Natural gas groups have embraced the Department of Energy’s (DOE) decision to measure the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of energy products, such as natural gas, electricity, oil and coal, from the time they are extracted or generated to the point of end-use consumption.

DOE announced a statement of policy signaling a shift to the full-fuel-cycle (FFC) energy efficiency method, which would measure the total energy efficiency and environmental impact of various energy products as they travel from their original source to their end-use. The department currently uses site-based standards for appliances, which measures a product’s energy efficiency and environmental impact at the point of consumption.

The DOE currently is using the FFC method to calculate the environmental impacts of certain rulemakings, but it hasn’t used it yet with respect to appliance standards, said Bruce McDowell, director of policy analysis for the American Gas Association (AGA), which represents natural gas utilities.

He expects DOE to use the FFC method to assess the energy use and emissions impact of appliances the next time it addresses appliance standards, possibly next year. “I don’t know the specific timetable for DOE to set standards. But I think they do have one internally.”

With this new policy direction, DOE will support efforts to make FFC energy and GHG emission data available to the public on appliance “EnergyGuide” labels under the labeling program administered by the Federal Trade Commission.

“Customers need to be able to better understand the implications of their appliance choices so they can make informed decisions based on factual comparisons of product energy use and emissions,” said AGA Senior Vice President Lori Traweek.

In terms of energy use and pollution, “it’s better for natural gas appliances [specifically furnaces, water heaters, dryers, stoves and space heaters] to be compared to electric appliances on a full-fuel-cycle [basis] because that takes into account all of the energy lost before it gets to the consumers and accounts for all the pollution. All of the pollution occurs primarily for natural gas appliances at the site [residence or business].”

For instance, a gas space heater that vents into the atmosphere emits “some pollutants,” McDowell said. In contrast, “an electric furnace doesn’t provide any pollution at the site. It occurs at the source [of] conversion into electricity.”

Under the current site-based approach used by DOE, it would appear that an electric car is emission-free, but not so under the FFC method. “You can say that by driving an electric car you have no emissions, but you have to power that electric car, and you could be powering it from a coal-burning electric plant. So you’re causing emissions by driving that electric car. At the site, the car itself does not emit any pollutants, but the power plant that’s providing that electricity [is emitting] pollutants,” McDowell said.

The DOE’s action was taken in response to a study commissioned by Congress and performed by the National Academy of Sciences to compare the two methods for measuring energy efficiency.

“We want to thank DOE for its decision to recognize the importance of FFC measures in their national impact analyses,” said David Carroll, CEO of the Gas Technology Institute.

©Copyright 2011Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.