for Wind and Other Renewables President Barack Obama has signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which averted the fiscal cliff while keeping income taxes low for the middle class and raising rates on the rich. The act also includes tax-credit extensions for wind energy and biodiesel,
cellulosic ethanol and electric vehicles, and energy-efficient new homes and appliances. ¶ Uncertainty about extension of the tax credit had caused thousands of layoffs in the wind-energy industry the past several months. The extensions cover all wind projects that start construction in 2013. ¶ Wind set a new record in 2012 by installing 44 percent of all new electrical-generating capacity in America, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administra- tion, Washington, D.C. Wind led the electric sector compared with 30 percent for natural gas and lesser amounts for coal and other sources. ¶ Uncertain federal policies have caused a “boom-bust” cycle in U.S. wind-energy development for more than a decade as each year the question of the tax-credit extension arises. In the clos- ing days of the lame duck session of Congress, wind-energy work- ers posted videos to tell their stories about working in the industry. The 2,000 companies that belong to Washington-based American Wind Energy Association also sent delegations to Capitol Hill, invited members of Congress on tours of wind farms and factories, and delivered hundreds of thousands of letters from constituents. ¶ “We are pleased this latest barrier to protecting clean-energy jobs in America has been overcome, and we will continue our work to ensure that our nation creates jobs and a secure climate future with clean energy,” says Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, San Francisco.
Energy-efficiency Measures Are Offsetting Consumption According to a report by Energy Manager Today (www.energymanagertoday.com), the U.S. is consum- ing energy more efficiently and with lower emissions than five years ago thanks to a slew of modern technologies that are changing decades-old patterns. Research firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, New York, and industry group the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Washington, D.C., published the “Sustainable Energy in America 2013 Factbook,” which portrays a dynamic and rapidly changing U.S. energy landscape. Energy efficiency is making a major impact, and, as a result, energy demand has fallen steeply. ¶ Since the 1980s, energy intensity has decreased by more than 40 percent. This improvement is mainly caused by reduced consumption of primary energy (predominantly natural gas), which can be attributed to higher levels of efficiency in new buildings and improvements to hardware and operations relating to heating, ventilation and air conditioning within older buildings. ¶ Electricity in- tensity has not decreased in the same way. However, although a commercial building in 2012 has far more electricity-consuming appliances than its equivalent in 1980, buildings today are not consuming substantially more electricity per square foot than they were. In other words, the increase in uses for electricity has been offset by improvements to HVAC and lighting. ¶ The factbook highlights how energy efficiency is increasingly becoming a priority, particu- larly among large power consumers, such as manufacturers who are being ever more cost- conscious. ¶ U.S. utility budgets for efficiency expenditures reached $7 billion in 2011 (the latest available date for which data exists), and financing for energy-efficiency retrofits has become increasingly sophisticated, propelling further greening of U.S. buildings. ¶ Download the factbook at www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook.html.
14 RETROFIT // March-April 2013
STANDARD FACILITATES HYBRID AC AND DC POWER USAGE IN DATA/ TELECOMMUNICATION CENTERS The San Ramon, Calif.-based EMerge Alli- ance, an open industry association leading the rapid adoption of safe direct-current (DC) power distribution standards for commercial buildings, has announced the completion of the EMerge Alliance Data/Telecom Center Standard. The standard creates an integrat- ed, open platform for power, infrastructure, peripheral device and control applications to facilitate the hybrid use of AC and DC power within data centers and telecommunications central offices. This change in power distri- bution architecture involves making a single conversion of the incoming line of AC voltage to 380VDC and then distributing it directly to rack-mounted ICT equipment, simplifying the otherwise unnecessarily complex power- management provisions generally used in today’s AC-powered data centers. According to Dennis Symanski, senior project manager at the Electric Power Re- search Institute, Palo Alto, Calif., and chair of the alliance’s technical standard committee for data and telecommunications centers, using DC power distribution in data centers significantly improves reliability and reduces equipment and operating costs. “By requiring fewer components and conversions than their AC counterparts, DC power systems in data centers suffer fewer heat-related failures and require less space, energy and maintenance to operate,” Symanski says. “DC power collection and distribution systems also simplify the use of locally gener- ated power, providing an effective integration of onsite energy generation and storage with direct delivery of controlled power.” “The EMerge Alliance Data/Telecom
Standard was designed to integrate with our other standards to form a family of area-spe- cific DC microgrids that, when interconnect- ed, create a resilient and versatile building or campus energy network,” says Brian Patter- son, the alliance’s chairman. “DC power is a key component in net-zero-energy buildings, and our growing organization of more than 100 members continues to make progress with standards for the occupied space, data and telecommunications centers, building services, and outdoor applications to achieve our vision for improved energy efficiency, flex- ibility and sustainability throughout buildings.” For more information, visit www.emergealliance.org.