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Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy in Buildings
Buildings include residential, commercial,
institutional, and federal structures. Energy efficiency and renewable energy in
buildings encompass building design, building materials, heating, cooling,
lighting, and appliances.
Current Use and Cost
- U.S. buildings consume 36% of the
country's energy supply at a cost of $193 billion—nearly as much as the
combined annual sales of General Motors Corporation and Exxon in 1993, and
energy use is growing at a rate of 3.3% a year.
- Including the fossil fuel used to
generate the electricity, commercial buildings account for more than 15%
of U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions; residential buildings account for 19%.
Building Design
- Passive solar buildings are being
built today that save as much as 50% on heating bills for only 1% more in
construction costs.
- Exemplary buildings—which use the
sun, efficient technologies, and the environment to provide for a
building's heating, cooling, and lighting requirements—will reduce
energy bills by as much as 75%. And these buildings cost no more than
conventional buildings.
- New building technologies, such as
low-emissivity (low-E) windows, compact fluorescent lights, and
energy-efficient clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators,
and freezers have created new business opportunities and growth markets.
Building Materials
- Poorly insulated windows account for
25% of all heating and cooling requirements in the United States at a cost
of $22 billion—more than the annual sales of Shell Oil Company in 1993.
This is equivalent to the amount of energy flowing through the Alaskan
pipeline each year.
- New insulating foams do not use
chlorofluorocarbon blowing agents or materials and have the same superior
thermal and physical characteristics as those they replace.
Heating and Cooling
- Heating and cooling equipment
consumes 42% of all building energy use at a cost of $81 billion—nearly
twice the dollar amount of Chrysler Corporation's annual sales in 1993.
- A transpired solar collector—which
is a dark, perforated metal wall—converts up to 80% of the sunlight
striking it into heated ventilation air for commercial buildings.
- Residential natural gas absorption
heat pumps with more than a 50% improvement in heating efficiency over the
best gas furnaces will be available in 1997. By 2000, those units will be
improved to provide over 50% more efficient cooling than the best current
absorption air conditioning units.
- Commercial gas cooling units that are
50% better than the best existing absorption chillers will be available by
1998.
Lighting and Appliances
- Lighting accounts for about 25% or
$44.25 billion of all electricity consumed in the United States—more
than the annual sales of the Chrysler Corporation in 1993.
- Compact fluorescent lamps consume 75%
to 85% less electricity than do incandescent ones and, typically, last 4
to 5 times longer than incandescent flood lamps and 9 to 13 times longer
than ordinary incandescent bulbs.
- Appliances (other than heating and
cooling) use 40% of all electricity consumed in residential and commercial
buildings. This equates to a cost of $54.6 billion dollars in 1991.
- Energy efficiency standards for
refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, clothes washers, clothes dryers, and
dishwashers are expected to save approximately 20 quadrillion Btu (equal
to 24% of the nation's energy use in 1992) of energy during 1993 to 2015.
- Beginning with some 1997 models,
refrigerator walls and doors will have advanced vacuum insulation panels
which have five times the insulating value of current units.
Opportunities
- The Federal Energy Management Program
will reduce energy use in federal buildings 30% by 2005, based on 1985
use. This will save taxpayers more than $1 billion dollars a year by the
year 2000.
References
- "Scientific American,"
September 1990.
- "The Climate Change Action
Plan," U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), October 1993.
- "OBT Program Overview: Building
Materials," DOE, October 1993.
- "OTFA Program-Related Facts,"
internal paper, Office of Technical and Financial Assistance, DOE, September
27, 1991.
- "NREL LabTalk," National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, August 1994.
- "Expanding Energy Savings by
Accelerating Market Diffusion of Efficient Technologies: Three Case
Studies," The Center for Applied Research, February 1992.
- "DOE FY 1995 Internal Budget
Review," DOE, July 1993.
- "Energized: Building
America," DOE, June 1994.
- "FEMP Program Overview: Fort Lewis
Conservation Program," DOE, June 1994.
EREC is operated by NCI Information
Systems, Inc. for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory/U.S. Department of
Energy. The statements contained herein are based on information known to EREC
at the time of printing. No recommendations or endorsement of any product or
service is implied if mentioned by EREC.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Clearinghouse (EREC)
P.O. Box 3048 Merrifield, VA 22116
Voice: 1-800-DOE-EREC
E-mail: doe.erec@nciinc.com
BBS: 1-800-273-2955
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Efficiency and Renewable Energy in Buildings
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