Who’s Watching? Privacy Concerns Persist as Smart Meters Roll Out

Christina Nunez

For National Geographic News

December 12, 2012

Energy consultant Craig Miller, who spends much of his time working to make the smart grid a reality, got a jolt when he mentioned his work to a new acquaintance. The man, who happened to be a lineman at a Pennsylvania utility, responded earnestly:  "Smart meters are a plot by Obama to spy on us."

The encounter was a disheartening sign of the challenge ahead for proponents of the smart grid, who say that the technology can help the industry meet power demand, fix problems faster, and help consumers lower their electricity bills. Advocates of such a 21st-century grid are learning that they need to take privacy concerns seriously. Though smart meters are not, in fact, a domestic espionage scheme, they do raise questions: In a world where households start talking with the power grid, what exactly will be revealed? And who will be listening? 

The term "smart grid" encompasses an array of technologies that can be implemented at various points along the line of transmission from power plant to electricity user, but for many consumers, it is symbolized by one thing: the smart meter.  A majority of U.S. states have begun deploying the wireless meters, which can send electricity usage information from a household back to the utility remotely at frequent intervals. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, more than 36 million smart meters were installed across the nation as of August 2012, covering about a quarter of all electrical customers. In the European Union, only 10 percent of households have smart meters but they are being deployed rapidly to meet an EU mandate that the technology reach 80 percent of households by 2020.

Because smart meters can provide real-time readings of household energy use instead of the familiar monthly figures most customers now see in their electric bills, the devices offer a new opportunity for consumers to learn more about their own power use and save money. But the ability to track a household's energy use multiple times a day also presents some unsettling possibilities. In theory, the information collected by smart meters could reveal how many people live in a home, their daily routines, changes in those routines, what types of electronic equipment are in the home, and other details. "It's not hard to imagine a divorce lawyer subpoenaing this information, an insurance company interpreting the data in a way that allows it to penalize customers, or criminals intercepting the information to plan a burglary," the private nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation noted in a blog post about smart meters. 

The European Union's data protection watchdog warned earlier this year that smart meters, while bringing significant potential benefits, also could be used track whether families "are away on holiday or at work, if someone uses a specific medical device or a baby-monitor, how they like to spend their free time and so on." The European Data Protection Supervisor urged that member states provide the public with more information on how the data is being handled. 

A State-by-State Effort

As with many of the rules governing utility operations, regulations to address privacy concerns in the United States are currently embedded in a patchwork of state laws and public utility commission policy.  Most experts point to California as a leader: Last year, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted rules governing access to, and usage of, customer data. The state has also passed legislation that requires utilities to obtain the customer's consent for release of their information to any third party. The CPUC was involved in producing a comprehensive report on privacy with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that summarizes, often in chilling detail, the many ways in which privacy breaches could occur on the smart grid, and recommends best practices for preventing those breaches. "As Smart Grid implementations collect more granular, detailed, and potentially personal information, this information may reveal business activities, manufacturing procedures, and personal activities in a given location," the NIST report said.

George Arnold, national coordinator for smart grid interoperability at NIST, points out that many of these privacy and security issues have been dealt with in the health care and telecommunications sectors, for example. "Protecting the privacy of the information [on the smart grid] has been taken very seriously. . . . I think it's a good news story that policymakers recognize the importance, and both policy and technical tools are well in hand to deal with this," Arnold said. 

But no existing federal or state laws can be counted on to protect consumers' utility data as smart meters are rolled out across the country. At least one utility in California argued early on that it was subject to a number of existing laws that would address privacy concerns, according to Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology, which worked with the CPUC on its privacy framework. However, Dempsey's group found that no single law provided a clear answer regarding utility data, and that a new set of rules was necessary. "Almost every state has some kind of [privacy] law already," Dempsey said. "But the point is, those laws predate the smart grid, and they do not really account for the complexity of the smart-grid ecosystem."

With other states—including Colorado, Maine, and Texas—now formulating policy on smart meters, a consensus is emerging. Jules Polonetsky of the Future of Privacy Forum, which advocates for responsible handling of consumer data, says there is general agreement that utilities should have rules that govern how they can use smart meter data, and that a customer should be able to know and have access to the data being collected. Still, Polonetsky points out that as energy-saving applications and devices (such as the Nest wireless thermostat) proliferate, state privacy frameworks may have limited power. Utility sharing of data is restricted, but "some device that I buy and I activate may not be subject to utility regulations," Polonetsky said. His organization has introduced a privacy seal for companies that handle smart-grid data, with the goal of highlighting companies that are being proactive about privacy.

Resistance to smart meters in some areas, though confined to a small fraction of utility customers, has been vociferous enough that a handful of communities have declared moratoriums on installations. The city of Ojai, California, for example, declared such a moratorium in May, though it is effectively unenforceable. In Texas, one woman pulled a gun on a utility employee who was trying to install a smart meter. Beyond privacy issues, many smart-meter opponents cite fear of exposure to radio frequency waves, even though radio frequency exposure from smart meters falls "substantially below the protective limits set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the general public," according to a study from the Electric Power Research Institute, the nonprofit research organization funded by the electric power industry. 

Some states, including California and Maine, which has the highest penetration rate in the country for advanced meters, have allowed residents to opt out of smart-meter installation. So far, few customers have done so: In California, according to Chris Villarreal of the CPUC, the opt-out rate was less than half of one percent. The Texas Public Utility Commission is currently weighing whether or not to allow customers to opt out.

