Rich Brown and Marla McWhinney

Contact: Rich Brown, (510)486-5896, rebrown@lbl.gov

Role in the Energy-Water Nexus

To increase the energy and carbon savings that derive from its ENERGY STAR program, which identifies energy-efficient products, each year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers several new products for inclusion in the program. To decide whether a product warrants ENERGY STAR labeling, the EPA evaluates several criteria, including market availability and potential savings.

Research Objectives

The goal of this project is to estimate the energy and water savings potential for several products that might earn the EPA’s ENERGY STAR label. These products are being considered for the label because energy is a large part of their overall resource use. The Water and Energy Technology Team (WETT) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is estimating potential savings to help the EPA establish appropriate efficiency levels for awarding the ENERGY STAR designation.

Approach

WETT scientists will review the literature on energy and water usage for the candidate products, compile shipment data, and estimate national savings potential through 2020 using the same modeling framework used to estimate savings due to the ENERGY STAR program. Candidate products include pre-rinse spray for restaurant kitchens, commercial icemakers, commercial dishwashers, and commercial clothes washers.

Accomplishments

WETT researchers have estimated potential national water and energy savings for pre-rinse spray valves for restaurant kitchens.

Significance of Findings

Our analysis shows that ENERGY STAR-qualified pre-rinse spray valves could save 11 billion gallons of drinking water and 50 trillion BTUs of primary energy per year by 2020.

Related Publications

No public documents yet.

Acknowledgements

The work is supported by the Office of Atmospheric Programs, Climate Protection Partnerships Division, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The work was performed for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098.