Application of metabolomics to understanding biofilms in water distribution systems: a pilot study

Biofilms formed in pipes are known to contribute to waterborne diseases, accelerate corrosion and cause aesthetic taste and odour issues within the potable water supply network. This paper describes a pilot study, undertaken to assess the potential of using metabolomics to monitor bacterial activity in biofilms of an urban water network. Using samples from a water mains flushing programme, it was found that a profile of intracellular and extracellular metabolites associated with microbial activity could be obtained by analysing samples using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Chemometric analysis of the chromatograms in conjunction with data from the mass spectrometer showed that it is possible to differentiate between biofilms from different pipe materials and planktonic bacteria. This research demonstrates that metabolomics has the potential for investigating biofilms and other microbial activity within water networks, and could provide a means for enhancing monitoring programmes, understanding the source of water quality complaints, and optimising water network management strategies.     

Contribution of Urban Water Supply to Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from energy use in the water sector in China have not received the same attention as emissions from other sectors, but interest in this area is growing. This study uses 2011 data to investigate GHG emissions from electricity use for urban water supply in China. The objective is to measure the climate cobenefit of water conservation, compare China with other areas on a number of emissions indicators, and assist in development of policy that promotes low‐emission water supply. Per capita and per unit GHG emissions for water supplied to urban areas in China in 2011 were 24.5 kilograms carbon dioxide equivalent (kg CO₂‐eq) per capita per year and 0.213 kg CO₂‐eq per cubic meter, respectively. Comparison of provinces within China revealed that GHG emissions for urban water supply as a percentage of total province‐wide emissions from electricity use correlate directly with the rate of leakage and water loss within the water distribution system. This highlights controlling leakage as a possible means of reducing the contribution of urban water supply to GHG emissions. An inverse correlation was established between GHG emissions per unit water and average per capita daily water use, which implies that water demand tends to be higher when per unit emissions are lower. China's high emission factor for electricity generation inflates emissions for urban water supply. Shifting from emissions‐intensive electricity sources is crucial to reducing emissions in the water supply sector.     

屋顶绿化生态系统调节服务与政策效应研究综述

屋顶绿化作为基于自然解决方案的一种生态战略,可以有效缓解城市的一系列生态环境问题。为了更好的挖掘屋顶绿化在城市生态系统中的应用潜力,需要从屋顶绿化生态系统调节服务出发,全面且定量地认识屋顶绿化与城市生态系统的关联机制。阐述了屋顶绿化的构成要素,屋顶绿化生态系统调节服务的内在机制;回顾了屋顶绿化生态系统主要调节服务与政策推动建设效果;从屋顶绿化推行制约因素及生态系统调节服务研究等方面进行了展望。目前,屋顶绿化研究主要侧重于环境调节服务。在水环境调节方面,当前多针对屋顶绿化的水环境调节功能开展研究,还需进一步从屋顶绿化生态系统水循环的角度探究,明确屋顶绿化在什么条件下是径流的污染源。在热环境调控方面,多数研究集中在量化屋顶绿化对城市热环境的影响,而驱动屋顶绿化降温效应的内在机制与城市热环境调节服务之间的定量联系还尚需深入研究。在建筑能耗方面,目前仍然缺乏建筑物的能源性能建模所需的屋顶绿化物理参数,需要基于长时间观测数据构建能量传输模型,从建筑-基质-植被-大气耦合的角度,综合研究屋顶绿化能量流动的过程与机制,明晰屋顶绿化与裸露屋顶之间的能量流动差异。在政策推动效应方面,我国屋顶绿化政策类型相对单一,缺乏覆盖整个屋顶绿化生命周期的推广政策。建议多维度、大范围的推动屋顶绿化建设,以期更好的改善城市生境。     

Mycobacterium avium complex--the role of potable water in disease transmission

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) is a group of opportunistic pathogens of major public health concern. It is responsible for a wide spectrum of disease dependent on subspecies, route of infection and patients pre-existing conditions. Presently, there is limited research on the incidence of MAC infection that considers both pulmonary and other clinical manifestations. MAC has been isolated from various terrestrial and aquatic environments including natural waters, engineered water systems and soils. Identifying the specific environmental sources responsible for human infection is essential in minimizing disease prevalence. This paper reviews current literature and case studies regarding the wide spectrum of disease caused by MAC and the role of potable water in disease transmission. Potable water was recognized as a putative pathway for MAC infection. Contaminated potable water sources associated with human infection included warm water distribution systems, showers, faucets, household drinking water, swimming pools and hot tub spas. MAC can maintain long-term contamination of potable water sources through its high resistance to disinfectants, association with biofilms and intracellular parasitism of free-living protozoa. Further research is required to investigate the efficiency of water treatment processes against MAC and into construction and maintenance of warm water distribution systems and the role they play in MAC proliferation.     