Miller, the energy consultant, has been working on a $68 million effort partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to implement smart-grid technology with rural electric cooperatives. He said many of the concerns about smart meter privacy run counter to how utilities actually operate. "The utilities go through all kinds of effort to reduce the amount of information they get," he said. "They see no advantage [in] collecting data with no operational value. If the data did not allow you [as a utility] to make a better decision about the operation of your grid, then there's no reason for a utility to collect it, and they won't."

High Ambitions, Low Public Awareness

Protecting homeowner data from interested outsiders will be crucial for the electric industry as it seeks customer buy-in on the smart grid, but the real challenge may lie in boosting the interest of homeowners themselves. "Our research shows that consumers generally overwhelmingly are unaware of the smart grid [and smart meters] and don't even know what those terms mean," said Patty Durand, executive director of the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC), a nonprofit dedicated to consumer education about the smart grid.

In most cases, the utility notifies the customer that the smart meter is coming, swaps in the new meter, and recovers the cost of deployment through a slight rate adjustment, so a homeowner may have little involvement in the installation process. That decreases the likelihood that a homeowner will understand what the smart meter does or how it is beneficial. 

"For the longest time, the relationship between the utility and the customer has been, 'Here's the power and you can pay for it'," said Villarreal of the CPUC. "Now with smart grid and smart meters, we're asking the customers to get more involved and providing them with a lot more information, and now they're starting to ask questions."

Villarreal said that not all utilities have been quick to embrace a world that demands more of a dialogue with customers. In response to the notion of posting a privacy policy, one utility representative from another part of the country told him, " 'We don't want to do that, because we don't want customers calling us and asking us questions about it.' That's not a very proactive response to working with your customers. You're probably just raising the ire of customers more than solving the problem," he said.

California's public utilities have learned to employ robust communication strategies for smart-meter rollouts. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) sent out at least five notifications to customers leading up to installations. "I think that really helped, because it wasn't like it was somebody knocking on the door," said Caroline Winn, SDG&E's vice president of customer services and chief customer privacy officer. "People weren't surprised to get the smart meter when we installed them."

While a combination of proactive communication and opt-out policies can help prevent customer confusion and minimize backlash against smart-meter rollouts, utilities have the long-term task of making sure that they add value for both customers and themselves. Some benefits involve little or no customer engagement: Smart meters can tell utilities, for example, when outages occur and help generate outage maps for customers (in the analog days, the utility didn't know about an outage unless a customer called).

Other aspects of smart meters involve more attention from a household. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), which has installed 9.1 million smart meters across northern and central California at a total cost of $2.2 billion, has experimented with a variety of methods for getting customers more interested in their data. "We deploy reporting with your bill that shows you your usage compared to your neighbor's, and that's highly motivating for some people," said PG&E Chief Information Officer Karen Austin.

PG&E's other programs include rate incentives for energy conservation during peak times, text messages that alert customers when their electricity usage crosses into a new pricing tier, and participation in the Green Button Initiative, which allows people to download their energy-usage information in a standardized format. The goal is to create a level of engagement with energy-usage data among consumers that has barely existed before. Ultimately, the hope is that when consumers see how much energy they use, they can try to use less.

"The utilities have been challenged with not properly educating consumers and not understanding who their consumers are, because they've never had to," said Durand of the SGCC. "In the past, it's been a one-way relationship . . . but those days are over." 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/12/121212-smart-meter-privacy/

Aldermen approve Emanuel's energy switch to Integrys from ComEd

By Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune

December 13, 2012

Chicagoans could find out as soon as Thursday exactly how much they will pay for electricity under a plan approved Wednesday that switches about 1 million people to Integrys Energy Services.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel received unanimous City Council approval Wednesday to negotiate most details of the transaction.

Michael Negron, deputy chief of policy and strategic planning for the Emanuel administration, said Integrys, a sister company to Peoples Gas, is carefully timing its bulk electricity purchase in order to strike a good deal for Chicago. It could happen Thursday.

"Typically in this industry, when you lock down a rate it's for minutes or hours," he said. "We want to be in a position to get us the best possible prices."

The city hopes to be a model for other communities because its contract calls for consumer protections and elimination of power produced by burning coal.

"For protecting our residents and protecting our environment, we have taken, I think, a significant step, and one that's a model that other cities will look at," Emanuel said.

Integrys must deliver prices at or below what residents would have paid Commonwealth Edison through 2015 and cannot charge early termination fees to consumers who decide to seek alternative suppliers or deny service as a result of their credit history. Consumers can also opt out.

Emanuel has said consumers could see savings of about $150 per household through May 2015.

David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-based consumer advocate, applauded the deal, which he said had "consumer protections that are stronger than we've seen in any other community."

ComEd, which will deliver electricity purchased by Integrys, will still be responsible for billing and fixing power outages.

An earlier plan to siphon a portion of consumer savings to invest in rooftop solar panels and energy efficiency upgrades in Chicago buildings didn't get out the door. Some critics said the plan would be akin to a hidden tax.

Mark Pruitt, of the Delta Institute, a consultant to the city on the issue, said Integrys is being encouraged to make investments in energy efficiency improvements as it hedges its Chicago portfolio.

Just as Integrys can purchase megawatts from power plants to increase its electricity supply, it can also fulfill its obligations by purchasing so-called negawatts, which decrease demand for power. For instance, rather than buying power from a natural gas plant, Integrys can pay a large manufacturer to power down at certain times to decrease electricity demand.

"The innovation can still continue as the contract begins," said Jack Darin, executive director of Sierra Club's Illinois chapter and a member of the advisory committee for the electricity deal.

