As energy use across the country rises due to rapid increases in electronic devices and appliances in homes, California’s per capita energy use has been almost flat for the last 35 years.
This trend has been described as the Rosenfeld Effect, named after former Commissioner of the California Energy Commission Dr. Arthur H Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld was an early champion of the implementation of programs and materials that aimed to increase energy efficiency. Since 1975, he founded a think tank at the Lawrence Berkeley Nation Laboratory that helped develop a wide array of energy efficient technologies like compact florescent lamps and low-emissivity windows. Decades of innovation has led Dr. Rosenfeld to receive dozens of prestigious awards in the science community.
Pacific Gas & Electric, Northern California’s natural gas and energy provider, has also contributed to this trend, working with local, state, and federal governments as well as manufacturers to help develop energy efficiency policies and tactics that let citizens do more with less energy. For example, PG&E has helped farmers reduce water and energy use by providing incentives for the use of drip-irrigation systems, saving California thousands of gallons of water.
Its innovations like these that have allowed California to maintain a flat energy use rate while the rest of the US is seeing a 50 percent climb over the same period of time. Here at AAA Windows we are proud to continue the trend of energy efficiency in California, and hope to continue to help residents save on energy costs with high-quality, efficient windows.
By: Paul Doh