Green on the Hill: DOE to fund building efficiency research;

EPA to ease up on small manufacturers

March 1, 2010

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be funding two new building energy efficiency research programs. About $130 million is going to one regional consortium over five years. Rockefeller introduced legislation in early March which would force Jackson and the EPA to suspend issuing the tailoring rule for two years which would raise Clean Air Act emissions thresholds up considerably to 25,000 tons.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will fund two new building energy efficiency research programs—both of them offshoots of innovative DOE programs that have gotten under way in the past few years. One is a $130 million program to fund one consortium-like Energy Efficient Building Systems Design Hub. The second effort will be much smaller dollar-wise, and less ambitious; about $30 million to $40 million will go to a handful of applicants around the country for a research program called Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEETIT).

The DOE is contributing about 90 percent of the $130 million going to one regional consortium, to be paid out over five years. A number of cities are expected to compete for that grant.

The consortium of local and state governments, local businesses, universities, and maybe a federal lab will establish an Energy Efficient Building Systems Design Hub to do research in designated areas. These areas include intelligent-zoned heating and cooling systems; improved air economizers; energy scavenging/waste heat recovery; integrated space heating/cooling systems; and water heating systems.

Ostensibly that research will then be commercialized and pumped out into private- and public-sector buildings beyond the particular region where the consortium, or Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC), is located. Details are available at www.energy.gov/hubs/eric.htm.

The second program is being funded through the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which was born in 2009 thanks to funding from the 2009 economic stimulus bill. ARPA-E had two rounds of funding in 2009, and its third round was announced in March. One of the three areas in which it is looking for projects is Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEETIT).

The ARPA-E has a total of $100 million for all third-round grants in a number of areas beyond building efficiency; so single grants here won’t be anywhere near the $130 million going to the hub winner.The DOE will be looking for proposals dedicated to development of energy-efficient cooling technologies and air conditioners for buildings to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from primary energy consumption from space cooling and from refrigerants used in vapor compression systems.It is not clear how many proposals will be funded, and at what level. Details are available at arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

EPA to Ease GHG Emission Compliance for Small Manufacturers

In 2009 the EPA proposed a so-called tailoring rule that would raise Clean Air Act emissions thresholds up considerably, to 25,000 tons. Factories below that threshold would not have to obtain permits once the EPA required them to include their GHG emissions in their emissions totals, which are limited now to hazardous air pollutants such as benzene, toluene, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxide. GHGs include carbon dioxide, methane and other gases and chemicals.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson told Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., that she now supports a threshold substantially higher than the 25,000 tons the EPA originally proposed, though she did not mention a number. The higher the threshold, the fewer manufacturers that will need permits. Some Democrats in Congress do not think her promise goes far enough. Rockefeller introduced legislation in early March which would force Jackson and the EPA to suspend issuing the tailoring rule for two years.

Given Rockefeller's position as chairman of the Commerce Committee, and that a parallel House bill has been introduced that probably has Democratic support in a Democrat-controlled Congress, it looks increasingly likely that GHG permit requirements won’t happen anytime soon.

EPA Imposes New Restrictions on Diesel Engine Emissions From Manufacturing Plants

While potential permitting requirements for GHG emissions have been a marquee political issue, the EPA continues to roll out other, less visible permitting requirements. In late February the agency published a final rule with new hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emission limits on stationary diesel engines below 500 horsepower (HP).

About 200,000 of these engines are out there, typically used for generating electricity and powering equipment at manufacturing facilities and energy production and transportation locations. In the final rule, the EPA backed off substantially from emissions limits it proposed earlier for some engine categories. Compliance with the new standards is required in 2013.

The primary retrofit technologies are catalyzed diesel particulate filters (DPF) and diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC). Estimates done in 2005 by the California Air Resources Board found total costs for a typical prime stationary engine (rated at 590 HP operated for 1,040 hours per year) retrofitted with a DPF were about $22,400 for equipment and installation, $100 for reporting, and $550 per year for ash cleaning and maintenance. The total cost for the same engine with a DOC was about $6,250 (no annual maintenance). Costs for smaller engines would be considerably less, of course. For details, visit http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/rice_neshap_fs_021710.pdf.