Chicago is the largest city in the country eligible to adopt such a plan under state laws. Only Ohio and Illinois laws allow for such efforts, according to city officials. Hundreds of suburbs have adopted the electricity arrangement in recent years.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-1213-chicago-aggregation--2-20121213,0,4748379.story

Schneider helps cities switch on to save

Updated: 2012-11-21 11:14

By Meng Jing ( China Daily)

Opportunities abound as company's projects suit China's soaring demand

Every working day exactly 15 minutes after employees at Schneider Electric's China headquarters in Beijing are to leave work, the lights in the building go out. Those who need to stay late have to turn them back on to prevent their workspaces from being shrouded in darkness.

It is that kind of attention to saving energy that helped the French energy management company reduce the power used in its Beijing building from 160 kilowatt-hours per square meter a year in 2009 to 105 kW/h in 2011. The company now says it expects to have the amount reduced to 90 kW/h by 2014.

Making buildings energy efficient is one of Schneider Electric's specialties. And it has now setits sights on a bigger goal: making cities more sustainable, efficient and livable.

"It doesn't make sense to be leaders in energy management if we cannot addressexpectations and challenges cities are facing today," said Patrick Gaonach, China senior vice-president of strategy and business development at Schneider Electric.

"And China will represent a big proportion of this new market for us due to the number of itscities and the challenges they have."

Starting this year, Schneider Electric has been preparing to move forward with its initiative,Smart City Solutions, which will use different kinds of technologies to efficiently manage cities'energy, environments, water, space and other resources.

Gaonach noted that cities occupy about 2 percent of the land in the world but are home toabout half of the population, use about 75 percent of the energy and are the source of about80 percent of carbon emissions.

"As everyone wonders how to meet the growing demand for energy and resources whiledrastically reducing global carbon emissions, one thing is clear: This challenge will be won orlost in the cities," said Gaonach, who has worked for Schneider Electric for about 25 years.

In the pursuit of its goals, Schneider Electric is working with around 230 cities and regions onprojects to help them improve the efficiency and sustainability of their urban infrastructure, setand meet ambitious environmental goals and all the while staying within their budgets.

Schneider Electric is working on a variety of projects in Europe and even more in the United States. But of all the countries where it has a presence, China probably has the strongest willto make its cities sustainable, Gaonach said.

The scale and pace of urban expansion in China is unprecedented. Last year, for the first time,more than half of the 1.3 billion people making up its population were classified as urbandwellers.

According to a report by the economics think tank McKinsey Global Institute, as many as 100of the world's top 600 cities are expected to be in China by 2025.

"Going green is definitely a trend among Chinese cities, no matter how big or small they are,"Gaonach said. "With rapid development, cities also want to be more cost-effective, not only inbuilding those cost-intensive infrastructures, but also in operating and maintaining them.

"Last but not least, citizens in China are now becoming more and more demanding. They wantcities to be more convenient and livable."

Such demands are broad, he said. And Schneider Electric is working to meet them in a varietyof ways, whether it be through providing power grids, transport, water and public services orbuildings and residences.

"For sure, it is quite a significant move for Schneider Electric, which is moving from being ahardware and software provider to more and more integrated solutions," Gaonach said. "Butthis is a strategic direction we are taking to better meet the needs of our key stakeholders in China."

To achieve that goal, Schneider Electric, which reported sales of 22.4 billion euros ($29.2billion) last year, acquired other IT solution providers in 2011, including the Spain-based IT andindustrial automation company Telvent GIT SA. Schneider Electric said the convergence ofinformation and communications technologies and energy has become common enough toconstitute a global trend.

Cities can overcome various difficulties through the use of information and communicationtechnology, for instance, by relying on car rental arrangements to reduce the number ofvehicles on the roads.

According to the Smart 2020 report, published by the IT services and consultancy companyAccenture last year, the use of smart technologies in electrical grids, transport, shipping,buildings and industrial motors could reduce global emissions by 15 percent by 2020 and saveabout $900 billion a year in energy costs.

Gaonach said Schneider Electric has many opportunities in China. "What we are trying to do isto be more selective in partnerships and take a step-by-step approach," he said.

The company has around 50 SmartCity projects in China, each of which concentrates on oneor two specific undertakings rather than the integrated solutions Schneider Electric can offer,Gaonach said, adding that about 10 of those cities will become the company's long-termstrategic partners.

Those relationships will require extensive cooperation between local governments, privatecompanies and investors and will call on participants from different walks of life to worktogether on sustainable development models.

"It is one thing to do a specific project; it is another to become long-term partners, which ismuch more complicated," Gaonach said. "We are trying to develop our strategic partners fromthose cities we have solid, concrete projects with."

The clients are likely to be some of the large cities found in China's more developed coastalregions, as well as expanding inland cities, he said.

He estimated that a complete renovation of a city can take 10 years or more.

"The top priority for us is to develop in China for China solutions," he said. "We have a veryambitious research and development plan with a new R&D center being established in Chinalater this year."

Schneider Electric invests 5 percent of its annual revenue in research and development, hesaid, and a growing proportion of that money is being put into China.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-11/21/content_15947680.htm

Sustainable Urban Energy for Dhaka City

by Md. Zahidur Rahman and Saeed Ahmed Siddiquee
October 5, 2012

Blitz

Our entire way of life and all of our economic projections relies on more energy. Howbeit, the world is now facing most serious challenge in energy supply which could be a more devastating crisis than world wars. Global energy depletion has already begun, although few countries have realized it. The peak energy affects the future of the entire global economy. Presently the energy producing resources like fossil fuel, gas, coal, and uranium has placed in peak position. It is predicted that those non-renewable energy is going to be declined position in every place of the earth.