Energy analysis of solar water heating systems in india

This analysis can be called energy accounting of solar water heating systems. Five types of solar water heating systems have been considered. With the help of material balance, energy content has been found in these systems. Yearly output of systems has been found by conducting transient simulations using hourly data of radiation and ambient temperature. Such analysis has been done separately for one representative city of each of six climatic zones of India. The energy payback for India ranges from 0.73 to 4.16 years for the thirty cases considered here.     

Intelligent infrastructure for sustainable potable water: a roundtable for emerging transnational research and technology development needs

PROBLEM STATEMENT: Recent commercial and residential development have substantially impacted the fluxes and quality of water that recharge the aquifers and discharges to streams, lakes and wetlands and, ultimately, is recycled for potable use. Whereas the contaminant sources may be varied in scope and composition, these issues of urban water sustainability are of public health concern at all levels of economic development worldwide, and require cheap and innovative environmental sensing capabilities and interactive monitoring networks, as well as tailored distributed water treatment technologies. To address this need, a roundtable was organized to explore the potential role of advances in biotechnology and bioengineering to aid in developing causative relationships between spatial and temporal changes in urbanization patterns and groundwater and surface water quality parameters, and to address aspects of socioeconomic constraints in implementing sustainable exploitation of water resources. WORKSHOP OUTCOMES: An interactive framework for quantitative analysis of the coupling between human and natural systems requires integrating information derived from online and offline point measurements with Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based remote sensing imagery analysis, groundwater-surface water hydrologic fluxes and water quality data to assess the vulnerability of potable water supplies. Spatially referenced data to inform uncertainty-based dynamic models can be used to rank watershed-specific stressors and receptors to guide researchers and policymakers in the development of targeted sensing and monitoring technologies, as well as tailored control measures for risk mitigation of potable water from microbial and chemical environmental contamination. The enabling technologies encompass: (i) distributed sensing approaches for microbial and chemical contamination (e.g. pathogens, endocrine disruptors); (ii) distributed application-specific, and infrastructure-adaptive water treatment systems; (iii) geostatistical integration of monitoring data and GIS layers; and (iv) systems analysis of microbial and chemical proliferation in distribution systems. IMPACT: This operational framework is aimed at technology implementation while maximizing economic and public health benefits. The outcomes of the roundtable will further research agendas in information technology-based monitoring infrastructure development, integration of processes and spatial analysis, as well as in new educational and training platforms for students, practitioners and regulators. The potential for technology diffusion to emerging economies with limited financial resources is substantial.     

城市景观格局演变的水环境效应研究综述

人类活动导致的城市土地利用覆被变化在景观生态学上表现为城市景观类型的更替和城市景观格局的演变。我国城市景观格局中自然植被景观基质大幅被人工硬化地面所取代,自然景观斑块破碎化,城市道路和排水管网等人工廊道大量增加,造成"源""汇"景观的比例失衡和格局失调,从而产生城市景观格局演变的水环境负效应,如非点源污染、水生生态系统失衡和城市内涝等,且水环境负效应存在时间尺度差异和空间尺度响应多样性。对城市景观类型及其格局演变产生的城市水环境效应相关研究进行总结,针对现有研究中存在的城市景观格局演变带来的生态过程变化研究较少、影响城市水环境的景观格局变化阈值不明确、研究结果推广难和重复性较差、人工廊道与城市水环境效应关系关注度较低和水环境负效应综合度研究欠缺等不足之处,提出未来研究的着力点,对实现可持续城市具有一定意义。     

Enabling Future Sustainability Transitions

This synthesis article presents an overview of an urban metabolism (UM) approach using mixed methods and multiple sources of data for Los Angeles, California. We examine electric energy use in buildings and greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, and calculate embedded infrastructure life cycle effects, water use and solid waste streams in an attempt to better understand the urban flows and sinks in the Los Angeles region (city and county). This quantification is being conducted to help policy‐makers better target energy conservation and efficiency programs, pinpoint best locations for distributed solar generation, and support the development of policies for greater environmental sustainability. It provides a framework to which many more UM flows can be added to create greater understanding of the study area's resource dependencies. Going forward, together with policy analysis, UM can help untangle the complex intertwined resource dependencies that cities must address as they attempt to increase their environmental sustainability.     

