LONG BEACH, Calif. - Some 25 experts from the HVACR industry addressed growing concerns about the U.S. energy situation at the fifth Danfoss EnVisioneering^SM Symposium, “Making Dollars and Sense of Energy Efficiency: A Focus on Conservation.”

“Without question, there is a growing need for a solid assessment of the economic payback of energy efficiency,” said John Galyen, host of the symposium and president of Danfoss Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning, North America. “One of the key questions the industry needs to ask is, ‘Can total lifecycle costing help to significantly change buying practices in energy-efficiency solutions?’”

“It’s going to take a sustained period of high energy prices and reliability problems to really change people’s attitudes and behaviors about energy use and efficiency,” said Mark Bernstein, a visiting professor from the Future Fuels and Energy Initiative, Department of Political Science, University of Southern California.

Bruce Manning is chief engineer for the Operating Engineers Trust Funds (OETF), Pasadena, Calif., which owns, develops, and manages U.S. commercial real estate properties as investments in future pensions. Manning said, “The Energy Star Portfolio Manager is one example of an accurate energy utilization benchmark. Energy rebates are ‘free’ money, which lowers ROI (return on investment) and gets projects moving. A reasonable ROI can vary based on the long-term goals of ownership and current revenue generation potential of each asset.”

Henry Lau, 2006-08 Emerging Technology program manager, Southern California Edison, noted that California is saving millions of dollars through energy-efficiency programs. “The objectives of our program are to provide new technologies to the energy-efficiency programs, so they can achieve their energy-savings goals and create a balancing portfolio for the various market segments.

“We select new technologies based on the following criteria: large energy savings, great demand reduction, large market potential, and minimum market barriers.”

Kent Peterson, president-elect of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and vice president, principal, and chief engineer of P2S Engineering, Long Beach, cited a recent U.S. Energy Information Administration report projecting a 71 percent increase in worldwide energy consumption between 2003 and 2030. Currently, buildings account for 40 percent of U.S. energy consumption, industry for 32 percent, and transportation for 28 percent.

“We [in the HVACR industry] are being forced to seek dramatic solutions in energy efficiency in the built environment,” he said. “Energy efficiency should always be the elegant alternative to fuel consumption.”

The Long Beach symposium was the fifth in a series of conferences that comprise the EnVisioneering Symposium series. Danfoss sponsored the event. The sixth is scheduled for Oct. 23 in Washington.

For more information, visit www.envisioneering.danfoss.com/symposium.

Publication date: 08/06/2007