On Monday, October 1, 2012, President Barack Obama officially designated October as National Energy Action Month and called on U.S. citizens to "recognize this month by working together to achieve greater energy security, a more robust economy, and a healthier environment for our children." Previously known as National Energy Awareness Month, President Obama changed the name at the request of the Department of Energy (DOE) as part of an effort to encourage proactive approaches to energy efficiency and security. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is proud to support National Energy Action Month and national energy efficiency efforts through a number of new and continuing initiatives.
ANSI recently launched the Energy Efficiency Standardization Coordination Collaborative (EESCC) to assess the energy efficiency standardization landscape and develop a standardization roadmap and compendium to advance energy efficiency in the United States. The EESCC is a cross-sector, neutral forum for broad-based coordination among energy efficiency activities involving or impacted by standardization and regulations. The EESCC will begin holding web meetings for working group members in November and will convene a full in-person plenary in mid-January. For more information, send an email to [email protected] or visit the EESCC web site at www.ansi.org/eescc.
In April 2012, ANSI released a Standardization Roadmap for Electric Vehicles - Version 1.0, developed by the Institute's Electric Vehicles Standards Panel (EVSP). The roadmap - which was developed by representatives of the automotive, utilities, and electrotechnical industries, standards developing organizations (SDOs), and government - assesses the standards, conformance programs, regulations, and training needed to facilitate the safe, effective mass deployment of electric vehicles and charging stations throughout the U.S. The full roadmap is available for free download here. For more information on the work of the EVSP, visit www.ansi.org/evsp.
ANSI serves as the Secretariat in partnership with Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT, the Brazilian national standards body) for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Project Committee (PC) 242, Energy management. The committee's chief work product, ISO 50001:2011, Energy management systems - Requirements with guidance for use, provides energy management guidelines for industrial plants, commercial facilities, and entire organizations, with the goal of assisting these groups to integrate energy efficiency into their management practices. ANSI also accredits certification bodies through the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program, which provides facilities that are ISO 50001:2011 certified with a roadmap for achieving ongoing energy performance gains without sacrificing financial competitiveness.
ANSI is proud to promote the importance of energy efficiency across the nation through these and other initiatives. To learn more about National Energy Action Month and to download free resources and outreach materials, visit the Federal Energy Management Program website.