U.S. DOE joins The Green Grid

The DOE and The Green Grid signed a memorandum of understanding to promote energy efficiency in IT.

By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff

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On Sept. 18, Alexander Karsner, U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) assistant secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, joined John Tucillo of The Green Grid, Beaverton, Ore., at the New York Stock Exchange to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote energy efficiency in the information technology sectors. The memorandum focuses on developing best practices and guidelines for improving energy use in data centers.

Last year, data centers used 1.5% of all electricity in the United States, DOE said. Although data centers form the backbones of the information economy, they consume a growing amount of energy. The Green Grid is a consortium of information technology companies seeking to lower the overall consumption of power in data centers worldwide.

For more information on DOE's memorandum with the Green Grid, click here .

In other DOE news, the agency signed an MOU to increase cooperation and energy efficiency in China's industrial sector, which accounts for 70% of the country's total energy demand, DOE said. This memorandum follows discussions from the third U.S.-China Energy Policy Dialogue held this week where the United States and China agreed to conduct audits to increase China's national, regional, and local energy efficiency.

The Industrial Energy Efficiency Cooperation MOU signifies the United States and China’s intention to promote energy efficiency at energy-intensive factories that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The memorandum states that a DOE team of industrial energy efficiency experts will conduct on-site plant audits of the production process and plant energy systems at up to 12 facilities from the top 1,000 energy enterprises in China. DOE will provide tools to conduct the plant audits and train factory personnel on plant audit techniques. These facilities must have the resources and feasibility to implement energy-efficient improvements identified by the DOE and National Development and Reform Commission teams.

DOE subsequently will conduct a comparison study of these Chinese enterprises and U.S. manufacturing plants to identify differences in best practices. The MOU also may serve as a conduit for American companies to export environmentally superior U.S.-made equipment and services to China.

DOE will host training sessions in the United States to help familiarize Chinese officials with U.S. energy saving laws, policies, advanced energy saving procedures and technologies, and best practices for management personnel tasked with saving energy. Training will be offered to government personnel, energy-saving supervisory and monitoring personnel, energy policy research personnel, and officials who manage big energy consumption enterprises. DOE also will provide demonstrations for highly efficient boilers, fired heaters, and combined heat and power units.

To learn more about DOE's memorandum with China on energy efficiency, click here .