Alan Meier, Ph.D.

Alan Meier teaches core energy efficiency courses and supervises graduate student activities at EEC. He is also a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research has focused on understanding how people (and machines) use energy, and the opportunities that exist for them (and technologies) to conserve.

His research on “standby power use” in appliances—equal to 1% of global CO2 emissions—led him to propose an international plan to reduce standby power loss in all devices to less than 1 watt, which has now been endorsed by the G8 countries. His other research interests include energy use of consumer electronics, energy test procedures, rolling resistance of tires and international policies to promote energy efficiency. He is editor of the journal, Energy and Buildings, and the magazine, Home Energy. He is the author of many articles and two books, Supplying Energy through Greater Efficiency and Saving Electricity in a Hurry. He earned his Ph.D. in Energy & Resources from UC Berkeley after completing degrees in chemistry and economics.

He spent one year at Waseda University in Japan and, more recently, three years at the International Energy Agency.