Related
Recommended

The Energy Efficiency Manifesto

spannerspencer

Around the element14 offices, we've been chatting a lot lately about energy efficiency and this has prompted us to begin collecting our thoughts on the subject. As always, an important part of this process is gaining your opinions on the matter to clear up some of the ambiguity surrounding what energy efficiency actually means to us all. Ultimately, this'll help guide the direction of new content, campaigns or programs we'll be initiating here on the Community that are focused on the subject.

 

So, What Do We Mean by "Energy Efficiency"?

The two words aren't difficult to decipher, so the phrase itself is pretty self-explanatory. So any ambiguity around energy efficiency, therefore, isn't its definition so much as uncovering its clear differentiation from similar subjects. Primarily sustainable energy, and renewable energy, but also topics like power management and energy harvesting.

 

These are all closely related, but they're in no way the same thing. I did have a long and (obviously) highly entertaining and insightful blog post written out here, when I realised that a Venn diagram would be... well, more efficient.

What do you think? Do you agree with it?

 

I felt it would be equally useful to really drill down into the concept of energy efficiency, and try and give it something of a short, precise manifesto. A simple doctrine that we can use here at element14 as an easy and, yes, efficient measuring stick to hold up against a project, an idea, a campaign, a solution or a problem and instantly be able to tell if it falls within the exciting dominion of energy efficiency.

 

This is a starting point, and I'd like your input and assistance in refining the following treatise on energy efficiency (please put your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom).

 

 

 

 

THE element14 ENERGY EFFICIENCY MANIFESTO

 

 

Energy efficiency is the practice of reducing power requirements while retaining the same function, service or operation.

 

 

Although it's closely related to, and is likely to play a part in the following practices, energy efficiency should not be confused with:

  • The conservation of energy, as this also includes the reduction, refinement or elimination of the function or service that's being powered.
  • The sustainability of an energy source, as this does not necessarily impact the reduction of energy required by the function or service.
  • The management or delivery of energy, as the primary purpose of this practice is indifferent to the efficient use of the supplied power.

 

Energy efficiency should be approached as a solution when one or more of the following, primary benefits are sought:

  • Reduction in the financial costs, work and effort of providing a function's or service's operation.
  • Sustaining a function's or service's ongoing operation in situations where limited power is available.
  • Easing the strain on power generation and reducing the harmful or costly results of energy production.

 

Example: Automatically (or manually) turning a light off is not energy efficiency; this is energy conservation as you also eliminate the service.

Replacing an incandescent light bulb with a low energy LED lamp is energy efficient, as it retains the same level of service (the luminance), but requires less power to provide it.

 

 

Your thoughts, refinements and feedback below, please!

Anonymous
  • in reply to jkutzsch

    ...purchasing a Tesla automobile with the wife to save on gas.

     

    At current pricing (>$100k CAD here!) it's still mainly a luxury car. compared to a nice gasoline car, that extra $75k buys a LOT of gas!

     

    Even the more affordable cars like the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi iMiev include a hefty added cost over comparable non-electrics, but at least those are within range of a possible ROI.

     

    I'm hoping the $35k models planned for 2 years from now will spark some competition and bring prices down

     

    That said, if any of my apps go viral I'll buy a Tesla just for the cool factor

     

    -Nico

  • in reply to spannerspencer

    how they overlap when creating a sustainable energy policy

    Personally I think the three factors would be MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) or Expected life and Energy to Manufacture.

    Combining those three into Energy Efficiency would make sense.

     

    For instance the manufacturing cost of the batteries to go into these "eco-friendly" cars is relatively high, since many of the raw ingredients need to shipped across the world.

    In other cases having something that consumes half the electricity but lasts half the time or uses twice the energy to manufacture, might not be as energy efficient when taken as an overall figure.

     

    The Sustainable and Renewable both go together as they form part of the choice about what sort of energy you use to provide the service.

     

    Here in NZ we are lucky we can use Hydro for most of our power needs, but just to look green they are adding windmills on the tops of hills to annoy people.

    Sadly the power industry got de-regulated so now we have a bunch of companies fighting to all provide power, which is never going to result in overall savings/efficiency.

     

    Mark

  • in reply to mcb1

    I think we're in agreement there, about the differentiation between efficiency and renewables. What I wanted to illustrate with the Venn diagram is how they overlap when creating a sustainable energy policy, but are very much distinct issues.

     

    It's an interesting chain of thought when you also apply it to other types of resources, beyond energy. It could be an engaging exercise to look at ways in which technology could be applied as a way to improve efficiency in different areas (such as natural resources). That technology might not necessarily follow the principles of energy efficiency itself, but if it could be used to, for example, reduce the amount of water require to produce milk, it's still relevant to the practice of efficiency.

     

    This could be expanded into a whole are of technological industry; "efficiency tech", or something

  • Sorry but Renewable is not part of Energy Efficiency.

    The Energy Efficiency and Strategy do belong together.

     

    I'm with and say that Energy Efficiency is minimising the energy required to deliver the service.

    This may also apply to natural resources or manufacturing methods to produce that service, rather than simply the end product.

     

    We have a similar situation in NZ, where it takes 1020 litres of water to make 1 litre of milk.

    http://sciblogs.co.nz/waiology/2012/05/24/how-much-water-does-it-take-to-produce-one-litre-of-milk/

    That is not particularly efficient.

     

    Charging batteries is similar where it takes 140% energy input for a charge, v directly supplying the load with regulated mains voltage using switching regulators.

     

    Mark

  • in reply to jkutzsch

    when I discuss the benefits of purchasing a Tesla automobile with the wife

    I have an electric car ... well actually all mine are electric.

     

    They have a key which turns on the power to the ignition system and turning it further engages an electric motor.

    This starts the system that charges the battery.... hence they are electric cars.

     

    Mark