Arthur H. Rosenfeld facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arthur H. Rosenfeld
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Arthur Hinton Rosenfeld
June 22, 1926 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
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| Died | January 27, 2017 (aged 90) Berkeley, California, U.S.
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| Known for | Compact fluorescent lamps, Low-energy refrigerators |
| Awards | Enrico Fermi Award (2005) Global Energy Prize (2011) National Medal of Technology (2011) Tang Prize (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | California Energy Commission, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Doctoral advisor | Enrico Fermi |
| Doctoral students | Ashok Gadgil, David B. Goldstein |
Arthur Hinton Rosenfeld (June 22, 1926 – January 27, 2017) was a smart American physicist. He worked at UC Berkeley and was a special advisor for energy in California. People called him the "Godfather of Energy Efficiency." This is because he created new rules and ideas that helped save a lot of energy in California and around the world.
His work led to many cool inventions. These include energy-saving light bulbs, fridges that use less power, and windows that keep heat inside. Thanks to his efforts, Americans have saved billions of dollars on their electricity bills. He also helped fight global warming by reducing how much energy we use.
Contents
Arthur Rosenfeld's Early Life and School
Arthur Rosenfeld was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 22, 1926. He grew up in New Orleans during a tough time called the Great Depression. When he was six, his family moved to Egypt because his dad was an expert in growing sugar cane. In Egypt, he met friends from Europe. He noticed that Europeans used much less energy than Americans. He later said, "Europeans only used half as much energy ... and it was clear that their lifestyle was as good as ours." This idea stayed with him.
He was a very bright student. While still in high school, he took college classes. This helped him get his first college degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute when he was just 17. After that, he joined the U.S. Navy for two years at the end of World War II. He taught people how to use radar.
Next, he went to graduate school at the University of Chicago. There, he studied particle physics with Enrico Fermi. Fermi was a famous Italian physicist who won a Nobel Prize. Rosenfeld even wrote a book about nuclear physics with Fermi.
In 1954, after getting his PhD in physics, Rosenfeld became a physics teacher at the University of California, Berkeley. Fermi himself recommended him for the job.
Arthur Rosenfeld's Career
Becoming a Physics Professor
At Berkeley, Arthur Rosenfeld joined the physics department. He also worked with a research group at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL). This group was led by another Nobel Prize winner, Luis Walter Alvarez. Rosenfeld was part of the team that helped Alvarez with his Nobel Prize-winning research.
In 1957, he became a full professor of physics. He was also one of the people who started the international Particle Data Group. He was known for working very hard. He would arrive at work super early, have dinner with his family, and then keep working until 2 a.m.!
Leading the Way in Energy Efficiency
A big change in his career happened in 1973. There was an oil crisis, which meant long lines at gas stations and very high energy prices. Rosenfeld realized that Americans were wasting a lot of energy. He saw his co-workers leaving lights on in their offices at the end of the day. He started turning them off himself! At the same time, power companies in California thought they would need to build many new nuclear power plants.
Rosenfeld became convinced that it was smarter to save energy than to keep trying to produce more. He said, "if we Americans used energy as efficiently as do the Europeans or Japanese, we would have been exporting oil in 1973." While most scientists were looking for new ways to make energy, Rosenfeld decided to focus on using less.
So, he changed his research from particle physics to energy efficiency. He started the Center for Building Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He led this center until 1994. Ashok Gadgil, a senior scientist there, said that Rosenfeld was the first to figure out how much energy could be saved with new rules. It was a huge discovery!
New Energy-Saving Standards
Under Rosenfeld's leadership, his center developed many energy-saving technologies. These included special window coatings that trap heat and compact fluorescent lights. Rosenfeld also helped create computer programs that could figure out how much energy buildings use. These programs later became national standards for how buildings should be designed to save energy.
Rosenfeld's focus on saving energy inspired thousands of other researchers. Mike Witherell, the director of Berkeley Lab, said that Rosenfeld "truly shaped the way an entire generation of researchers and policymakers worked together to conserve resources." Engineers began to study how much energy everyday things used. This led to breakthroughs in lights, windows, refrigerators, air conditioners, and other appliances. It also changed how entire buildings were designed.
California became a leader in energy conservation. In 1978, it was the first state to create strong energy-efficiency rules for buildings. These rules were called Title 24. Rosenfeld developed a computer program called DOE-2 for these rules. Other states like Florida and Massachusetts copied California's rules. Even countries like China use DOE-2 to help design energy-efficient buildings.
People in other states and countries noticed something amazing. Even though homes in California had many new electronics like computers and big TVs, the amount of electricity each person used stayed the same for 30 years! This was largely because of Rosenfeld's "passion to wring the most out of every kilowatt" (meaning to get the most energy out of every bit of power). He gave energy regulators the facts they needed to create some of the best energy-saving rules in the world.