Dominant consumption of non-renewable energy for electricity is leading to Green House Gasses (GHG) emission into the atmosphere. According to the International Energy Agency (2011), approximately 901 grammes of CO2 or equivalent are released per kilowatt hour of electricity that generated from coal. Presumably, global urban populations are principle responsible for GHG emissions due to the consumption of bulk amount of energy for the aristocratic lifestyle. While on the contrary, Renewable World stated that still 1.3 billion people in the world still live without access to electricity and 2.7 billion people have no access to clean cooking facilities. Admittedly, energy crisis will happen in future and then urban inhabitants will be more sufferer compare to rural people. In this situation, global economic wheel may be plummeted and thus leading to global inevitable poverty. Indeed, a concerning era has already arise in front of the global leaders to make them busy thinking alternatively about how to overcome this energy crisis?

At present, what is the overview of Bangladesh's energy situation? Currently, around 43% population belongs to electricity facilities with per capita consumption of 140 kilowatt hour. The electricity consumption rate has increased gradually due to the demand of overwhelmed growing population. Reported by the country power system Master Plan 2010, the forecasted demand would be 19,000 megawatt by the year 2021 and 34,000 megawatt by 2030. Till now majority of our energy come from non-renewable sources which are facing challenges in order to growing energy demand for mostly electricity generation. Presently, Bangladesh has 20.5 TFC recoverable natural gas reserve and 420 million tones of coal reserve. Noticeable gas fields are already facing multifaceted crisis for gas supply for electricity generation. For example, Sangu gas field has reduced the supply of gas from a well. In addition, day by day oil prices have increased in the global market schemes which lead to raise prices per unit cost of electricity.

Surprisingly, the capital city of Dhaka itself consumes almost 41.22% of the total generated electricity while the demand of electricity is approximately 12000 megawatt and only 5493 megawatt is on pipeline. Stated by DESA, the demand for power in Dhaka city has increased by around 10% a year. As the supply is not adequate to meet the demand in the city, so either we have to adopt it or think alternative path way to solve the power crisis. If we consider Thailand, we can see that almost 28% electricity comes from the renewable sources. Bangladesh also has plenty of renewable energy sources to innovate and mainstreaming it to the main grid.

In Dhaka city we have not enough wind speed for windmill, neither enough River current for hydroelectric power plant nor even any suitable peri-urban places for nuclear power station installation. Nuclear power plant might be a suitable option for bulk amount of power generation and also it has no carbon emission but it is supposed to be risky in terms of earthquake frequency. Surprisingly, Dhaka is situated in the solar radiation receiving zone on the earth with almost 335 sunny days a year. Hence, solar photovoltaic energy generation is the best option for Dhaka city to face the present energy crisis.

According to CDMP's Urban Risk Reduction Specialists, there are 3,26,000 (appx.) buildings in Dhaka City. If we consider introducing a 5m² solar panel for each building, it might produce about 222 megawatt (5*136W*326000) electricity. Another expert from the same domain said that, we have almost 20000 shopping malls in Dhaka city and where we could introduce renewable energy for electricity generation. Furthermore, the growing real estate companies could also use environment favorable architectural design like Council Building-2 (Solar energy capturing building) in Melbourne where produce a substantial amount of electricity locally for every building. Apart from this, solar technology also reduce GHG emission rate by absorbing around 20% solar radiations that might balance the inner city heat. Cutting down of existing load shading, long term health and financial benefits are also might be ensured and even people could get installation cost back within three years.

From renewable energy sources, Bangladesh government has set a target to meet 5% by the year 2015 and 10% by 2020 of total power demand (RENDEV). However, our government has already been taken some effective initiative for enhancing efficiency of electricity through energy saving distribution within urban communities. Bangladesh has an extensive renewable energy policy. Few governmental offices, institutions and common places are now being implemented solar power installation for the purpose of alternative power generation.

Energy is one o f the most important ingredients required to alleviate poverty, realize socio-economic and human development. Energy returned on energy invested, banning of profligate users, increase people awareness, policy implementation, generation of individual or household level options, community or private sector initiative along with investment, zero interest bank loans for renewable energy and enforcement of law and order situation are required to overcome the present condition. Furthermore, we need feasibility study of those technologies aiming to adopt suitable technology for electricity production from renewable resources. For an instance close your eyes and think, what will be the situation without or insufficient electricity supply of Dhaka? Completely become dead city!

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/2626/sustainable-urban-energy-for-dhaka-city

Debunking LA’s Urban Legend: “Green” McMansions

10.01.2012

DICK PLATKIN

City Watch

WHERE WE LIVE - New York might have alligators roaming its sewer system, but LA can now boast of its own urban legend: “green” McMansions.  Yes, that’s right; in Los Angeles, McMansions, those boxy, oversized, energy-demanding suburban houses plopped into the middle of older neighborhoods are officially considered to be sustainable development.

How could this be?  After all, McMansions require huge amounts of energy to assemble their building materials and move them to job site.  Furthermore, the houses themselves are massive, which means enormous heating and air conditioning bills, even if their windows are double-paned, their walls padded with extra insulation, and their restaurant-sized refrigerators and stoves Energy Star rated.

Then we need to consider their multiple bathrooms and heated outdoor pools and spas, the most energy intensive features of modern houses.

Other McMansion features also have their detrimental environmental effects.  During demolition they release dust and asbestos into the air.  After construction, their large patios, pools, spas, and double driveways reduce natural open space.  Combined with their elimination of parkway trees and landscaping for driveway cuts, the cumulative result is a heat island with less penetration of rainwater.

Last, but certainly not least, we need to factor in their transportation system.  All McMansions are built on single-family residential lots located away from bus stops and transit stations.  This is why McMansion residents rely on their cars to get around; the only difference being that most of their vehicles are large, thirsty SUVs.

