Dr. Arthur H Rosenfeld (born 1927) is a former Commissioner of the California Energy Commission, serving from 2000 until his retirement in 2010.[1]
| Arthur H. Rosenfeld | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1927 (age 84–85) Birmingham, Alabama |
| Residence | United States |
| Citizenship | American |
| Nationality | American |
| Institutions | California Energy Commission, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
Rosenfeld earned a PhD (1954) in Physics from the University of Chicago where he was the last graduate student of Enrico Fermi.
1955-1973 He worked in the physics group at University of California, Berkeley where he did some of the key development of bubble chamber physics, particularly the hardware and software for photographing, measuring and analyzing data.
In 1975, he founded the group that became the Center for Building Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At the center he researched the miniaturisation of electronic ballasts in fluorescent lamps leading to the development of compact fluorescent lamps.
The Center developed a broad range of energy efficiency technologies, including electronic ballasts for fluorescent lighting, a key component of compact fluorescent lamps; and low-emissivity windows, a coating for glass that allows light in but blocks heat from either entering (summer) or escaping (winter). Dr. Rosenfeld was personally responsible for developing DOE-2, a computer program for building energy analysis and design that was incorporated in California’s Building Code in 1978. These codes have served as models for the nation, copied by Florida and Massachusetts, and other states are beginning to adopt them as well. DOE-2 is used to calculate codes and guidelines for energy efficient new buildings in China and many other countries.
From 1994 to 1999 he was a Senior Advisor at the United States United States Department of Energy.
In 2001, Rosenfeld developed Rosenfeld's Law, which states that the amount of energy required to produce one dollar of GDP has decreased by about one percent per year since 1845.
A conference in 2006 at University of California, Berkeley was dedicated to the so-called Rosenfeld Effect, which recognized California's low per-capita growth in electricity since 1973.[2]
In 2008, Rosenfeld announced his desire to see all new California homes be equipped with a radio controlled thermostat that would allow the State to transmit price and reliability signals to the house, allowing customers to change their energy usage with changes in price.[3]
[[Image:Art-Rosenfeld-Award-Plaque-Energy-Efficiency.jpg|thumb|alt=|300px|left|A large clock tower and other buildings line a great river.|Chris Calwell of Ecos Consulting and Jonathan Koomey, Consulting Professor at Stanford University, announced the Rosenfeld unit at a conference to honor Dr. Rosenfeld at University of California, Davis on March 9, 2010 and presented him with a plaque commemorating the occasion. On March 9, 2010, the open-access refereed journal Environmental Research Letters (ERL) published an article in which more than 50 leaders in the field of energy efficiency proposed a new unit to characterize electricity savings – the Rosenfeld (symbol: Rs).[4] One Rosenfeld is equal to 3 billion kilowatt-hours per year, which represents the electrical output of one 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant under a set of standard assumptions. In reference to such a standard coal plant, one rosenfeld of saved electricity also avoids emissions of 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. From the abstract:
In the Spring of 2011, Dr. Rosenfeld was awarded the distinguished Global Energy Prize by Russia. This award is in recognition of his forward thinking and innovations in the area of energy efficiency.
Dr. Rosenfeld is semi-retired but still actively promoting energy efficiency. He is currently Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Professor Emeritus of Physics at University of California, Berkeley. He also serves on the Board of the non-profit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.