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For Immediate Release
For More Information
Ronnie Kweller 202-530-2203 rkweller@ase.org
Washington, D.C., June 10, 2008 – The Alliance to Save Energy 2008 “Stars of Energy Efficiency” comprise a diverse roster of individuals, companies, and government entities working to advance energy efficiency in noteworthy and creative ways.
This year’s “Stars of Energy Efficiency” awardees are global technology firm United Technologies Corp.; tankless water heater manufacturer Rinnai Corp.; the York County, Va., School Division; and Embraco, a worldwide company noted for state-of-the-art, high-efficiency refrigeration compressor technology. Jupiter Oxygen Corp., an oxy-fuel combustion innovator, was selected as the first recipient of the Alliance’s new Innovative Award. Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff was named the winner of the Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service for his outstanding public sector service and lifetime commitment to energy efficiency. And, finally, Philips Electronics was chosen by Alliance Honorary Board Chair Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) for the Chairman’s Award.
All awards will be presented at the Alliance’s 16th annual Evening with the Stars of Energy Efficiency awards dinner on Thursday, September 25, at the historic Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.
“The Alliance to Save Energy commends this year’s stellar lineup of awardees for their significant contributions to energy efficiency,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “Their leadership, innovation, and unflagging dedication truly make them ‘Stars of Energy Efficiency.’ Today’s rising and often record energy costs are squeezing consumer, government, and company budgets alike, making this an ideal time to celebrate those working to advance energy efficiency.”
The Alliance awards are going to:
United Technologies Corporation (UTC): Fifteen years ago, before voluntary environmental reporting was common, this high-technology company began measuring and reporting its environmental impact, and it has been committed to reducing energy use, water consumption, and waste throughout its operations. UTC has continually exceeded its own ambitious environmental goals since 1991. In the past 10 years for example, UTC reduced its own energy use by 20 percent while the company more than doubled in revenues. UTC is now well on its way to achieving its next goal of reducing, by 2020, greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent and water use by 10 percent. Another target is to invest $100 million from 2007 to 2010 in energy conservation projects, including co-generation systems.
Believing that climate change is a critical environmental concern, and with a worldwide real estate portfolio of more than 100 million square feet, UTC also is committed to designing and building new facilities with the lowest possible environmental footprint. This year, UTC began using the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system in all new facilities, whether owned or leased, including two new facilities in China that are designed to meet LEED Gold and Platinum standards, respectively.
Richard Bennett, UTC vice president, environment health and safety, noted, “At UTC, we have focused on energy conservation both in our own operations and for UTC products in use around the world, and we’re pleased to be recognized for our results. There is always still work to be done, but recognition along the way is a source of pride for the corporation and its 225,000 employees worldwide, who invent and implement changes and help us achieve our aggressive goals.”
Rinnai Corporation: For more than 30 years, Rinnai – winner of the Alliance’s award for innovation in energy efficiency – has been a leader in innovative gas appliance technologies that have kept the company at the forefront of energy efficiency. Rinnai also was instrumental in the U.S. Department of Energy’s February 2007 decision to establish an ENERGY STAR program for residential water heating – the only major residential energy end use without an ENERGY STAR designation at that time.
In January 2008, Rinnai launched the industry’s first line of high-output, high-efficiency tankless water heaters for residential and commercial applications, as well as the first Tankless Heating System that works in concert with its tankless water heaters to deliver on-demand, comfortable heat using the same source for household hot water and space heating. While the Energy Factors (EF) of water tanks is typically 59 to 62 percent, Rinnai’s gas tankless units typically have EFs of more than 80 percent, with some as high as 87 percent.
Beyond their energy efficiency and water-saving gains, tankless water heaters have additional and substantial environmental benefits. They are one-fifth the size of tank water heaters and last twice as long; and most of their components can be recycled, reducing landfill load by approximately 600 million pounds over 10 years.
Said Rinnai Executive Vice President Ervin Cash, “We at Rinnai appreciate the Alliance’s award recognizing our company’s strides in making homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient. Builder magazine has ranked Rinnai tankless water heaters the most popular product among builders for four years, demonstrating that energy-efficient products are getting more attention from builders than typical aesthetic products. This is great news for energy-efficiency advocates, for -consumers, and for our nation.”
York County Schools (Va.): Since 2004, Virginia’s York County School Division has reduced its energy consumption by more than 48 billion Btu, saving more than $1 million in energy costs. The division’s three-member energy management team has developed and implemented an aggressive two-pronged approach for reducing pollution and energy waste. The division began by implementing energy-saving and sustainable building design practices such as energy-efficient T-8 & T-5 lighting that has reduced costs by nearly 40 percent; energy recovery units that drastically reduce the amount of energy needed to condition fresh air entering the building; and classroom, office, cafeteria, and gymnasium occupancy sensors that automatically turn off lights when areas are unoccupied and, in most schools, shift heating and cooling set points.
The hallmark of the division’s energy-saving efforts is the six geothermally heated and cooled schools. Geothermal systems not only reduce energy consumption, but also significantly reduces the need for maintenance and repairs. In addition, an enhanced building automation system controls and monitors the buildings’ mechanical operations to further reduce energy consumption. The division instituted a plan to educate employees, students, and the community about energy efficiency by promoting environmental initiatives such as Earth Day and the federal ENERGY STAR program’s “Change-a-Light” campaign. York County School Division has six of the seven school buildings in the Commonwealth of Virginia recognized with the EPA’s Energy Star Building certification.
“The York County School Division takes pride in its energy management team and energy conservation efforts that save energy and money without sacrificing the comfort and security of our students, teachers and staff,” said Douglas Meade, the division’s director of information technology, who is responsible for all energy management and direct digital control building automation systems.