Life Cycle Energy Assessment of Alternative Water Supply Systems (9 pp)

Goal, Scope and Background This paper discusses the merging of methodological aspects of two known methods into a hybrid on an application basis. Water shortages are imminent due to scarce supply and increasing demand in many parts of the world. In California, this is caused primarily by population growth. As readily available water is depleted, alternatives that may have larger energy and resource requirements and, therefore, environmental impacts must be considered. In order to develop a more environmentally responsible and sustainable water supply system, these environmental implications should be incorporated into planning decisions. Methods Comprehensive accounting for environmental effects requires life cycle assessment (LCA), a systematic account of resource use and environmental emissions caused by extracting raw materials, manufacturing, constructing, operating, maintaining, and decommissioning the water infrastructure. In this study, a hybrid LCA approach, combining elements of process-based and economic input-output-based LCA was used to compare three supply alternatives: importing, recycling, and desalinating water. For all three options, energy use and air emissions associated with energy generation, vehicle and equipment operation, and material production were quantified for life-cycle phases and water supply functions (supply, treatment, and distribution). The Water-Energy Sustainability Tool was developed to inform water planning decisions. It was used to evaluate the systems of a Northern and a Southern California water utility. Results and Discussion The results showed that for the two case study utilities desalination had 2–5 times larger energy demand and caused 2–18 times more emissions than importation or recycling, due primarily to the energy-intensity of the treatment process. The operation life-cycle phase created the most energy consumption with 56% to 90% for all sources and case studies. For each water source, a different life-cycle phase dominated energy consumption. For imported water, supply contributed 56% and 86% of the results for each case study; for desalination, treatment accounted for approximately 85%; for recycled water, distribution dominated with 61% and 74% of energy use. The study calculated external costs of air pollution from all three water supply systems. These costs are borne by society, but not paid by producers. The external costs were found to be 6% of desalinated water production costs for both case studies, 8% of imported water production costs in Southern California, and 1–2% for the recycled water systems and for the Northern California utility's imported water system. Conclusion Recycling water was found to be more energy intensive in Northern than in Southern California, but the results for imported water were similar. While the energy demand of water recycling was found to be larger than importation in Northern California, the two alternatives were competitive in Southern California. For all alternatives in both case studies, the energy consumed by system operation dominated the results, but maintenance was also found to be significant. Energy production was found to be the largest contributor in all water provision systems, followed by materials production. The assessment of external costs revealed that the environmental effects of energy and air emissions caused by infrastructure is measurable, and in some cases, significant relative to the economic cost of water. Recommendation and Perspective This paper advocates the necessity of LCA in water planning, and discusses the applicability of the described model to water utilities.     

Interactive effects of ozone and climate on tree growth and water use in a southern Appalachian forest in the USA

* A lack of data on responses of mature tree growth and water use to ambient ozone (O(3)) concentrations has been a major limitation in efforts to understand and model responses of forests to current and future changes in climate. * Here, hourly to seasonal patterns of stem growth and sap flow velocity were examined in mature trees from a mixed deciduous forest in eastern Tennessee (USA) to evaluate the effects of variations in ambient O(3) exposure and climate on patterns of stem growth and water use. * Ambient O(3) caused a periodic slowdown in seasonal growth patterns that was attributable in part to amplification of diurnal patterns of water loss in tree stems. This response was mediated by statistically significant increases in O(3)-induced daily sap flow and led to seasonal losses in stem growth of 30-50% for most species in a high-O(3) year. * Decreased growth and increased water use of mature forest trees under episodically high ambient O(3) concentrations suggest that O(3) will amplify the adverse effects of increasing temperatures on forest growth and forest hydrology.     

湖泊水位变动对水生植被的影响机理及其调控方法

水位的高低及其变动范围、频率、发生的时间、持续的时长和规律性等是影响湖泊水生植被的核心因子.水位变动有短期、年内季节性和年际变动3种,对湖泊水生植被有不同的影响机理.水位短期变动通过对水体中的悬浮物、透明度、光衰减系数等的影响而对水生植被产生作用;周期性的年内季节性和年际水位变动可对水生植被的生态适宜性产生影响,并进而改变其时空分布;长期的高水位和低水位以及非周期性的水位季节变动会破坏水生植被长期以来对水位周期性变化所产生的适应性,从而影响了植被的正常生长、繁衍和演替.植被的极端深度和物种多样性是水位调控的核心表征指标,可通过经验数据分析法、生态模型法和参照法等方法来确定湖泊的适宜水位变动范围和时间.研究对象选择、研究方法、管理中的应用以及重要环境变化所产生的影响等是今后相关研究的核心问题.     

The metabolism of U.S. cities 2.0

In the fifty years since Abel Wolman first published an estimate of U.S. urban metabolism, the field of urban metabolism has begun to thrive, with cities outside the United States being much of the focus. As cities attempt to meet local and international sustainability goals, it is time to revisit the metabolism of cities within the United States. Using existing empirical databases for material flows (the Freight Analysis Framework) and a published database on urban water flux, we provide a revised estimate of urban metabolism for the typical U.S. city. We estimate median values of metabolism for a city of one million people, considering water resources, food, fuel, and construction materials. Food consumption and waste production increased substantially to 3,800 metric tons per day and 4,900 metric tons per day, respectively. To facilitate a second generation of urban metabolism, we extend traditional analyses to include the embedded energy required to facilitate material consumption with important implications in determining sustainable urban metabolism. We estimate that a city of one million people requires nearly 4,000 gigajoules of primary energy per day to facilitate its metabolism. Our results show high heterogeneity of urban metabolism across the United States. As a result of the study, we conclude that there is a distinct need to promote policies at the regional or city scale that collect data for urban metabolism studies. Urban metabolism is an important educational and decision‐making tool that, with an increase in data availability, can provide important information for cities and their sustainability goals.     

