Quick Facts

• NRCan’s OEE and DPAD teams maintain a Model that estimates energy savings and GHG emissions reductions attributable to the ENERGY STAR for Products Program, but the Model had not been updated in almost 10 years.
• Bronson reviewed and updated all inputs to the Model, including annual energy consumption data for ENERGY STAR certified and standard products, annual shipment data and market share percentages of ENERGY STAR certified products.
• The updated Model now generates total estimated energy savings of 786 PJ from 2011-2030, representing an increase of 10% above the estimated savings from the previous version of the Model.
• Bronson delivered an exhaustive report detailing all inputs to the updated Model, assumptions, data sources, recommendations and other key information that will facilitate future updates of the Model.

Project Description

Bronson reviewed and updated all data inputs for NRCan’s ENERGY STAR for Products Model, documented the processes and information sources that are required to implement future annual updates and provided recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of the Model.

Business Challenge

• To update the ENERGY STAR for Products Model.
• To review and update annual unit energy consumption values for ENERGY STAR certified products and standard products, annual product shipment data and ENERGY STAR market share for each product within Canada.
• To generate updated estimates of total energy and GHG emissions savings attributable to the ENERGY STAR for Products Program for the years 2011-2030.
• To prepare a document that explains the steps and tracks the sources of data for each product to update the Model annually.
• To provide NRCan with recommendations to improve the accuracy and relevancy of the Model.

Our Solution and Outcome

Bronson worked closely with the ENERGY STAR Project Authority and a key contact from NRCan’s Demand Policy and Analysis (DPAD) team, meeting regularly throughout the term of the contract to discuss data inputs and assumptions, to ensure that all parties agreed to the priorities and approaches that would guide the project.

Bronson reviewed all existing data in the previous version of the Model, revising data as required, and adding updated data to cover the years since NRCan last updated the Model. Bronson coded every cell on the “inputs” worksheet as either: confirmed the value that was in the previous Model; revised the value that was in the previous Model; new data entry; old data/source that could not be confirmed.

Bronson delivered an updated ENERGY STAR for Products Model that estimates total energy savings for the years 2011-2030, attributable to shipments of ENERGY STAR certified products in Canada at over 786 PJ, a 10% increase above the 715 PJ that was estimated by the previous version of the Model, with a corresponding increase in estimated GHG emissions reductions.

Bronson delivered an extensive accompanying report that introduces the purpose of the Model, the data and information sources and the approaches to benchmarking the energy savings between ENERGY STAR and standard products. The report provides details of the updates delivered and the approaches and data sources for future updates for each individual product included in the Model. Each product write-up includes a Product Summary and Key Sources table (that summarizes ENERGY STAR Specification history, unit energy consumption, total shipments and market share of ENERGY STAR), Data Validation tables (that display the total energy savings that were generated by the previous version of the Model and the revised total energy savings that are generated by the updated Model) and a summary discussion of Key Inputs that Generate Revised Outputs from the Updated Model.

Bronson’s accompanying report also included six (6) General Recommendations on Model Functionality and Presentation and five (5) Product-Specific Recommendations.