentum established for improving efficiency standards.

Unfortunately, any enthusiasm for this development must be tempered by the “rest of the story.” There are some products, take automobiles, where efficiency standards have been frozen for more than a decade. At the very same time, American lifestyles have led to the purchase of larger vehicles and a 22 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled. Indeed, it is also discouraging to note that while many appliances and equipment have increased in efficiency, the average new home has also increased more than 25 percent in square footage since 1975. This increase in space not only requires more heating and cooling but also encourages the use of more appliances (e.g. televisions) and other energy-consuming equipment that barely existed 30 years ago (e.g. computers). Hence, gains in efficiency are being offset by prevailing lifestyles.

The lesson in all of this is that technical efficiency gains are a necessary but not sufficient condition for dealing successfully with energy. Sustainable consumption must be on the agenda as well. We at EERC have just begun a project aimed at identifying key components of consumption from an energy and ecological perspective, and searching for important points of leverage over behavior. Channeling lifestyle change is never easy; few individuals want to predicate their life-style on the basis of energy prerequisites. But until energy impacts of consumption become part of our collective consciousness, the best we can expect out of efficiency standards is partial success.