Ecova Part of the ACEEE Champion of Energy Efficiency in Buildings Award-Winning Team

SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ecova, a total energy and sustainability management company, today earned a prestigious ACEEE Champion of Energy Efficiency in Buildings Award as part of the California Investor Owned Utilities' Statewide Codes and Standards Team (C&S Team) at the ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings Conference. The award recognizes the significant contributions made by the California Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) to the energy efficiency field during the past 14 years.

As part of the C&S Team, the Ecova Research and Policy Team supported the California IOUs in researching, developing, and initiating appliance standards for incandescent lamps, external power supplies, and battery chargers, among other measures. In total the C&S Team enabled approximately 80 new building code measures and 60 new appliance standards to be adopted in California. In addition, the Ecova team provided technical support to the California IOUs as part of the team effort to influence roughly 40 federal appliance standards or test procedure rulemakings.

Recently, the California Energy Commission (CEC) approved a groundbreaking energy efficiency standard that will reduce wasted energy by battery chargers commonly used to power cell phones, laptop computers, power tools and other devices. The savings are significant: nearly 2,200 gigawatt hours (GWh) each year, equivalent to the energy required to power nearly 350,000 homes or a city roughly the size of Bakersfield, CA. The energy savings will save customers more than $300 million annually and eliminate 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

The standard was made possible in part by the Ecova Research and Policy Team, which led the development of the small battery charger test procedure to support the standard, and acted as the California IOUs key technical consultant during the CEC rulemaking process. The Ecova Research and Policy Team authored the codes and standards enhancement report for this effort and acted as advocates on behalf of the California IOUs to take the research from idea to policy.

“California is considered the leader in energy efficient standards, and the work that Ecova's Research and Policy Team is doing will help to ensure that the state continues to set the standard,” said Jeff Heggedahl, CEO, Ecova. “I'm incredibly proud of the work our team has done to help utilities and consumers realize significant energy savings. Our team is continually working to identify ways to drive energy savings – there are so many opportunities to help consumers and businesses save energy while benefiting the environment that I can't wait to see what the team accomplishes next.”

The C&S Team comprises a group of committed individuals from the California IOUs (Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, and Southern California Gas Company) and their support consultants (currently Benningfield Group, Bruceri Associates, Ecova, EnergySoft, Energy Solutions, Gable Associates, Heschong Mahone Group, McHugh Energy Consultants and McLain ID).

A workshop kicked off the 2012 California effort for new appliance standards, and the California IOUs plan to continue their support to the California Energy Commission. The Ecova Research and Policy Team will continue to provide technical support to the California IOUs to drive energy savings. Ecova's support focuses on set-top boxes, computers, and other plug loads and lighting topics.

About Ecova

Ecova is the total energy and sustainability management company whose sole purpose is to see more, save more, and sustain more for its clients. Using insights based on consumption, cost and carbon footprint data spanning thousands of utilities, hundreds of thousands of business sites and millions of households, Ecova provides fully managed, technology-optimized solutions for saving resources, which in turn increase returns, lower risks, and enhance reputations. Ecova is the largest non-regulated subsidiary of Avista Corp --AVA and avistacorp.com. For more information, visit the company's website at ecova.com, on LinkedIn at linkd.in/ecovainc, or follow Ecova on Twitter at @ecovainc.

About The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors.