What's next in energy efficiency?(Editorial)

Over 600 people involved in all aspects of energy efficiency in buildings recently met for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. This was the eighth conference on energy efficiency in buildings; it was held at the Asilomar Conference Center, California. For many, it was an opportunity to learn about new technologies and share ideas. For Home Energy, it was an opportunity to spot the next big thing in energy, efficiency.

First, don't get your hopes up. There wasn't a hot new item that dominated the conference. Instead, several trends seemed to permeate the presentations and discussions. (Maybe that's news, too.)

There were no new technical breakthroughs, only incremental improvements in equipment and shell, plus the increasing maturity of whole-building performance concepts. This includes the rationalization of why past energy efficiency efforts never seem to return the energy reductions we expect. We have come to realize that the individual components of a building have to be considered as a whole, rather than as independent systems, devices, and appliances. The combination of gradual progress on many fronts has allowed researchers and practitioners to develop a new rallying cry: zero-energy buildings. A zero-energy building has been technically possible for years, but the difference now is that constructing them is becoming economically justifiable (see "Zero Home Energy?" HE March/April '04, p. 2). The cost of PVs and other renewables has fallen, but the higher efficiency of energy use means that less area for solar collectors is needed. This is where the real economies have arisen.

To be sure, the conferees disagreed on what exactly a zero-energy building is (see "Definitions of a Zero-Energy Building Overheard at the ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings"). Finding a single definition may become important to future truth in labeling, but these differences amounted to amusing fine-tuning rather than fundamental arguments. Working toward the economical zero-energy building has also provided an unexpected focus for buildings research. With a zero-energy building as the ultimate objective, it's much easier to prioritize research. And this is exactly what the DOE is doing.

When we look at the goal of mass-producing zero-energy buildings, some previously ignored problems rise in importance. For example, the miscellaneous uses of electricity must be confronted. Those ...