A workshop held in Paris, France was jointly organized by the International Energy Agency (IEA), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on March 16-17, 2009 to bring together key actors in standardization, the private sector and public policy.  The purpose was to map out the most important standardization areas that will be required to support energy efficiency and carbon reduction objectives.  LBNL researcher Aimee McKane made a presentation on Achieving Sustainable Energy Efficiency in Industry, moderated a session on industrial systems energy efficiency, and served as a rapporteur.

The meeting sponsors plan to use key findings from the meeting as inputs into relevant high-level international processes including:
    * IEA’s Governing Board for consideration in advance of the 2009 IEA Ministerial meeting
    * 2009 G8 Summit in Italy
    * UNFCCC’s COP-15 meeting in Copenhagen
    * International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation
    * ISO and IEC strategic and technical groups dealing with energy efficiency and renewables

For a summary of outcomes, see International Energy Agency [2] and ANSI [3].

The second meeting of ISO PC 242 to develop ISO 50001: Energy management requirements and guidance for use, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 9-12, 2009 with approximately 70 delegates from 19 countries in attendance.  Aimee McKane, LBNL, as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. delegation, was actively involved in the meeting. There are a total of 35 countries participating in the development of this international standard.

 

PC 242 has been very active, developing and commenting on two Working Drafts between the first meeting in September 2008 and the meeting in Rio.  As an outcome of the second meeting, PC 242 agreed to move to the Committee Draft (CD) stage following completion of expert inputs on the revised text.  The CD is anticipated for release to the participating countries in June 2009.  The next meeting is planned for November in London.

September 8 – 10, 2008 the first meeting of ISO’s new project committee PC 242 to develop an International Standard on energy management was held in Washington, DC.

 

The future ISO 50001 will establish a framework for industrial plants, commercial facilities or entire organizations to manage energy and could influence up to 60% of the world’s energy use.

The meeting was attended by delegates from the ISO national member bodies of 25 countries from all regions of the world, and representatives from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which has liaison status with PC 242.  Aimee McKane, LBNL, as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. delegation, was actively involved in the meeting and describing U.S. efforts to support ISO 50001.

The presentation of all the participating countries' initiatives to support ISO 50001 gave PC 242 an insight into the different policies and situations around the world that need to be taken into account in the development of a globally relevant International Standard for energy management, and the need to ensure its compatibility with the existing suite of key ISO management system standards.  The project committee is fully committed to an ambitious schedule and aims to have ISO 50001 ready for publication by the end of 2010.  For more information, refer to ISO press release [7].

LBNL Researchers Aimee McKane, Lynn Price, and Stephane de la Rue du Can have authored a publication for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Policies for promoting industrial energy efficiency in developing countries and transition economies. The paper introduces the concept of an Industrial Standards Framework that builds on existing knowledge of “best practices” using commercially available technologies and well-tested engineering principles.  Taken together, the elements of the Framework comprise an effective industrial policy package that combines energy reduction targets, energy efficiency standards, system optimization training, and documenting for sustainability.

Both the executive summary and the full paper developed for UNIDO Side Event on Sustainable Industrial Development on 8 May 2007 at the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD-15) are available as Ebooks on the UNIDO website at http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o71852 [9].

More than 70 representatives from 17 countries participated in a Working Group Meeting [11] on April 9-11, 2008 in Beijing, China, convened by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Standardization Administration of China (SAC).  The purpose of the meeting was to develop a framework for harmonization to contribute to the process of developing an international Management System Standard for Energy through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). LBNL researcher Aimee McKane had a principle role in organizing and facilitating the meeting on behalf of UNIDO.  For details, see
http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=o86084 [12].

On October 12, 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 [14] was given jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Vice President Al Gore. The IPCC expressed its surprise and gratitute in a press release [15]. A number of researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were authors of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The LBNL press release can be viewed here [16]. Two LBNL scientists, Lynn Price and Ernst Worrell, were lead authors of the Industry chapter [17] of Working Group III's AR4 report on Mitigation [18]. Stephane de la Rue du Can of LBNL was a contributing author for the industry chapter.

A delegation of 11 members of the China Building Materials Academy, led by its President Yao Yan, participated in a one-day workshop at LBNL that featured presentations by CBMA on their work as well as presentations by LBNL researchers on a variety of topics related to industrial energy efficiency and building materials, especially cement and glass. The agenda for the workshop, including links to the presentations, can be downloaded here [20].

 

Mark Levine, leader of the China Energy Group (Energy Analysis Department, Environmental Energy Technologies Division), is shown here shaking hands with President Yao Yan after signing a Memorandum of Understanding in which the two organizations agreed to explore potential future collaborations on technologies, policies, and programs related to energy efficiency in cement manufacturing. 

September 19-21, 2007 United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Thai Government host a regional Experts Group Meeting on proposed ISO energy management standards in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.  LBNL researcher Aimee McKane helped organize the meeting, which included standards and energy efficiency representatives from six countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and China) as well the ASEAN Centre for Energy.

 

Ms McKane made two presentations: Industrial Standards Framework and Energy Management [23] and Status of Energy Management Standards in the EU and US [24].   As an outcome of the meeting, UNIDO is proceeding with plans to conduct a regional feasibility study on the impacts and potential barriers to implementation of the ISO energy management standard in Southeast Asia.  In addition, UNIDO will work with the Chinese government and several topic matter experts, including Ms. McKane, to organize a meeting in Beijing for the purpose of initiating a dialogue on standards harmonization among countries with national energy efficiency standards and other countries with a strong interest in this area. 

LBNL released two new Energy Star for Industry Energy Efficiency and Cost Savings Opportunities Guides for the Fruit and Vegetable Processing [26] and Glass Industries [27] at the World Energy Engineering Congress in Atlanta during the week of July 16, 2007.

LBNL's Eric Masanet and UC-Berkeley's Arpad Horvath made a presentation on "Lifecycle Assessment for Mitigating the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Retail Products" at the California Air Resources Board's Chair's Air Pollution Seminar. For a copy of the presentation or to view the webcast, go here [29].

It has been estimated that up to 80% of the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) "footprint" of the average U.S. consumer is attributable to the purchase, use, and disposal of retail products. While California has a strong track record of policies aimed at reducing the operational energy use of retail products (e.g., appliance efficiency standards), little attention has been paid to reducing GHG emissions across the entire retail product life cycle (i.e., production, transportation, use, and disposal). We are planning research to assess opportunities for reducing California's GHG emissions through the application of life-cycle GHG emissions labels and standards to retail products consumed by Californians.

For comprehensive assessment of the "carbon footprint" of retail products, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) model for California needs to be developed. Dr. Horvath will summarize the current state of knowledge in LCA, and discuss the best ways to model the life-cycle GHG emissions of products and services consumed by Californians, including supply chains within the state, interstate commerce, as well as international imports. Dr. Masanet will present the results of an explorative case study on life-cycle GHG emissions standards for personal computers in California to illustrate our planned research approach. The talk will conclude with a discussion of key research challenges.