Earlier this month, The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a report saying that up to about 22 percent of current U.S. energy consumption could be replaced by “intelligent efficiency.” They say that the key to “intelligent efficiency” is to stop thinking of individual devices (such as boilers or refrigerators) and to start taking a whole systems approach. By thinking about whole systems and how they work, in the same way that earth systems do, cities do, and transportation systems do, we can start to fully understand not only the components, but their relationship to each other, and to us.
ACEEE’s Associate Director for Research, R. Neal Elliot, stated “…while device-level technology improvements will continue to play an important role, looking ahead we must take a systems-based approach to dramatically scale up energy efficiency to meet our future energy challenges. Through intelligent efficiency, utility systems, interconnected cities, transportation systems, and communications networks can become the new normal across the United States and will undergird national and regional economies that, even in the face of increasingly scarce resources, grow and thrive.”
Communications and digital technologies are transforming how efficienctly we use energy. Economic productivity has been boosted and these technologies have a big role to play in our energy challenges for the long term.
To read the full ACEEE report visit http://aceee.org/research-report/e125.
Brewer-Garrett is experienced and knowledgeable in developing the best energy efficiency projects for your facility. Visit our website to learn more and contact us to receive a complimentary energy audit of your facility.
