Stimulating Energy Efficiency

March 23, 2009 - Now that the economic stimulus bill has passed and the dust has settled a bit, I thought it would be interesting to see what's in it promote energy efficiency. No, I didn't read all 1000+ pages. But from a gleaning of recent news items, here are a few things that caught my eye.

Out of the 787 billion dollars appropriated for the stimulus bill, approximately 65 billion will be going towards energy spending and tax cuts, a big percentage of which is aimed at "green technology." However, green technology is a large category. The question then is, how much of that money will go to support more energy efficient electronics?

One thing I mentioned in my post about ENERGY STAR's new datacenter spec, is that there are 50 million dollars going towards increasing the energy efficiency of information and communications technologies and that much of this money will go towards improving the efficiency of servers.

Even bigger news is that 300 million has been earmarked for rebates for energy efficient appliances. The “Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program” will be administered by the states and help offset the cost to consumers who purchase energy-efficient ENERGY STAR appliances including refrigerator-freezers, dishwashers and clothes washers. If you live in the U.S., you can get detailed information about your location from the ENERGY STAR rebate locater page.

A larger chunk (4.5 billion) is going towards funding a "smart electricity grid." While this might not specifically target energy efficient electronics, it does promise to have a ripple effect. A key component of smart-grid technology is metering and monitoring the energy use of "smart appliances." (For more information see my blog: "Power (Control) to the People.") The growth of smart grid technology will provide incentive for new designs aimed at increasing energy efficiency in a variety of household applications.

Another line item that's worth noting is the 6.3 billion in energy efficiency grants that go to state and local governments. Included in the list of "allowable activities" that come under this funding are energy efficient traffic signals and street lighting. This could prove a big source of growth for the LED market.

Of course, how all this plays out remains to be seen. But there's little doubt that how this new infusion of cash gets spent is something to watch.