The conference brought together industry leaders to discuss the latest developments in the use of energy efficiency as a key resource for meeting customer and utility system needs and for addressing other critical economic and environmental objectives.
“It was great to be participating,” said Bailey, whose presentation, Considering the Human Element in Efficiency, was accepted as part of the poster presentation session. “I enjoyed the opportunity to really interact with people and tell them about what Ecos is doing for our clients in Continuous Energy Improvement. Our work was well received.”
Bailey brought home the message that although companies are receiving utility incentives for more efficient equipment, hardware or control systems, not everyone follows up with crucial employee training and Energy Management Programs that ensure the energy reductions and savings are sustained over time. “If an employee flips a switch to bypass efficient control systems, without an audit program in place it may not be discovered for months – then the company isn’t realizing the savings they expected,” he explained.
Chris Calwell, Ecos founder and senior research fellow, moderated one of the conference’s breakout sessions, Reexamining the Role of CFLs in Meeting Savings Targets. Presenters included Noah Horowitz of Natural Resources Defense Council, who encouraged utilities to not be satisfied with a “1 in 5” success rate for CFL adoption and to continue offering incentives on CFLs and other next generation lighting technology.
“Moderating this discussion was timely, since Ecos researchers are very involved in driving the recommendation for next generation lighting products that should be included in utility incentive programs,” said Calwell. “The information presented was very impressive.”
Other topics covered during the three-day conference included meeting aggressive resource goals for energy efficiency; regulatory mechanisms to encourage utility energy efficiency programs; measuring the energy efficiency resource; integrated resource planning and system operation; energy efficiency and system reliability; energy efficiency and the environment; and federal initiatives in utility sector energy efficiency.
Copies of many of the presentations are available at the conference Web site.