Given this environmental profile, some advanced jurisdictions, like Marin County, require a full energy audit of all new houses larger than 3,500 square feet.  Many other cities, like West Hollywood, simply restrict the size of R-1 homes to prevent McMansions.

But, certainly not in Los Angeles where the treatment of McMansions has raced in the opposite direction.  Our city government offers a “green” incentive to contractors so they can super-size their McMansions.  Finally, all this is done through a misnamed ordinance, the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance.  It purports to stop mansionization, but, in fact, does exactly the opposite.

Just like the Patriot Act, that curbs civil liberties, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, that stops the regulation of derivatives, and the Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act of 2011 that bars the EPA from regulating soot, the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance -- despite it name -- is deliberately filled with enough exemptions and bonuses to permit McMansions to still be built by-right in most of Los Angeles.

Since 2008, after two years of detailed research and preparation by the Department of City Planning, public hearings and adoption by the City Council, and then signed by Mayor, mansionizers still have a free rein in most of Los Angeles.  This is why they are building McMansions at an accelerated rate as market conditions improve.

This fraud was deliberately and carefully crafted as follows:  Unlike large lots, the 77 percent of the LA’s single-family lots zoned R-1 grant homes have a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of .5.  This means that in Los Angeles houses built on a typical 6000 square foot R-1 lot begin at 3000 square feet, already a thousand square feet larger than the average R-1 home.  Then, if the contractor adds such green features as extra insulation, double-paned windows, and new appliances, they get an additional 600 square feet through a 20 percent “green” LEED bonus, for a total of 3,600 square feet.

After that, the McMansions' attached garages, which are often surreptitiously used as play rooms or storage, are exempted for an additional 400 square feet.  This increases the McMansion total to 4,000 square feet.  Next are the exemptions for high entryways and semi-enclosed decks and balconies.  They legally raise the total to 4,350 square feet.  In some cases slip-shod plan check and inspections appear to allow even more massive structures.

Voila.  These tricks result in the same McMansions that were built before the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance was prepared and adopted under the pretense that it would stop McMansions.

How easy would it be fix this fraud?  The answer is that it is simple.  A minor amendment to the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance would stop mansionization in its tracks.  If R-1 lots were treated like large lots, and their by-right FAR became .35, most of the work would be done.

To put some frosting on the cake, if the exemptions and bonuses, especially the “green” bonus or the garage exemption, which are spurious to begin with, were ratcheted down to 900 square feet, McMansions would then be limited to 3000 square feet.  This is the size of the largest existing homes in most R-1 neighborhoods.

But the real questions are not technical because municipalities all across the United States have devised many effective legislative and administrative procedures to stop mansionization, such as design and environmental review.

In Los Angeles, the real question is political.  Do we have any elected officials who are willing to show leadership and prevent vast swaths of Los Angeles’s residential neighborhoods from being quickly wrecked by speculators bulldozing charming older homes and then building and flipping McMansions?

(Dick Platkin is a city planning consultant who teaches sustainable city planning at USC’s Price School of Social Policy.  He is a CityWatch contributor and can be reached atrhplatkin@yahoo.com) 

http://www.citywatchla.com/lead-stories/3843-debunking-las-urban-legend-green-mcmansions

Report: Online tool cut cooling bills

BY SANDRA GUY Business Reporter
Chicago Sun-Times
 October 2, 2012

The summer’s record-breaking heat raised ComEd customers’ bills about 7.2 percent, as Chicagoans tried to stay cool inside. But consumers who used an online energy-saving tool wiped out most of the extra cost, according to a report being released Tuesday by the Citizens Utility Board.

Chicagoans who used the online tool erased 70 percent of the extra costs caused by the record heat, CUB’s report said.

The city’s third-hottest summer cost Commonwealth Edison consumers an extra $64 million — about $5 a month for the average customer over the four-month summer season, CUB said in the report. But those who used CUB Energy Saver, the agency’s free online tool at CUBEnergysaver.com, paid only an additional $1.50 a month, on average, according to the report.

This summer’s 45 days of 90-degree or higher temperatures included six days of record-tying or record-breaking heat or dryness, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

The records included the highest temperature, 103 degrees, and highest low, 82 degrees, both on July 6.

The study said Illinoisans used an average of 7.2 percent more electricity this summer than last, but CUBEnergysaver.com users saw only a 2.1 percent increase.

Energy savers used fewer lights, turned off the air conditioner when they were away and turned off energy-slurping appliances such as coffee makers, said David Kolata, CUB’s executive director.

The top 10 actions CUB Energy Saver users have taken, ranked according to popularity, are:

◆ Use fewer lights at home.

◆ Replace traditional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs.

◆ Turn off the coffee maker after brewing.

◆ Dry clothes outside or on a drying rack instead of using the dryer.

◆ Lower window blinds on summer days to keep the home cooler.

◆ Use a smart power strip, which can help consumers combat “vampire power,” energy eaten by computers, TVs and other appliances that are plugged in but not being used.

◆ Wash larger loads of dishes.

◆ Use the microwave, which burns less power than an oven and doesn’t overheat the home.

◆ Buy an efficient gas clothes dryer rather than an electric one.

◆ Turn off the air conditioner one hour before leaving home.

China rolls out new $2.2 bln subsidy scheme-Xinhua

BEIJING, Sept 9 

(Reuters) - China will provide subsidies worth $2.2 billion to buyers of energy-efficient computers and air-conditioners in the latest effort to stimulate domestic demand and encourage the use of environmentally friendly technology, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

The one-year subsidy programme will cover purchases of desktop computers, air-conditioners, fans, water pumps, compressors and transformers, Xinhua said, quoting sources at China's Ministry of Finance.

