Obama recognizes the need for efficiency!

Obama is on the right track. If we want to help turn this economy around, focusing on energy efficiency can provide financial savings for tomorrow while creating jobs today. I have broken down some his statements on energy efficiency to explore the viability of his plan. All position statements are taken directly off of his website.

Improve Energy Efficiency 50 Percent by 2030
This is a bit of a stretch. On average, one could expect to improve energy efficiency on buildings by 20 -40% depending on the age of the building and what has been done to date. To achieve this, there will need to be continued breakthroughs in heating and cooling technologies and the widespread adoption of LED lighting. This is achievable, but in this economic environment I do not see a lot of money going into R&D to improve these technologies. Obama will have to find ways to incent additional research in efficiency since most capital is going into renewable energy generation. You have to set your goals high, so I am happy this is the over-arching goal. Let's look at some of the supporting initiatives:

• Set National Building Efficiency Goals: Barack Obama will establish a goal of making all new buildings carbon neutral, or produce zero emissions, by 2030. Obama will establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal.

A very lofty goal to have new buildings be carbon neutral. I think this will be a stretch for this really to work since new carbon neutral buildings will have to cost less than traditional buildings. I do not see this happening. Therefore success is dependent upon end users "pulling" this through as the beneficiaries of the carbon neutral buildings. Otherwise developers mainly focused on value engineering and reducing upfront cost will win. There will have to be some major technological breakthroughs or financial incentives to see this happen.

Most existing buildings could be 25% more efficient in a year. I think he missed the mark here by giving this a decade. The technologies to accomplish this objective are all commercially viable while making financial sense today. There isn't anything prohibiting 25% efficiency in existing buildings other addressing the issue of competing uses of capital budgets in both the public and private sectors. Zero or low interest loans (through some of the bailout money given to financial institutions) could be used to spur this along in the private sectors. The public sector would benefit more from legislation requiring this level of efficiency. Energy services companies can provide the public sector everything from engineering to project management, including financing.

• Establish a Grant Program for Early Adopters: Obama will create a competitive grant program to award those states and localities that take the first steps to implement new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency.

The devil is in the details on this one. In concept I am supportive of this initiative. To really move the public sector, financial incentives in these tough times will be a good motivator. The leaders will also develop a "gameplan" which other states will be able to replicate, thus increasing efficiency and renewable energy at the state level in addition to the feds.

• Invest in a Digital Smart Grid: Obama will pursue a major investment in our utility grid to enable a tremendous increase in renewable generation and accommodate modern energy requirements, such as reliability, smart metering, and distributed storage

A smart grid is key to an efficiency and renewable energy, as well as reliability. Distributed storage is THE key to broad deployment of renewable energy. While the technology exists, improvements are need and the costs need to come down. I am happy Obama wants to invest in this, however I am concerned about the implementation. Many utilities across the country, despite what they say publicly, do not want to lose load on their system. They also don't have the expertise to develop a smart grid. Will the money just go to their friendly consultants with little results? I hope there will be accountability on any funds given to utilities.

Obama is off to the right start, and as the details continue to come out on his plans, I become more optimistic that many of the goals that Obama has laid out will become reality.