ELSEVIER Energy and Buildings 22 (1995) 171-172

BUILDIHG

Foreword Utility-sponsored research

Welcome to this special issue of Energy and Buildings dedicated to recent research of interest to the electric and gas utility industry. The raison d'gtre for this special issue is a bit unusual. While most special issues have a theme that organizes them, this one is organized around why the research was done. Specifically, all of the research efforts reported herein were funded either directly or indirectly by the California Institute for Energy Efficiency (CIEE) and are representative of the high quality of some of the research being done by academia for the utility industry.

CIEE is an organized research activity of the University of California, funded primarily by California Utilities and other participating sponsors (e.g. the California Energy Commission). CIEE coordinates, plans and implements a statewide program of medium- to long-term (5-15 years) applied research aimed at advancing the energy efficiency and productivity of all end-use sectors in California.

The CIEE research program attempts to identify, develop and demonstrate efficient end-use energy technologies and processes that: (i) increase the security and sustainability of energy systems; (ii) help assure continued access to reliable, affordable energy services for all end-users; (iii) enhance the productivity and competitiveness of industry; (iv) contribute to improving the environment. CIEE also attempts to improve the data and analytical tools related to the end-use of energy to support sound utility and public sector planning decisions.

The modus operandi of the California Institute for Energy Efficiency is to harness the enormous research potential of the academic community and focus it toward the issues that impact the electric and gas utility end user. The articles in this edition are good examples of the kind of quality research produced by such a collaborative mechanism.

California is not alone in its desire to expand and enhance statewide energy research. Ten states (California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Washington) have related programs and have banded together into the Association of State Energy Research and Technology Transfer Institutions (ASERTTI) to informally cooperate in this objective. Other organizations also participate in this collaboration.

ASERTTI works closely with industry, utilities, trade associations, and other state and federal organizations to share information, coordinate research planning, and participate in cooperative energy research development and demonstrat ion efforts. The ASERTTI research agenda both focuses on energy efficient and renewable energy technologies and reflects priority energy areas where the members feel additional research is needed. The members cumulatively manage over $100 million in energy research annually. The individual efforts, as indicated in this special edition, have resulted in significant energy and environmental benefits.

The articles in this special issue address a wide range of issues related to the utilities. As most electricity is used in the buildings sector, it is not surprising to see articles on various aspects of buildings (specifically related to thermal management) . Also covered are issues related to the internal activities of buildings (specifically refrigerators and motor drives). Community scale impacts due to urban heat islands are reviewed as are impacts on utilities due to pricing policies and electric vehicle technology.

From floor-based systems to light-colored roofs and from motors to cars to refrigerators all of the work presented here has significant potential to improve energy efficiency in a cost-effective way. Usually utility-sponsored research is sufficiently applied and sufficiently task- or client-specific that it does not meet the standards of peer-reviewed, archival journals such as Energy and Buildings. The objectives of CIEE and the utilities that fund it have assured, however, that their work will meet those standards and is evidenced by the nine articles in this issue.

Elsevier Science S.A. SSDI 0378-7788(95)0920P-O

172 Foreword / Energy and Buildings 22 (1995) 171-172

The quality and usefulness of this work is a testament to the value of partnerships between academia and industry that jointly address the important research problems of our time.

Max Sherman Senior Scientist

Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory University of California, Berkeley

CA, USA