It is expected to raise the market share of the energy-saving products to more than 40 percent.

"The move marks the government's effort to combine stabilising economic growth and stoking domestic demand with promoting energy savings and emission reductions," the state news agency quoted an official at the ministry as saying.

China's economic growth has slowed for six straight quarters and analysts expect the trend to extend to a seventh when third quarter GDP data for 2012 is published. Growth in Q2 was 7.6 percent, its slackest in more than three years.

Recent data have cemented views that growth for the full year will be its lowest since 1999, likely below 8 percent and may even struggle to hit the government's 2012 growth target of 7.5 percent.

Officials last week revealed they had given the green light to 60 infrastructure projects worth more than $150 billion, as Beijing seeks to energise the economy.

The announcement fuelled investor hopes the world's growth engine may get a lift in the fourth quarter of the year and beyond.

"The subsidy program will help save 31.3 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity every year and drive sales of the energy-saving products by 155.6 billion yuan ($24.5 billion)," the official said.

China has around 130 million desktop computers, which consume 31.2 billion kwh of electricity every year, Xinhua said, adding that the annual power consumption of air-conditioners reach 350 billion kwh.

Xinhua said the power consumption of fans, pumps, compressors and transformers accounted for 40 percent of total energy use in 2011, but they were only 80 percent as efficient as those in developed countries.

China has subsidised energy-efficient products since 2009. It extended the scheme to five types of home appliances - air conditioners, flat-panel televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and water heaters - from June 1 this year.

Xinhua said the subsidy policy had boosted sales of energy efficient products by over 600 billion yuan and saved 28 billion kwh of electricity each year since 2009.

The report did not say when the program would start.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/09/09/china-economy-subsidies-idINL5E8K91H920120909

'Envision: Charlotte' program a model for urban-area energy use

John Downey

Senior Staff Writer- Charlotte Business Journal

The meter is running on the Envision: Charlotte effort to cut electricity use in uptown Charlotte 20%, but Duke Energy Carolinas says it’s too early to have any useful statistics from the program.

Vincent Davis, director of Smart Energy Now, says it will be September or October before meaningful figures can be derived from the technology designed to track and report electricity use in 64 of uptown’s largest buildings.

The technology is designed to provide hard numbers on how much power is being used and to quantify how much is saved. Duke also intends to adjust the raw figures to reflect unseasonable weather, building vacancies and other factors.

“You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” says Tom Shircliff, chairman of the board for the nonprofit Envision: Charlotte. The organization has expanded the project from focusing on energy efficiency to include sustainable practices for water consumption, waste disposal and air quality.

The work on the energy-savings element of the project is the farthest along. Smart Energy Now, set up by Duke to deliver the energy savings promised when the project was announced in 2010, is organized under Duke’s Save-A-Watt program. It must demonstrate energy savings to qualify for compensation from the utility’s ratepayers.

Realizing the program’s goals involves changing the behavior of office tenants and landlords. So while Davis doesn’t have firm numbers to demonstrate any achievements, the work on changing behavior is well under way.

From the Mecklenburg County jail to Johnson & Wales University and the Bank of America Corporate Center, Duke has held training sessions for 600 uptown workers designated by their companies as “energy champions.” It’s their job to come up with creative ways to encourage fellow employees to save energy.

Rob Phocas, energy and sustainability manager for the city of Charlotte, says the city has trained almost 200 employees as part of its participation in the program. Programming has ranged from straightforward efforts to figure out what percentage of lights are turned off when rooms are empty to efforts such as “Crab, You’re It!” That involves designating energy wasters by leaving a plastic crab — crabs move toward light — at their work stations.

The city has boosted the percentage of lights turned off to 90% from 50% at the start of the program.

Envision: Charlotte also is working with building owners and operators. But that effort will become more involved once the organization has firm figures to analyze.

Most uptown buildings already are using many of the best practices and advanced equipment to conserve resources. “Changing behavior doesn’t require a capital investment, and that is a lot of what we are concentrating on,” Shircliff says.

The Carillon building, owned by Houston-based Hines, participated in one of the energy audits Smart Energy Now offered. Hines’ general manager at Carillon, Mike Delev, says the audit confirmed the company’s equipment programs are delivering the efficiencies they expected. But he expects to be able to learn additional ways to use energy more efficiently from the practices of other participants.

“We will do our utmost to continue our program of saving energy and looking for additional ways to save,” Delev says. “A lot of things will be learned from this experience and will be valuable from understanding the consumption patterns of buildings and how to promote savings to stakeholders in the market.”

That will come down the road as Duke, the Envision: Charlotte team and the participants are able to evaluate the hard data.

Smart Energy Now recently conducted a breakfast session aimed mainly at building owners and facilities managers. At that session, the group addressed some technical issues on energy accounting, rate structures and what data the owners and operators can assess to guide decisions on energy use and equipment purchases.

“That’s a different conversation than we are having with the employees,” Davis says, although he considers both approaches important.

And Envision: Charlotte will move more into that technical side going forward.

“We’re still in the early stages,” Davis says. “When we have nine months or so of operating under our belt, we can strip out the weather anomalies and normalize the data. Then we will be able to take a better look at patterns.”

RATING DUKE'S EFFORTS

Duke Energy Carolinas’ efficiency program saved more energy at a lower cost last year than any other investor-owned utility in the Southeast, says an analysis by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

The environmental group issued a brief study that shows Duke saved more than 500 gigawatt hours of electricity through its Save-A-Watt efficiency programs in 2011. That amounts to 0.7% of its sales last year.

“This is significantly more than any of the other utilities in the Southeast,” the alliance says in a report, Energy Efficiency: The New Energy Superhero of the Southeast.

