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, India, and Beijing. The group was founded in 1970 in opposition to a hydro-electric power power plant in New York.
Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively or changing one's behavior to use less service. Energy conservation can be achieved through efficient energy use, which has some advantages, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a smaller carbon footprint, as well as cost, water, and energy savings.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992, effective October 24, 1992, is a United States government act. It was passed by Congress and set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use and improve overall energy efficiency in the United States. The Act consists of twenty-seven titles detailing various measures designed to lessen the nation's dependence on imported energy, provide incentives for clean and renewable energy, and promote energy conservation in buildings.
The Alliance to Save Energy is a bipartisan, nonprofit coalition of business, government, environmental, and consumer groups based in Washington, D.C. The Alliance states that it advocates for "energy-efficiency policies that minimize costs to society and individual consumers, and that lessen greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the global climate." The Alliance's chief activities include public relations, research, and lobbying to change U.S. energy policy.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is an office within the United States Department of Energy. Formed from other energy agencies after the 1973 energy crisis, EERE is led by the Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, who is appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Alejandro Moreno currently leads the office as the Acting Assistant Secretary.
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a thermal comfort. Installing light-emitting diode bulbs, fluorescent lighting, or natural skylight windows reduces the amount of energy required to attain the same level of illumination compared to using traditional incandescent light bulbs. Improvements in energy efficiency are generally achieved by adopting a more efficient technology or production process or by application of commonly accepted methods to reduce energy losses.
The Rosenfeld Effect is not a scientific phenomenon, but an empirical fact that electricity use per capita in California (CA) had been almost flat from 1973 to 2006, whereas use in the United States has risen 50%. The effect is attributed to energy efficiency, a cause pioneered by Arthur H. Rosenfeld. Up until 2010 Dr. Rosenfeld was the commissioner and a very prominent member of the California Energy Commission board and presided over the Research, Development, and Demonstration Committee; the Dynamic Pricing Committee; and the Energy Efficiency Committee, whose main purposes are to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to support cutting edge research and, to look towards developing renewable energy sources.
Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), also known as Energy Performance Contracts, are an alternative financing mechanism authorized by the United States Congress designed to accelerate investment in cost effective energy conservation measures in existing Federal buildings. ESPCs allow Federal agencies to accomplish energy savings projects without up-front capital costs and without special Congressional appropriations. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 authorized Federal agencies to use private sector financing to implement energy conservation methods and energy efficiency technologies.
Vermont Energy Investment Corporation or VEIC is a non-profit organization in Chittenden County, Vermont that seeks to reduce the economic and environmental costs of energy consumption through energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption. Since its founding in 1986, the organization has been involved in designing energy efficiency and renewable energy programs in North America and worldwide.
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.
A Deep energy retrofit can be broadly categorized as an energy conservation measure in an existing building also leading to an overall improvement in the building performance. While there is no exact definition for a deep energy retrofit, it can be defined as a whole-building analysis and construction process, that aims at achieving on-site energy use minimization in a building by 50% or more compared to the baseline energy use making use of existing technologies, materials and construction practices. Such a retrofit reaps multifold benefits beyond energy cost savings, unlike conventional energy retrofit. It may also involve remodeling the building to achieve a harmony in energy, indoor air quality, durability, and thermal comfort. An integrated project delivery method is recommended for a deep energy retrofit project. An over-time approach in a deep energy retrofitting project provides a solution to the large upfront costs problem in all-at-once execution of the project.
DERs are projects that create new, valuable assets from existing residences, by bringing homes into alignment with the expectations of the 21st century
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), established in 1982, is a non-profit organization working with clean energy. It is based in Latham, New York.
CLASP is an international nonprofit organization which provides technical and policy support to governments worldwide and works to implement energy efficiency standards and labels (S&L) for appliances, lighting, and equipment. It specializes in publishing studies and analyses with relevance to S&L practitioners.
John A. "Skip" Laitner is an American-born economist, author and lecturer. He focuses on developing a more robust technology and behavioral characterization of energy efficiency resources for use in energy and climate economic policy models.
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 60 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 Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013 is a bill that was introduced into the United States Senate during the 113th United States Congress. The overall purpose of the bill was to reduce energy waste by increasing energy efficiency in the United States. Among its many provisions, the bill includes measures to improve building codes, assist manufactures in becoming more energy efficient, and increase conservation efforts at federal agencies.
The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2014 is a bill that focused on improving energy efficiency in the United States by reducing homeowners' energy use, improving the energy efficiency provisions of building codes, and making other changes.
The Alliance for Water Efficiency is a stakeholder-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the efficient and sustainable use of water. The organization serves as a North American advocate for water-efficient products and programs, and provides information and assistance on water conservation efforts. The organization's activities include advocacy, research, and training. The organization received early support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Streamlining Energy Efficiency for Schools Act of 2014 is a bill that would require the United States Department of Energy to establish a centralized clearinghouse to disseminate information on federal programs, incentives, and mechanisms for financing energy-efficient retrofits and upgrades at schools. The bill would require the DOE to collect the data from all federal agencies and store it in one place online.
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."
