2003 EETD News #13, Vol. 4, No. 2
Table of Contents

Saving Energy Through Improved User Interfaces

Electricity saved through power management of office equipment has been one of the premier success stories for the energy-efficiency community. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy's Energy Star program was largely responsible for creating aggressive lowpower –or "sleep"–modes in nearly all forms of office equipment. The devices can automatically shift into a sleep mode after a userdetermined length of inactivity and then quickly recover for use when needed.
 

Berkeley Lab Helps the City of Oakland Meet Energy Costs

The California electricity crisis has receded from the headlines, but energy costs are still high in the state. So there was anticipation in the audience when Oakland's Mayor Jerry Brown announced the start of the Oakland Energy Partnership at a news conference early this year.
 

Thermal Distribution Systems in Large Commercial Buildings

Large commercial buildings are known to waste energy through their thermal distribution systems. Previous research by Mark Modera and members of EETD's Energy Performance of Buildings Group has shown that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) distribution systems in commercial buildings suffer from thermal losses, such as those caused by duct air leakage and poor duct location. Because of a lack of metrics and data about the potentially large energy savings from reducing these losses, the building industry has mostly overlooked energy-efficiency improvements in this area.
 

Cal-Arch: A California Building Energy Tool for Owners and Operators

Researchers in EETD's Commercial Buildings Systems Group have developed an interactive, web-based diagnostic tool that enables California building owners and operators to compare energy use in similar buildings. Their work is part of a three-year program to analyze energy use in California's commercial buildings.
 

Measuring Emissions from Heavy Oil Storage Tanks

Two EETD scientists, Donald Lucas and David Littlejohn, have developed a method to measure air pollution emissions from heavy oil storage tanks. The method measures hydrocarbon emissions using a simple oil-sampling device fashioned from parts available at hardware stores for less than $20 (see Figure). Older measurement methods that were developed for lighter oils overestimated emissions from heavy oil tanks by orders of magnitude.
 

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