“Much of the savings from Duke Energy’s program came from lighting programs,” SACE’s Natalie Mims notes in her report. “Moving forward, Duke Energy is working on diversifying its programs to achieve more non-lighting savings.”

Duke has given away compact fluorescent bulbs to encourage residential customers to use efficient lighting.

The report notes Duke also exceeded its own energy-efficiency goals in 2010 and 2011. The 2011 total was about twice the gigawatt-hour savings Duke had set for itself in filings with regulators in the Carolinas.

And Duke achieved those savings at a cost of less than a penny per kilowatt hour, SACE estimates. That is about half of what efficiency programs cost Progress Energy Carolinas last year per kilowatt hour and well below the nearly 9 cents paid by Florida Power & Light.

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2012/08/31/envision-program-a-model-for.html?page=all

Downtown Pittsburgh owners vow to go green

August 22, 2012 12:06 am

By Mark Belko / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

One by one, they stepped to the microphone Tuesday to pledge some of Downtown's most celebrated properties -- from One Oxford Centre to PNC Park -- to going greener.

During the course of 45 minutes, owners of 61 properties representing 23.3 million square feet of space Downtown and on the North Shore publicly committed to cutting energy, water and transportation consumption by 50 percent over the next 18 years as part of a national campaign.

Among those making the pledges were Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, both of whom committed various city and county buildings to the cause, including the historic county courthouse, and Gary Saulson, director of corporate real estate for PNC Financial Services Group, which is building what it says will be the world's greenest skyscraper on Wood Street.

Other properties that are part of the pledge include BNY Mellon Center, Fifth Avenue Place, the One, Two and Three PNC Plaza buildings, Benedum Center, Consol Energy Center, Alcoa Corporate Center, the O'Reilly Theater, K&L Gates Center, and the county jail.

In all, about 38 percent of the properties in the Downtown business district have committed to the national challenge launched by Architecture 2030, a non-profit organization seeking to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the global building sector.

Michael J. Schiller, executive director of the Green Building Alliance, which is spearheading the local effort, said he's "thrilled" to have 38 percent of the properties committed to the cause and expects to get more in the weeks and months ahead. He said it took Seattle two years to get about the same amount in pledges that Pittsburgh got in two to three months.

"It exceeded my expectations," he said. "I think it really speaks to how progressive and how aware the property owners and the community partners are in Pittsburgh."

The first part of the going greener effort will involve establishing baselines for consumption in office buildings, parking garages, and other properties. Owners then will start to look for ways to reduce usage to the target level over the course of almost two decades.

"This is the celebration," Mr. Schiller told those who gathered at the Benedum Tuesday to make pledges. "The work starts after this."

He noted that there are various ways property owners can cut consumption without breaking the bank, from replacing light bulbs or fixtures with more efficient versions to putting sensors in offices to turn off lights when a room is not in use.

Another strategy could be to switch to cleaning offices during the day, eliminating the need to keep lights on for crews after hours.

More expensive options include replacing windows or heating and air conditioning systems and switching to low flow water faucets. The Empire State Building recently paid $13 million to replace all 6,514 double hung, dual pane windows and make other improvements to cut energy consumption and save about $4.4 million a year.

Mr. Saulson said PNC, which has been a leader locally in green construction and practices, has spent $16 million installing new lights in various buildings throughout its system and will get a payback in less than three years.

"With that kind of payback, the savings for the shareholder is tremendous," he said. "And as we look at a portfolio of 32 million square feet, the upside potential is really great. So we really can save a lot of energy and a lot of money."

He applauded the new initiative to cut consumption Downtown.

"I hope more and more building owners step up and join in because I think it's a really good idea. I think the upside potential for companies to save money is tremendous," he said.

Pittsburgh is one of three cities to sign up for the challenge so far. Seattle and Cleveland are the others.

Of course, if building owners Downtown get really serious about cutting energy, there could be some unintended consequences. For one, the city skyline might not be so bright at night.

Mr. Schiller acknowledged as much. Not that he seemed to mind, though he professed to be a big fan of Light-Up Night.

"Some other time, I want to shut all the lights off in the entire city just to prove we can do it," he said.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/business/news/downtown-pittsburgh-owners-vow-to-go-green-649934/?print=1

In Japan, energy saving takes its toll

By Chico Harlan

Washington Post

August 10

SAPPORO, Japan — In this summer of idled nuclear plants and energy shortages, corporate Japan is operating under duress.

Workers in short-sleeve dress shirts spend their days in 82-degree offices, the new standard. Lights are dimmed and printers are on only when necessary. Companies chart their energy use, and at one bread factory on this northern island, an employee jumps on the PA system when electricity usage spikes, ordering air conditioners off and asking select workers to stop what they’re doing.

“This is a demand warning,” the announcer says, reading from a script. “We ask for your cooperation.”
But many Japanese companies are tired of cooperating. Asked by the government to use less electricity, companies say the cutbacks curb their productivity, thin their profits and could eventually stall the world’s third-largest economy.

The energy-saving push was seen on a smaller scale last year after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Japan’s east coast and caused shutdowns at several others, and Japanese companies obliged without complaint. Electricity conservation, or “setsuden,” was a way to help the post-disaster cause.

But this year, Japanese business leaders say, the energy-saving feels more like a major drain than a goodwill duty. Unlike last summer, when severe shortages were confined to the northeast, even regions far removed from the Fukushima plant now face shortages, with all but two of Japan’s 50 viable reactors shuttered amid public opposition. Utility companies are importing record levels of fossil fuels, but even that hasn’t covered the gap. That leaves companies — many that were already energy-efficient — straining for unorthodox ways to meet peak-hour summer reduction targets.

