In a first-ever agreement on appliance standards from America’s investor-owned and public-power electric utilities and major energy-efficiency and environmental groups, they have joined to recommend significantly higher efficiency standards for the estimated 41 million distribution transformers now serving the electricity system.
Following a gradual phase-in, the new transformers are expected to save 26 billion kilowatt hours annually, or roughly equivalent to the electricity used by 2.3 million U.S. households in 2005.
The recommendations were made jointly to the U.S. Department of Energy by the Edison Electric Institute and the American Public Power Association, representing the utilities, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the Alliance to Save Energy, Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), and the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.
The agreement comes at a time when the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating the efficiency of liquid-filled transformers, the metal boxes or cylinders found on utility poles across the United States that serve the crucial function of reducing voltage to the levels needed to provide electricity to homes and businesses. In 2006, the DOE proposed new efficiency standards for these transformers, but efficiency and environmental groups believed those standards did not take full advantage of current technology.
The DOE is expected to issue its final decision on transformer efficiency by this September.
“We have technology on the market today that will dramatically reduce global warming emissions and enhance energy efficiency across the nation,” said Ashok Gupta, Natural Resources Defense Council’s Air & Energy program director. “EEI and APPA, on behalf of America’s investor-owned and public power utilities, recognize that taking advantage of these innovations is not only good for the environment, but a smart business move, too. Businesses and consumers across the nation are moving towards increased efficiency; now we just need the federal government to follow.”
The recommended standards would be phased in beginning in 2009, with an initial increase in efficiency and continuing with an even higher standard beginning in 2013. On a cumulative basis, the standards will save about 425 billion kilowatt hours and cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 200 million metric tons over 28 years.
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