DOE, EPRI team up on energy efficiency

-- Plant Engineering, 3/12/2008 11:42:00 AM

The Dept. of Energy (DOE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in early March to closely coordinate their research, development, and deployment of energy-efficient technologies. The MOU outlines a plan to use energy-efficiency and electric energy demand response programs to help meet the nation's electrical needs.

Specifically, the MOU describes DOE and EPRI's intention to coordinate their research in energy efficiency and demand response in buildings, industrial processes, electrical devices, and appliances and to develop guidelines and methods that enable utilities to calculate their emissions reductions due to energy efficiency and demand response. DOE and EPRI also will promote digital communication between the electric grid and buildings by testing and developing digital devices that will allow building energy management systems to communicate with smart-grid applications. The two organizations will also analyze utilities' energy efficiency efforts to catalogue the performance of energy efficiency technologies. EPRI will seek support for the effort from up to 50 electric utilities participating in EPRI's new Energy Efficiency Initiative.

See the DOE press release, the EPRI Energy Efficiency Initiative Web site, and the full text of the MOU.