Electronics giant Panasonic told employees at its Osaka headquarters to take a nine-day paid vacation in late July. Manufacturer Nippon Tungsten, in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, bumped work shifts to the weekend to avoid peak hours and, to use less air conditioning, started spraying factory rooftops with cold water.

Breadmaker Nichiryo, based in Hokkaido, leased a 200 kilovolt-ampere diesel generator, which sits like a horse trailer outside its main factory and supplies electricity at four times the cost of the regional utility company.

“It makes no sense financially to use the generator,” said Hidetaka Matsuda, a Nichiryo manager in charge of energy use. “We’re doing it just to achieve the reduction target.”

Matsuda described the energy restrictions as “severe.” A Panasonic spokeswoman said they’ve had a “major impact” on business. At the Kawai Tekkou Iron Works plant in Hokkaido, some employees second-guess the need for conservation and point fingers at the utility company, which they feel should provide the necessary amount.

“Our work shouldn’t suffer,” said Hiroki Kawai, an employee who is a third-generation member of the family business. Kawai said he was describing others’ complaints, not his own.

The energy debate

The economy-sapping energy shortages hint at the stakes of the fierce debate over Japan’s energy future. At the root is whether Japan, in the wake of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima plant, should renounce nuclear power to build a less disaster-prone country or re-embrace it to fuel a more economically viable one.

At the 11 public hearings the government has held to discuss nuclear power, 70 percent of the citizens who spoke said they favored a no-nuclear policy by 2030. That is one of the three plans being considered, along with options under which nuclear power would make up 15 or 20 to 25 percent of Japan’s total energy supply by 2030.

It is the leaders of corporate Japan, along with top government officials, who form the powerful pro-nuclear minority. Persistent energy shortages, they say, will wreak havoc on a resource-poor nation whose energy costs — already among the world’s highest — will further rise with growing fossil fuel imports.

Japan needs nuclear power for a stable electricity supply, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said in June, and without that, “Japanese society will not be able to function.”

A nuclear Japan, according to December 2011 projections from Tokyo-based Institute of Energy Economics, would have a GDP in 2012 roughly two points higher than a non-nuclear one, and experts say the difference could be even greater if oil prices spike.

Anti-nuclear activists say that Japan could replace nuclear power, which once supplied one-third of the nation’s electricity, with renewable sources. But that will take years of work and billions in investment. This summer’s shortages have convinced some corporations that nuclear power is essential, at least until progress on renewable energy is made.

“It’s preferable to reduce our dependency on nuclear power plants in the medium- to long-term,” said Cathy Liu, a Panasonic spokeswoman. “However, there is no other way but to keep using nuclear power plants, with attention to their safety, as we do not have an alternative energy at this point.”

The shortages, in theory, can disappear — or at least diminish — with just the flick of a few switches, as seen last month when Japan’s central government ordered the reboot of two reactors in the industrial heartland known as Kansai. With that restart, the Kansai region’s energy-saving request was trimmed to 10 percent of 2010 peak levels from 15 percent. Each region has different energy-saving targets, imposed on companies and households, depending on the severity of shortages faced by utilities in the area.

In Hokkaido, households and companies are being asked to shave 7 percent from their 2010 peak-hour consumption levels. Were the local utility able to operate even a single reactor, such a request wouldn’t be necessary.

The saving is not mandatory, and companies face no punishment for ignoring the request. But by doing so, they risk sudden blackouts that would come if demand by the utility’s customers exceeds capacity. So far this summer, this verdant island famous for its agriculture has avoided such a scenario — a sign, officials here say, that the voluntary cutbacks are working.

The energy-saving, though, is expected to get harder the longer it goes on. A 2011 report from the International Energy Agency on urgent electricity shortages said that “consumers may be more willing to conserve energy if they know the shortfall is short-term.” Japanese people “will become tired and exhausted” over the long haul as the country loses the feeling of post-disaster crisis, said Yu Nagatomi, an economist at the Institute of Energy Economics.

This year, some in Japan are brushing off energy-saving as a low priority — something unheard of last year after the disaster. At a spring meeting with regional farm leaders, Hokkaido’s powerful agricultural co-op recommended only a few modest ways for farmers and producers to cut back electricity — and mostly on the office side, not with actual machinery. Save electricity, a document outlining the meeting said, only to the extent that “it does not create any trouble for managing your business.”

Difficult to plan

The energy shortages are particularly vexing for companies because nobody knows how long they’ll last.

Energy experts say that the best way for corporations to reduce consumption is with heavy investment, particularly in energy-efficient lighting and in modern machinery. Companies, though, are hesitant to spend the money before they know Japan’s long-term plan for the nuclear plants.

During a recent tour of his family’s iron factory, which employs 40 people, Kawai pointed out the many decades-old appliances he’d love to replace. Wiring. Machinery. The fire-hot mercury lamps that light up his factory “like a baseball stadium.”

But Kawai Tekkou has lost 28 million yen over the past two years. Major investment in ­energy-efficient machinery isn’t so smart if Hokkaido’s three reactors are operating by next summer. In the interim, Kawai Tekkou is trying to save electricity only on the office side, by using less lighting and air conditioning.

“It’s almost impossible to do energy conservation without [changing] the machines,” Kawai said.
He emphasized that energy-saving is an admirable goal, and he’d prefer that Japan not rely on nuclear power because of the safety risks. But he has come to think that the country has no choice.

“People say, ‘Shut down all the plants,’ ” Kawai said. “But then what do we do in the alternative? We’re stuck.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-japan-energy-saving-takes-its-toll/2012/08/10/3fef736e-dfb3-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html