These rules affected many industries. New homes had to have better insulation and energy-saving lights. Heating and cooling systems had to be more efficient. Appliances were redesigned to use less power. Power companies were even told to help their customers use less electricity. Rosenfeld's main idea was simple: "Conserving energy is cheaper and smarter than building power plants."
For example, in 1976, he explained to California governor Jerry Brown that a new nuclear power plant wouldn't be needed if refrigerators were more energy-efficient. So, the plant wasn't built. The next year, new rules for fridges and freezers went into effect.
Saving Energy and Reducing Pollution
Many of these new rules faced strong opposition from power companies and businesses. They thought the rules would hurt jobs and reduce their profits. One power company executive even called Rosenfeld's lab and demanded they fire him!
Appliance makers also complained, but they eventually found ways to make their products meet the new rules. The resistance stopped when people realized how much money these new standards were saving California consumers—billions of dollars every year! Rosenfeld said, "The first time we put standards on a product, we tend to get objections that this will be the ruin of civilization as we know it. But then people get used to it." By 1999, he estimated that the changes he helped create were saving the U.S. $10 billion a year.
The new standards also helped reduce air pollution in California. It was like taking millions of cars off the road! Modern refrigerators, for example, now use only 25% of the energy that older models did, even though they are often bigger. Large-screen TVs, which used to use a lot of a home's electricity, were also included in the rules. In 2009, California made the first energy-efficiency rule for televisions. This rule alone was expected to save Californians $8 billion over the next ten years.
Since 1973, the amount of electricity each person in California uses has stayed about the same. But for the rest of the U.S., it went up by almost 50%! This big difference is thanks to the energy-saving work led by Rosenfeld. Scientists even created the term "Rosenfeld Effect" to explain how these cost savings happened. He became a "rock star" in the world of energy efficiency. James Sweeney, an energy scientist, said Rosenfeld was "absolutely the most fundamental person in causing the California government to start paying attention fully to the opportunities for energy efficiency."
Energy Efficiency Organizations
Governor Brown later created California's first California Energy Commission. This group was required to use Rosenfeld's new energy-saving rules for buildings and appliances. Rosenfeld was appointed as a Commissioner for this group in 2000 and again in 2005.
His efforts saved consumers billions of dollars. This earned him the nickname "godfather of energy efficiency" and many awards.
In 1980, Rosenfeld helped start the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). This group works to promote energy-saving ideas and technologies. In 2014, many leaders from this group honored his work. Rosenfeld said his own inspiration for starting the group came from being upset that President Jimmy Carter planned to spend a lot of money on new fuels but almost nothing on saving energy. He realized someone with his knowledge was needed to focus on saving energy, which he felt was the best and easiest way to use less power.
Rosenfeld wrote or helped write about 400 scientific papers. He was also involved with Berkeley Earth, a research group. From 1994 to 1999, Rosenfeld was a senior advisor for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in the United States Department of Energy.
In his later years, he strongly supported using white or light-colored roofs. These "cool roofs" help reduce how much buildings need to be cooled. Former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, explained that if all flat-roofed buildings and pavements were white, it would be like taking all the cars in the world off the road for 18 years! In 2005, California added cool roofs to its building standards.
Arthur Rosenfeld's Personal Life and Death
Arthur Rosenfeld passed away at his home in Berkeley, California, on January 27, 2017. He was 90 years old. He died from pneumonia. His wife, Roselyn Bernheim "Roz" Rosenfeld, had passed away in 2009. His son, Chip Rosenfeld, died in 1994 when he was 27.
He is survived by his two daughters, Dr. Margaret Rosenfeld and Dr. Anne Hansen. He also had two sons-in-law, Professor Daniel S. Weld and Professor Jonathan Hansen. He had six grandchildren: Oliver, Julian, Nathalie, Adam, Galen, and Leah.
Honors and Recognition
- Rosenfeld's law. This is an idea he came up with. It says that the amount of energy needed to create one dollar of a country's wealth (GDP) has gone down by about one percent each year since 1845.
- Rosenfeld Effect. This term was created to explain why California's electricity use per person stayed the same for 40 years, while the rest of the U.S. saw a 50 percent increase.
- The Rosenfeld: a new unit of measure. In 2010, over fifty energy efficiency leaders from around the world suggested a new unit to measure electricity savings. They named it the "Rosenfeld" in his honor.
- Honorary degree, Durham University, 1983
Awards
- Szilard Award for Physics in the Public Interest, 1986
- Carnot Award for Energy Efficiency, U.S. Department of Energy, 1993
- Berkeley Citation, University of California, 2001
- Enrico Fermi Award, 2006
- Economist Innovator of the Year Award, 2008
- National Association of Engineering (NAE) Membership, 2010
- Global Energy Prize (Russia), 2011
- National Medal of Technology (U.S.), 2011
- Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, 2016
