Compact on power quality and evaluation
Compact on power quality and evaluation
Just 24 hours after Americans gathered to elect a new President and Congress, nearly 200 energy-efficiency experts gathered in San Diego for the California Compact's third annual Efficient Consumer Lighting Products Conference. As with past conferences, attendees represented a wide variety of backgrounds, including utilities, manufacturers, retailers, regulators, environmentalists, and academics.
The 1992 conference devoted special attention to two relatively new issues: power quality and measurement, and evaluation of lighting programs.
After an extensive drafting, commenting, and redrafting procedure, the Green Seal organization released its compact fluorescent standard in mid-1992. The most stringent portion of that standard, Class A, specifies that certified products attain a power factor greater than 0.9 and a total harmonic distortion (THD) of less than 33%. Utilitites were particularly interested in Class A, given the effects of poor power quality on metering, line losses, transformer heating, and product lifetime.
Manufacturers at the conference provided a glimpse of the technologies that could be used to meet that standard. Likewise, a number of intriguing formal and informal discussions ensued among the technical experts over the cost of poor power quality to utilities, the cost of improving it at the source, and the appropriate future specifications.
In addition, utility program planners got a chance to compare notes concerning measurements and evaluation metods, and found that retention rates, average usage, product lifetime, and program cost effectiveness varied widely, depending on program delivery approach, rebate levels, and region of the country. (California Compact, IAEEL 1/92)
Chris Calwell
C.C. Chairman
Conference proceedings cost US$35 (postage extra for international mailing), and can be ordered from Tabors, Caramanis & Associates.
Tel: +1 916 757 2542
Fax: +1 916 757 2938