These are some of the more interesting ideas that Rob has promulgated through the years:
In 1989, this paper was pushing for the introduction of electric and hydrogen vehicles, to use the surplus renewable electric
energy after energy efficiency had reduced the electric demand, and avoid the need for imported oil. (published at the Energy and Transport conference)
Hydrogen cars from 1989
From 1997, this describes the financial costs and benefits of a range of energy efficiency options for domestic and commercial buildings.
Incidentally, the most efficient buildings today are finally reaching the levels of performance that were predicted here. (published at the
IPENZ conference)
Lceed from 1997
Also from 1997, this describes the “Problem with Payback”, showing one problem (how much roof insulation is optimally cost-effective) with six solutions,
all of which give the same answer
EXCEPT for simple payback, because that does not consider the time value of money. (published at the IPENZ conference)
Pwp from 1996
From 2001, this calculates the costs and benefits of a twenty-year programme to make New Zealand optimally energy efficient. At that time,
the benefits would be about $75 billion lower costs to the NZ economy,
from an investment of about $10 billion. (This paper was originally published at the Sustainable Energy Forum conference. )
EENZ from 2001
The following presentation describes “the single most cost-effective energy efficiency opportunity of all”, optimising the amount of outside air
delivered to commercial/institutional buildings through the air ducts. This single opportunity, averaging a
one-year payback, could reduce NZ’s carbon emissions by almost 1% by itself. (presented at the 2015 EMANZ conference)
OA optimisation (emanz 2015)
This is a conference paper describing the same opportunity, but in more academic detail for reserachers, from ICEBO 2015.
OA optimisation (icebo 2015)
This summarises lessons learned in 40+ years of experience in energy efficiency, with the top ten concepts each described in some detail.
10 principles pdf (emanz 2017)
Continuous commissioning is a name for continually improving the operation of a (normally HVAC) system. It systematically catches all the
no-capital-cost improvements, and continues to deliver one-year-paybacks or better,
for a long time. This report describes the results of over one hundred projects, and their costs and benefits.
www.researchgate.net/publication/277288787_The_cost-effectiveness_of_commercial-buildings_commissioning
“Mills Cx benefits 2009.pdf”
PDF – and the update is called “Cx-Costs-benefits LBL 1205.pdf”
The NZ Electricity Commission sponsored a detailed study into electric energy efficiency, considering industrial as wellas commercial and domestic measures. These reports are no longer widely available, but copies are here. If anyone wants a summary spread sheet of the potential
savings in commercial buildings, or thespreadsheets of the appendices in Volume 2, I can provide them if requested.
Kema-vol1
Kema-vol1
The greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity generation are calculated using an emission factor, which I believe is about five times lower than realistic. This paper shows why.
PDF is called “Electricity-factor-aug03.pdf”
How can we achieve a reduction atmospheric carbon? This paper describes how to do it, decade by decade. It’s easier than you might think!
“1269 full.pdf”
Beyond the free downloads listed on this page, the best publications and resources for energy management are listed in the document below.
Bibliography of energy management resources
These are some other very useful free resources and links to organisations developing them.
With “Monitoring and Targeting” energy consumption said to be the most important process in profitable energy management, the following book is the best reference (free download, also linked on a previous page). Note that this uses imperial units (BTUs, square feet, etc.)
https://eta.lbl.gov/publications/energy-information-handbook
The “Advanced Energy Retrofit” series of books are self-contained handbooks explaining <> comprehensive energy management programmes for several types of facility: offices, schools, health care, supermarkets, retail.
www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/advanced-energy-retrofit-guides
Continuous commissioning is the process of continually improving the energy performance of a building or facility. The following U.S. Guidebook describes how to do this, with examples.
CCx guidebook
The non-energy benefits of energy efficiency are worth much more than the energy reductions. This study by the International Energy Agency describes many of them.
webstore.iea.org/capturing-the-multiple-benefits-of-energy-efficiency
Carbon and Energy Professionals New Zealand is the industry association that grew out of the Energy Management Association. It provides training and information on best practices in energy and carbon management. Rob developed and presents three of their courses.
cep.org.nz/
Rocky Mountain Institute is the world’s foremost energy “think tank”. Rob and Shelley both worked there in the early 1990s, compiling the information that became the Space Cooling / Air Handling, Space Heating and Water Heating technology atlases.
https://rmi.org/
The potential for energy efficiency is much larger than most people think. Amory Lovins is the Founder and Chief Scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute. He is the person in the world most responsible for promoting energy efficiency. This is a recent paper describing why.
rmi.org/insight/how-big-is-the-energy-efficiency-resource/
The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has been at the cutting edge of energy efficiency research for four decades.
www.aceee.org/
There is also a European Council www.eceee.org/
, and an Australian one a2se.org.au/
, but these have not developed as many resources as ACEEE.
The New South Wales government has a series ofexcellent general purpose reference manuals on energy efficient HVAC, lighting, refrigeration, etc. all available as free downloads.
energysaver.nsw.gov.au/business/equipment-and-technology-guides
Metering is a fundamental part of energy management (“you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”) and this is an excellent detailed overview of energy metering technology (note: the 2011 guide, Version 2.0, was more detailed and pictorial).
https://www.wbdg.org/ffc/doe/national-laboratory-criteria/metering-best-practices
Cities play a very important role in reducing carbon emissions, and this is an overview of what cities can do.
rmi.org/insight/the-carbon-free-city-handbook/