Saving Energy: One State at a Time
by Marian Hopkins, Business Roundtable on 07.28.08
Improving energy efficiency is a critical component of Business Roundtable’s overall strategy for enhancing energy security. With every unit of energy we conserve through greater efficiency, we lower energy consumption and therefore use less oil, gas or coal to meet increasing energy demand.
Energy efficient improvements span from consumers making simple lifestyle changes to businesses retrofitting their aging infrastructure.
However dramatic or small, energy efficient improvements can lead to real, substantial results in reducing our energy demand and our energy costs.
Business Roundtable member Siemens is a leader in developing energy innovations impacting power generation to IT solutions and services to financial services.
Founded more than 160 years ago, Siemens is a prime example of a Business Roundtable member that understands how doing business well equates to a positive return both for their company and for the world.
Saving Energy One State at a TimeIn Kentucky, Siemens is part of an energy performance contract that will lead to the installation of LED modules on every state maintained traffic signal. The six-year contract is expected to save the state $1.7 million a year in energy costs, resulting in Kentucky saving $10.2 million across the course of the contract.
The LED technology being used in the retrofitting effort is more energy efficient and lasts eight to ten times longer than incandescent light blubs, which need to be replaced annually. The energy performance contract allows Kentucky to make upgrades with no upfront capital expenditures, since the funding will come exclusively from the energy cost savings resulting from the upgrades.
Siemen’s partnership with the state of Kentucky is a real-life example of how energy efficiency improvements can reduce energy demands, our impact on the environment and energy costs.
Saving energy one state at a time is leading to real results. As more regions across the country implement programs like these, we’ll continue on the track to improving our nation’s energy efficiency.
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Excellent. For traffic and street lights, it is expensive to replace the lights, so less-frequent replacement also adds up to big costs savings. Plus, more states doing this will increase demand for LED's, reducing price so that the rest of us can afford to use them in our homes.
Private-public partnership deals like this are fantastic ways for states to become more energy efficient. Additionally though, they can provide great opportunities for companies to innovate, and get paid for it. For instance, integrating a solar system with the LEDs in Kentucky may be a next step for Siemen's to try, and Kentucky may be willing to foot the bill.
Providing platforms for integration of green technologies is a win-win. There is a short article on integration of green technologies on GreenerTrends.
Good article, great program by Siemens. Given the salience of our current energy crunch, I have been surprised by how little attention is given to the strategies of efficiency and conservation. The first thing you learn in any environmental studies course is that improving efficiency and conserving energy is THE most effective thing that can be done for the environment. But of course, our politicians like to tout the big, inefficient solution that poll well: large power plants, nuclear, etc. But in reality, our energy infrastructure would be much more efficient if it diversified and downscaled (See: Electric Power Plants - Size Matters). Oh well, at least this is one step in the right direction.