Commitment to Resource Efficiency

This chapter reinforces the importance of making a commitment to establish a uniform language, best practices, and software tools in order to compare, measure, and report the financial benefits of energy infrastructure investments as well as make them accessible to all stakeholders. She states the importance of being able to define the opportunity value of new, alternative investment fuels, technologies, and implementation strategies in order to make the right investment decision regarding the timing, location, and size of the investment. The ‘smart’ grid is presented as an exciting IT solution to optimize the operation of the US energy systems, but the IT approach needs to be expanded to include evaluation and management of energy systems infrastructure investments and not just operations. The author tells about the Presidential Directives that federal government facilities are facing to reduce energy use and invest in renewable fuels and uses the example of the Veteran Administration to expose the tremendous task of obtaining baseline and on-going information to try to meet the directive. Although the federal government is providing billions of dollars to support a ‘smart’ grid, customers like the VA are left without energy information technology or a framework to meet their directives and must find ways to spend their own budgets and staff time to try to move forward. The author takes apart the title of the book to best expose the policy initiatives implied and the real commitment to not just energy, but resource efficiency. Key government and business policy initiatives are recommended for change.