The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical science laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. From 1901 to 1988, the agency was named the National Bureau of Standards.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bozeman, and Beijing. Founded in 1970, as of 2019, the NRDC had over three million members, with online activities nationwide, and a staff of about 700 lawyers, scientists and other policy experts.
BACnet is a communication protocol for building automation and control (BAC) networks that use the ASHRAE, ANSI, and ISO 16484-5 standards protocol.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) is an advocacy group headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices across the United States. It is the nation's largest manufacturing industrial trade association, representing 14,000 small and large manufacturing companies in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Jay Timmons has led the organization as President and CEO since 2011.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development is one of twelve subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. The United States Senate Committee on Appropriations has joint jurisdiction with the United States House Committee on Appropriations over all appropriations bills in the United States Congress. Each committee has 12 matching subcommittees, each of which is tasked with working on one of the twelve annual regular appropriations bills.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is a federal law signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005, at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The act, described by proponents as an attempt to combat growing energy problems, changed US energy policy by providing tax incentives and loan guarantees for energy production of various types. The most consequential aspect of the law was to greatly increase ethanol production to be blended with gasoline. The law also repealed the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, effective February 2006.
Standby power, also called vampire power, vampire draw, phantom load, ghost load or leaking electricity, refers to the way electric power is consumed by electronic and electrical appliances while they are switched off or in standby mode. This only occurs because some devices claimed to be "switched off" on the electronic interface, but are in a different state. Switching off at the plug, or disconnecting from the power point, can solve the problem of standby power completely. In fact, switching off at the power point is effective enough, there is no need to disconnect all devices from the power point. Some such devices offer remote controls and digital clock features to the user, while other devices, such as power adapters for disconnected electronic devices, consume power without offering any features. All of the above examples, such as the remote control, digital clock functions and—in the case of adapters, no-load power—are switched off just by switching off at the power point. However, for some devices with built-in internal battery, such as a phone, the standby functions can be stopped by removing the battery instead.
The Air Movement and Control Association International, Inc. (AMCA) is an American trade body that sets standards for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment. It rates fan balance and vibration, aerodynamic performance, air density, speed and efficiency.
The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, originally named the Clean Energy Act of 2007, is an Act of Congress concerning the energy policy of the United States. As part of the Democratic Party's 100-Hour Plan during the 110th Congress, it was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Representative Nick Rahall of West Virginia, along with 198 cosponsors. Even though Rahall was 1 of only 4 Democrats to oppose the final bill, it passed in the House without amendment in January 2007. When the Act was introduced in the Senate in June 2007, it was combined with Senate Bill S. 1419: Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This amended version passed the Senate on June 21, 2007. After further amendments and negotiation between the House and Senate, a revised bill passed both houses on December 18, 2007 and President Bush, a Republican, signed it into law on December 19, 2007, in response to his "Twenty in Ten" challenge to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% in 10 years.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. Founded in 1980, ACEEE's mission is to act as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors in order to help achieve greater economic prosperity, and environmental protection.
In 2009, a European Commission initiative resulted in the specification of a common external power supply for use with data-enabled mobile phones sold in the European Union. The external power supply is the AC electric power adapter that converts household AC electricity voltages to the much lower DC voltages needed to charge a mobile phone's internal battery. Although compliance is voluntary, a majority of the world's largest mobile phone manufacturers agreed to make their applicable mobile phones compatible with Europe's common external power supply specification.
United States Lighting Energy Policy is moving towards increased efficiency in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions and energy use. Lighting efficiency improvements in the United States can be seen through different standards and acts. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 laid out changes in lighting legislation for the United States. This set up performance standards and the phase-out of incandescent light bulbs in order to require the use of more efficient fluorescent lighting. EISA 2007 is an effort to increase lighting efficiency by 25-30%. Opposition to EISA 2007 is demonstrated by the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act and the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act. The efforts to increase lighting efficiency are also demonstrated by the Energy Star program and the increase efficiency goals by 2011 and 2013.
The term Smart Grid describes a next-generation electric power system that is classified by the increased use of communication and information technology in the generation, delivery, and consumption of electrical energy. For individual consumers, smart grid technology offers more control over electricity consumption. Typically, the goal is greater overall energy efficiency.
The clean air delivery rate (CADR) is a figure of merit that is the cubic feet per minute (CFM) of air that has had all the particles of a given size distribution removed. For air filters that have air flowing through them, it is the fraction of particles that have been removed from the air, multiplied by the air flow rate through the device. More precisely, it is the CFM of air in a 1,008-cubic-foot (28.5 m3) room that has had all the particles of a given size distribution removed from the air, over and above the rate at which the particles are naturally falling out of the air. Different filters have different abilities to remove different particle distributions, so three CADR's for a given device are typically measured: smoke, pollen, and dust. By combining the amount of airflow and particle removal efficiency, consumers are less likely to be misled by a high efficiency filter that is filtering a small amount of air, or by a high volume of air that is not being filtered very well.
The Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles is a regulatory program that enforces minimum energy conservation standards for appliances and equipment in the United States. The program was established under Part B of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 and gives the Department of Energy (DOE) the authority to develop and implement test procedures and minimum standards for more than 50 products covering residential, commercial and industrial, lighting, and plumbing applications. The Department of Energy is required to set standards that are "technologically feasible and economically justified."
The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013 is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives of the 113th United States Congress on January 15, 2013. It passed the House on February 13, 2013 by a vote of 422-0. President Obama signed the Act into law on August 9, 2013.
The Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 is a bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit reports to both the United States Congress and the United States Department of Energy whenever it tried to implement a new regulation that would have significant compliance costs. The Department of Energy and Congress would then have the option of stopping or altering what the EPA proposed to do. According to a report about the bill from the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the bill "provides for greater checks and balances over EPA's rulemaking activity by requiring, before the agency finalizes new energy-related rules estimated to cost more than $1 billion, that the agency submit a report to Congress providing information detailing certain cost, benefit, energy price, and job impacts, and also that the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with other relevant agencies, conduct a review of the energy price, reliability, and other energy-related impacts, and make a determination about whether the rule will cause significant adverse effects to the economy." The bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
The Reliable Home Heating Act is a U.S. public law that loosens some transportation regulations in order to try to deal with a home heating fuel shortage in some states. The law requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to exempt motor carriers that transport home heating oil from certain federal regulations if the Governor of a state declares a state of emergency caused by a shortage of residential heating fuel. It would also require the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to notify states if certain petroleum reserves fall below historical averages.
The EPS Service Parts Act of 2014 is a bill that would exempt certain external power supplies from complying with standards set forth in a final rule published by the United States Department of Energy in February 2014. The United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce describes the bill as a bill that "provides regulatory relief by making a simple technical correction to the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act to exempt certain power supply (EPS) service and spare parts from federal efficiency standards."
Transactive energy refers to the economic and control techniques used to manage the flow or exchange of energy within an existing electric power system in regards to economic and market based standard values of energy. It is a concept that is used in an effort to improve the efficiency and reliability of the power system, pointing towards a more intelligent and interactive future for the energy industry.