Embraco: Embraco, recipient of the Alliance’s I-Star award for an overseas entity, is the world market leader in energy-efficient reciprocating compressors for refrigeration and is known for its state-of-the-art high-efficiency products. An example is the Embraco VCC – Variable Capacity Compressor – which reduces refrigeration system power use by up to 40 percent compared with a conventional compressor. According to Embraco, the average annual power consumption of a typical high-efficient side-by-side refrigerator with a standard on-off compressor would be around 570 kwh a year, while the Embraco VCC consumes only 480 kwh, to save $18 a year in home energy costs. On a cumulative basis, the energy saved in 2006 by Embraco VCCs around the world would power all the houses in a city the size of Washington, D.C., for 37 days.
“It's an honor for us, a Brazilian-based, global organization, to receive such a prestigious award and recognition of our efforts on energy-efficiency initiatives,” said Embraco President Ernesto Heinzelmann. “VCC is just one of Embraco’s innovative products working to advance energy efficiency in noteworthy and creative ways.”
Jupiter Oxygen Corporation: Concerned about industrial furnace efficiency, rising fossil fuel costs, and environmental issues at his aluminum recycling and manufacturing business, Jupiter Oxygen Corp (JOC) Chairman and CEO Dietrich Gross developed a new method for combustion in industrial furnaces.
This technology has been deployed since 1997, allowing Jupiter Aluminum Corporation, a licensee of JOC’s technology, to reduce industrial furnace natural gas consumption by up to 73 percent and fuel oil use up to 68 percent, along with an equivalent reduction of CO2 and ultra low NOx.
Jupiter is expanding the use of this oxy-fuel technology by applying it to fossil fuel steam generators and power plants, focusing on energy efficiency, emissions reduction, and CO2 capture. Jupiter Oxygen’s patented oxy-fuel technology enables cost-effective carbon capture from fossil fuel power plants through reduced flue gas volume and highly concentrated CO2. The company’s innovative technology is receiving considerable interest from both domestic and worldwide aluminum companies and utilities, and JOC is working closely with international and domestic companies to implement its oxy-fuel technology.
Gross states, “I started this business to help address the environmental issues threatening our planet. I am very proud to have pioneered and patented a specific form of oxy-fuel technology, which is an untempered, high flame temperature oxygen combustion technology that is maximizing heat transfer and results in significantly improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions.”
Jon Wellinghoff: Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Wellinghoff will receive the Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service, named for one of the Alliance’s founders, in recognition of his decades of outstanding public service and his expertise and leadership on energy efficiency as the nation confronts the dual challenge of electricity supply security and climate change. While in private practice specializing in renewable energy and distributed resources law, including energy efficiency, Wellinghoff authored the first state renewable energy portfolio standard in the country (Nevada) that also incorporated energy efficiency as a portfolio requirement for electric utilities. This law has resulted in a tripling of the energy efficiency investment by Nevada electric utilities.
While the managing principal of his own lighting efficiency consulting firm, Wellinghoff was personally responsible for millions of square feet of lighting-efficiency retrofits in numerous commercial and institutional buildings across the country. He was the primary energy attorney for the largest LEED-certified project in the nation, the MGM Mirage City Center project. He also is noted for his recognition of the importance of energy efficiency to the work of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and for leading by example by reducing lighting energy use by over 50 percent in his suite of FERC offices.
Wellinghoff, along with FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly, proposed and facilitated the creation of a FERC Energy Innovations Sector that implements, promotes, and manages activities in areas including energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed generation. Wellinghoff’s continued efforts at FERC have encouraged the agency to incorporate consideration of energy-saving technologies and applications into its review of wholesale energy market rules and energy infrastructure projects such as electric transmission, natural gas pipelines, compressor stations, and liquid natural gas terminals.
Wellinghoff commented, “Sen. Percy is a hero of mine for his efforts in advancing energy efficiency and his work to create the Alliance to Save Energy. I am extremely honored to be named this year’s Charles H. Percy Award winner by the Alliance and will continue to advocate the use of our ‘first and best fuel,’ energy efficiency, to reduce global warming and keep consumer energy costs down.”
Philips Electronics: This year’s Chairman’s Award, whose recipient is chosen by Alliance Board Honorary Chair Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), goes to Philips Electronics, which spearheaded the successful efforts of the Lighting Efficiency Coalition to develop and gain enactment of a revolutionary yet orderly industry-wide phase-out of inefficient lighting under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007. That group of lighting manufacturers and energy-efficiency advocates also included from its inception the Alliance, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Appliance Standards Awareness Project, Californians Against Waste, Earthday Network, and Natural Resources Defense Council, with lighting manufacturers GE and Sylvania joining at a later date. The law establishes technology-neutral, performance-based lighting-efficiency standards, as well as government incentives to accelerate the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and energy-efficient halogen lamps, which will result in significant economic, environmental, and energy-security benefits.
The coalition projects that the transition to more efficient lighting, in part due to the new EISA standards, will exceed the combined energy and money savings of all 21 federal appliance standards adopted since 2000. By 2020, the improved lighting is expected to lower consumers’ annual electricity bills by more than $13 billion and save more than 140 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) a year – an amount exceeding that used by all homes in Texas.
Says Philips Lighting North America Chairman Kaj den Daas of the honor, “We are delighted to be recognized by the Alliance to Save Energy for the landmark efforts of the Lighting Efficiency Coalition and to have worked so successfully with the lighting industry, the government, and the environmental community to enhance our nation’s sustainability, establish a precedent for the continued enactment of proactive energy legislation, and help drive a more energy-efficient future for generations to come.”
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The Alliance to Save Energy is a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders who promote the efficient and clean use of energy worldwide to benefit consumers, the environment, economy, and national security.
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