Researcher Gale Boyd Measures Energy Efficiency, Helps the EPA

Researcher Gale Boyd Measures Energy Efficiency, Helps the EPA

16 July 2010 12:00AM

Interested in the connections between energy and the environment, Senior Research Scholar Gale Boyd helps the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop tools to implement improved energy management in industry. The EPA's Energy Star program promotes energy efficiency in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from consumer appliances, commercial buildings and most recently, the industrial sector.
 
According to Boyd's report released in June by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the Energy Star program’s involvement  with  the auto manufacturing industry has documented the improvements in the industry. The paper reveals that the industry has cut fossil fuel use by 12 percent and reduced greenhouse gases by more than 700,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Additionally, the information shows that the the gap between top performing manufacturing plants and others has closed. 
 
The data come from the system for benchmarking industrial plant energy efficiency developed by Boyd with assistance from other researchers and collaboration from industry participants. The Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) is a statistical model of plant-level energy use that enables comparison among industry peers with different levels and types of production-related activities that influence energy use.
 
In addition to the auto industry, which was the first industry to engage with Energy Star, EPI tools exist or are under development for more than 20 other industries or industry segments.

Learn more about Gale Boyd and his work.

Download a copy of Boyd's paper "Assessing Improvement in the Energy Efficiency of U.S. Auto Assembly Plants"

Read the full press release from the EPA.