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Title: Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings

Abstract

The growing investment by governments and electric utilities in energy efficiency programs highlights the need for simple tools to help assess and explain the size of the potential resource. One technique that is commonly used in this effort is to characterize electricity savings in terms of avoided power plants, because it is easier for people to visualize a power plant than it is to understand an abstraction such as billions of kilowatt-hours. Unfortunately, there is no standardization around the characteristics of such power plants. In this letter we define parameters for a standard avoided power plant that have physical meaning and intuitive plausibility, for use in back-of-the-envelope calculations. For the prototypical plant this article settles on a 500 MW existing coal plant operating at a 70percent capacity factor with 7percent T&D losses. Displacing such a plant for one year would save 3 billion kW h per year at the meter and reduce emissions by 3 million metric tons of CO2 per year. The proposed name for this metric is the Rosenfeld, in keeping with the tradition among scientists of naming units in honor of the person most responsible for the discovery and widespread adoption of the underlying scientific principle inmore » question--Dr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld.« less

Authors:
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Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
Environmental Energy Technologies Division
OSTI Identifier:
965897
Report Number(s):
LBNL-2213E
Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326; TRN: US200921%%216
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Environmental Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Environmental Research Letters; Journal ID: ISSN 1748-9326
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32; CAPACITY; COAL; ELECTRIC UTILITIES; ELECTRICITY; ENERGY EFFICIENCY; METERS; METRICS; POWER PLANTS; STANDARDIZATION; Keywords: electricity savings, energyefficiency, energy policy, climate change solutions

