Energy efficiency reduces energy costs for owners, increases reliability and availability of electricity for the State, improves building occupant comfort, and reduces environmental impact.
Reducing energy use is a benefit to all. Building owners save money, Californians have a more secure and healthy economy, the environment is less negatively impacted, and our electrical grid can operate in a more stable state. The 2013 Standards (for residential and nonresidential buildings) are expected to reduce the growth in electricity use by 464 gigawatt-hours per year (GWh/y) and reduce the growth in gas use by 10.8 million therms per year (therms/y). The savings attributable to new nonresidential buildings are 441 GWh/y of electricity savings and 9.7 million therms. Savings from the application of the Standards on building alterations accounts for 270 GWh/y and 8.2 million therms. These savings are cumulative, doubling in two years, tripling in three, etc.
Buildings are one of the major contributors to electricity demand. We learned during the 2000/2001 California energy crisis, and the East Coast blackout in the summer of 2003, that our electric distribution network is fragile and system overloads caused by excessive demand from buildings can create unstable conditions. Resulting blackouts can seriously disrupt business and cost the economy billions of dollars.
Since the California electricity crisis, the Energy Commission has placed more emphasis on demand reduction. The 2013 Standards reduce electric demand by 132 MW each year. Nonresidential buildings accounted for 95 MW of these savings. The 2013 Standards are expected to have 138.7 demand savings accumulate each year.
Comfort is an important benefit of energy efficient buildings. Energy efficient buildings include properly designed HVAC systems, which provide improved air circulation, and high performance windows and/or shading to reduce solar gains and heat loss. Poorly designed building envelopes result in buildings that are less comfortable. Oversized heating and cooling systems do not assure comfort even in older, poorly insulated and leaky buildings.
For the building owner, energy efficiency helps create a more profitable operation. From a larger perspective, the less California depends on depletable resources such as natural gas, coal and oil, the stronger and more stable the economy will remain in the face of energy cost increases. A cost-effective investment in energy efficiency helps everyone. In many ways, it is far more cost effective for the people of California to invest in saving energy than it is to invest in building new power plants.
The use of energy has led to oil spills, acid rain, smog, and other forms of environmental pollution that have ruined the natural beauty people seek to enjoy. California is not immune to these problems, but Appliance Efficiency Regulations, the Standards, and utility programs that promote efficiency and conservation help to maintain environmental quality. Other benefits include reduced destruction of natural habitats, which in turn helps protect animals, plants, and natural systems.
Burning fossil fuel is a major contributor to global warming; carbon dioxide is being added to an atmosphere already containing 25 percent more than it did two centuries ago. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses create an insulating layer around the earth that leads to global climate change. Energy Commission research shows that most of the sectors of the State economy face significant risk from climate change including water resources (from reduced snow pack), agriculture, forests, and the natural habitats of a number of indigenous plants and animals.
Energy efficiency is a far-reaching strategy that is making an important contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gasses. The National Academy of Sciences has urged the country to follow California's lead on such efforts, saying that conservation and efficiency should be the chief elements in energy and global warming policy. Their first efficiency recommendation was simple: Adopt nationwide energy efficient building codes.
The Standards is expected to have a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas and other air emissions: carbon dioxide would be reduced by 259,000 metric tons first year of construction, cumulative each year thereafter.