IEA: Building Energy Consumption Can be Cut 33% | The Energy Collective

IEA: Building Energy Consumption Can be Cut 33% | The Energy Collective

In its latest energy roadmap, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says dramatic energy savings could be achieved rapidly if policies which promote energy efficient heating and cooling technologies are adopted.
It is estimated that buildings -- residential, commercial, and public -- account for one-third of the globe's total final energy consumption.  The IEA says this number could be reduced very quickly as a result of the bounty of energy efficient heating and cooling technologies currently available.
According to its report, implementing solar thermal, combined heat and power, heat-pump, and thermal energy storage systems could reduce fossil fuels' share in building space and water heating between 5% and 20% by 2050.  The Agency figures these technologies could cut carbon emissions by 2 gigatonnes in the next 40 years -- roughly one-quarter of today's current building emissions.
Bo Diczfalusy, the IEA's Director of Sustainable Energy Policy and Technology said potential for reducing buildings' energy consumption is immense:  "Energy efficiency and CO2-free technologies for heating and cooling in buildings offer many low-cost options for reducing energy consumption, consumers' energy bills and CO2 emissions in buildings, with technologies that are available today.  Given that space heating and cooling and hot water production consumer perhaps half of all energy consumed in buildings today, the savings potential is very large."
Given that technology is not a barrier, the IEA's report identifies public policy as the most vital requirement needed to make the shift toward more efficient energy consumption in buildings.
New public policy is critical, in the IEA's opinion, because it can circumvent the widespread market barriers currently standing in the way of the deployment of low-carbon heating and cooling equipment.  The report explains that if those purchasing heating and cooling equipment are not given adequate incentives they are not likely to purchase the more efficient technology.
Therefore, the policy needs to be broad and deep in its scope; so it can reach all the stakeholders in the building sector.  The IEA's roadmap highlights four areas where policy support is critical.

1. Increased funding for technology research, development, and deployment (RD&D).  An additional US$3.5 billion per year is needed by 2030.
2. Improved information for analyzing the energy and carbon savings of heating and cooling technologies as well as their life-cycle financial benefits.
3. New policies to transform the sector and increase the low up-take of energy efficient and low carbon heating and cooling technologies.
4. Greater international collaboration and research and development of low carbon heating and cooling technologies.

If strong policy is implemented, the IEA sees the number of installed residential heat pumps growing more than four times by 2050, increasing from today's 800 million to 3.5 billion.  Additionally, solar thermal (water heated by the sun for space and water heating) capacity would grow by a factor of 25, while combined heat and power systems (simultaneous production of heat and electricity for the building to use) would increase 45 fold.  Finally, by 2050, more than half of all space heating and hot water systems could be equipped with thermal energy storage, allowing buildings the ability to store excess energy.
Photo by renjith krishnan.

About Nathanael Baker

Nathanael Baker is the Managing Editor of EnergyBoom. He has been immersed in the areas of renewable energy and climate change for two years. Before joining EnergyBoom, Nathanael was the Director of Research for the DeSmog Blog. In this role his services included providing research to the New York Times and The Economist. A resident of Vancouver, BC, Nathanael has previously written and performed research for the British Columbia Provincial Government. Nathanael holds a B.A. in History from the University of Victoria.

Android @ home unveiled as new wireless standard for home control and automation

Home automation has long suffered from the lack of a consumer-centric approach. Consumer electronics companies have almost universally come around to the new mantra of user experience. Most companies have finally awoken from their deep eighties slumber to realize that a single product can no longer dominate an industry on its own -- the age of the Walkman is over. For success, a product must encompass great software, great services, hardware that just works, and stellar support when it doesn't. In short, the user experience is what sets the product apart. Home automators have yet to realize this but Google's announcement could force the issue.

It's with open arms that I welcome Google into my home, that I willingly prostrate myself at the feet of Matias Duarte. Android@Home is the first concrete step towards realizing the hopes I had ever since Google announced its PowerMeter smart meter partners back in 2009. Surely you remember PowerMeter? Google's free web service that lets home owners monitor their total energy consumption? Probably not, because the device-level component was missing. That all changes with Android@Home since it focuses on automating the products you use on a daily basis: light switches, light bulbs, power sockets, washing machines, window coverings, thermostats, loudspeakers, etc. Every electrical device in the home is fair game.

So far the company has promised partnerships with "several industry players" but has only demonstrated a prototype wireless lightbulb from Lighting Science and an Android@Home media hub. The hub reference design, aka Project Tungsten, combines a Music Beta endpoint with a bridge to your home network to create a pretty compelling distributed audio solution akin to a Sonos ZonePlayer. Now, two devices is nothing. But the potential, the potential is staggering, giving users the ability to drill all the way down from the whole-home energy view to the device and switch level without ever leaving their browser or smartphone app. That's the future I've been dreaming of. That's what could trigger an explosion in sales of home automation gear. Or not. Google I/O launches have a varied history of uptake (uh hem, Wave, Chrome OS, Gears, Friend Connect).

There's an old joke told in the water-cooled confines of the corporate data center that goes something like this: the best part about standards is that we have so many to choose from. A quip that certainly applies to home automation networks. Any DIYer hoping to begin automating their home will first have to select a protocol amongst the Z-Wave, Insteon, ZigBee, or X10 standards, to name just a few. Now we have another: Google. Based upon our conversations with Google at I/O, Android@Home will use a mesh networking protocol that functions in the 900MHz frequency bands just like Z-Wave -- but it's not Z-Wave. Google has developed its own wireless protocol and Android@Home framework that lets Android apps discover, connect, and communicate with electrical appliances and devices in the home. So yes, it's proprietary, but hey, it's "open."

The way I see it, the incumbent industry players could rally behind Google's new networking standard (and enormous brand recognition) or distance themselves from Google entirely resulting in the further fragmentation of the home automation scene. I truly hope it's the former. Just as the burgeoning PC industry required a common OS and application set in order to take root and thrive within corporations, it's my belief that home automation requires a strong centralized developer framework and a common wireless protocol for interconnecting components in order to expand beyond its novelty status into a full-blown consumer offering. Imagine it: the Samsung Galaxy Table Saw, the Apple iSocket, the HTC Temperature Sensor. Come on industry, let's do this. You'll make some money and we'll finally automate the light bulb and switch nearly 100 years since its commercialization.