Citation Formats

Brown, Marilyn, Akbari, Hashem, Blumstein, Carl, Koomey, Jonathan, Brown, Richard, Calwell, Chris, Carter, Sheryl, Cavanagh, Ralph, Chang, Audrey, Claridge, David, Craig, Paul, Diamond, Rick, Eto, Joseph H, Fulkerson, William, Gadgil, Ashok, Geller, Howard, Goldemberg, Jose, Goldman, Chuck, Goldstein, David B, Greenberg, Steve, Hafemeister, David, Harris, Jeff, Harvey, Hal, Heitz, Eric, Hirst, Eric, Hummel, Holmes, Kammen, Dan, Kelly, Henry, Laitner, Skip, Levine, Mark, Lovins, Amory, Masters, Gil, McMahon, James E, Meier, Alan, Messenger, Michael, Millhone, John, Mills, Evan, Nadel, Steve, Nordman, Bruce, Price, Lynn, Romm, Joe, Ross, Marc, Rufo, Michael, Sathaye, Jayant, Schipper, Lee, Schneider, Stephen H, Sweeney, James L, Verdict, Malcolm, Vorsatz, Diana, Wang, Devra, Weinberg, Carl, Wilk, Richard, Wilson, John, and Worrell, Ernst. Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings. United States: N. p., 2009. Web.
Brown, Marilyn, Akbari, Hashem, Blumstein, Carl, Koomey, Jonathan, Brown, Richard, Calwell, Chris, Carter, Sheryl, Cavanagh, Ralph, Chang, Audrey, Claridge, David, Craig, Paul, Diamond, Rick, Eto, Joseph H, Fulkerson, William, Gadgil, Ashok, Geller, Howard, Goldemberg, Jose, Goldman, Chuck, Goldstein, David B, Greenberg, Steve, Hafemeister, David, Harris, Jeff, Harvey, Hal, Heitz, Eric, Hirst, Eric, Hummel, Holmes, Kammen, Dan, Kelly, Henry, Laitner, Skip, Levine, Mark, Lovins, Amory, Masters, Gil, McMahon, James E, Meier, Alan, Messenger, Michael, Millhone, John, Mills, Evan, Nadel, Steve, Nordman, Bruce, Price, Lynn, Romm, Joe, Ross, Marc, Rufo, Michael, Sathaye, Jayant, Schipper, Lee, Schneider, Stephen H, Sweeney, James L, Verdict, Malcolm, Vorsatz, Diana, Wang, Devra, Weinberg, Carl, Wilk, Richard, Wilson, John, & Worrell, Ernst. Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings. United States.
Brown, Marilyn, Akbari, Hashem, Blumstein, Carl, Koomey, Jonathan, Brown, Richard, Calwell, Chris, Carter, Sheryl, Cavanagh, Ralph, Chang, Audrey, Claridge, David, Craig, Paul, Diamond, Rick, Eto, Joseph H, Fulkerson, William, Gadgil, Ashok, Geller, Howard, Goldemberg, Jose, Goldman, Chuck, Goldstein, David B, Greenberg, Steve, Hafemeister, David, Harris, Jeff, Harvey, Hal, Heitz, Eric, Hirst, Eric, Hummel, Holmes, Kammen, Dan, Kelly, Henry, Laitner, Skip, Levine, Mark, Lovins, Amory, Masters, Gil, McMahon, James E, Meier, Alan, Messenger, Michael, Millhone, John, Mills, Evan, Nadel, Steve, Nordman, Bruce, Price, Lynn, Romm, Joe, Ross, Marc, Rufo, Michael, Sathaye, Jayant, Schipper, Lee, Schneider, Stephen H, Sweeney, James L, Verdict, Malcolm, Vorsatz, Diana, Wang, Devra, Weinberg, Carl, Wilk, Richard, Wilson, John, and Worrell, Ernst. 2009. "Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/965897.
@article{osti_965897,
title = {Defining a Standard Metric for Electricity Savings},
author = {Brown, Marilyn and Akbari, Hashem and Blumstein, Carl and Koomey, Jonathan and Brown, Richard and Calwell, Chris and Carter, Sheryl and Cavanagh, Ralph and Chang, Audrey and Claridge, David and Craig, Paul and Diamond, Rick and Eto, Joseph H and Fulkerson, William and Gadgil, Ashok and Geller, Howard and Goldemberg, Jose and Goldman, Chuck and Goldstein, David B and Greenberg, Steve and Hafemeister, David and Harris, Jeff and Harvey, Hal and Heitz, Eric and Hirst, Eric and Hummel, Holmes and Kammen, Dan and Kelly, Henry and Laitner, Skip and Levine, Mark and Lovins, Amory and Masters, Gil and McMahon, James E and Meier, Alan and Messenger, Michael and Millhone, John and Mills, Evan and Nadel, Steve and Nordman, Bruce and Price, Lynn and Romm, Joe and Ross, Marc and Rufo, Michael and Sathaye, Jayant and Schipper, Lee and Schneider, Stephen H and Sweeney, James L and Verdict, Malcolm and Vorsatz, Diana and Wang, Devra and Weinberg, Carl and Wilk, Richard and Wilson, John and Worrell, Ernst},
abstractNote = {The growing investment by governments and electric utilities in energy efficiency programs highlights the need for simple tools to help assess and explain the size of the potential resource. One technique that is commonly used in this effort is to characterize electricity savings in terms of avoided power plants, because it is easier for people to visualize a power plant than it is to understand an abstraction such as billions of kilowatt-hours. Unfortunately, there is no standardization around the characteristics of such power plants. In this letter we define parameters for a standard avoided power plant that have physical meaning and intuitive plausibility, for use in back-of-the-envelope calculations. For the prototypical plant this article settles on a 500 MW existing coal plant operating at a 70percent capacity factor with 7percent T&D losses. Displacing such a plant for one year would save 3 billion kW h per year at the meter and reduce emissions by 3 million metric tons of CO2 per year. The proposed name for this metric is the Rosenfeld, in keeping with the tradition among scientists of naming units in honor of the person most responsible for the discovery and widespread adoption of the underlying scientific principle in question--Dr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/965897}, journal = {Environmental Research Letters},
issn = {1748-9326},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2009},
month = {Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2009}
}