Evaluation of ultrafiltration cartridges for a water sampling apparatus

Aims:  To determine the efficiency of various ultrafiltration cartridges (UFC) in concentrating test micro-organisms from drinking water.
Methods and Results:  Replicate drinking water samples from three potable water supplies were dosed with Bacillus anthracis Sterne, Francisella tularensis LVS, Yersinia pestis CO92, bacteriophages MS2 and phi-X174, and Cryptosporidium parvum. The test micro-organisms were dosed together in 100 l of water, which was then recirculated through one of five different UFC until the retentate volume was reduced to c. 500 ml. The micro-organisms were assayed before and after ultrafiltration concentration and per cent recoveries were calculated. There were nine statistically significant differences among pairs of filters out of a possible 180 different combinations of UFC, test micro-organisms, and water types.
Conclusions:  No filter consistently performed better or worse than the others for each test micro-organism in all water samples tested.
Significance and Impact of the Study:  This study provides performance data on the ability of several different UFC to concentrate a panel of test micro-organisms from three sources of potable water. Water utilities and first responders may use these data when selecting UFC for use in emergency response protocols. This study also provides additional data as to the efficacy of ultrafiltration for recovering bacteria, virus-like particles, and protozoan oocysts from water samples.     

城市家庭能耗直接碳排放影响因素——以厦门岛区为例

在全球城市化迅速推进的过程中,城市碳排放已经成为影响全球变化不可忽视的一部分,同时也成为制约城市可持续发展重要因素之一。家庭能耗碳排放是城市碳排放的一个组成部分,分析它的各种影响因素对于控制它对局域乃至全球气候变化的负面影响具有重要的意义。以厦门岛区为例,通过社会问卷设计和调查,应用数理统计方法对最终收回的340份有效问卷进行城市家庭能耗的影响因子分析,结果表明,2007年厦门岛区平均家庭能耗直接碳排放量为1218.2kg/(户.a),电力消耗直接碳排放是厦门岛区主要的家庭能耗直接碳排放方式,电力消耗直接碳排放量是瓶装液化石油气与代用天然气使用直接碳排放总量的近5倍。通过单因素方差分析与多元逐步回归方程得到,与住区自然环境与家庭耗能倾向相比,家庭社会情况是影响家庭能耗直接碳排放最为重要的因子,其对家庭能耗直接碳排放变化的解释能力为17.9%。通过主成分分析得到,家庭住宅面积对家庭能耗直接碳排放的影响最为显著,家庭住宅面积对公共因子的贡献率达到了0.829。研究旨在为城市节能减排和可持续发展提供第一手资料、为城市住区形态的合理设计和规划提供科学依据。     

中国典型城市群城镇化碳排放驱动因子

城市群作为推进国家新型城镇化的战略举措,是国家参与全球竞争与国际分工的主要地域单元。以中国典型城市群6个代表性城市(北京、天津、上海、广州、武汉和重庆)为案例,采用因素分解法将碳排放的影响效应分解为4部分,包括人口规模效应、经济发展效应、能源强度效应和碳强度效应,研究2000—2014年城镇化过程中碳排放的驱动机制。主要结果:(1)各城市群的经济总量均有增长,能源效率逐渐提高,碳排放强度在北京、上海和重庆的是下降趋势,在天津呈上升趋势,而在广州和武汉则趋于平稳状态,各城市群能源消耗中各种能源的比重和碳排放量的变化存在着较显著的差异性;(2)天津和广州的4个碳排放影响效应整体上是逐渐增大,北京和上海是趋于平稳对称,武汉和重庆是先减小后增大。研究表明,经济和人口对碳排放具有正向作用,能源强度对碳排放具有负向作用。通过研究中国典型城市群碳排放的驱动因子,有助于城市群碳排放权交易的政策制定以及城市群发展模式规划。     

城市能源代谢生态网络分析研究进展

运用生态网络分析方法研究城市能源代谢可以打破以往研究中的"黑箱模式",有助于考察城市内部能源的代谢过程和代谢路径。对研究城市能源代谢的一般方法进行了分析和对比,发现在探究城市能源代谢方面,生态网络分析相较于其他方法更具优越性;因此,全面整理和阐述了生态网络分析方法的主要内容,并系统综述了该方法在城市能源代谢中的应用。在此基础之上,指出在未来城市能源代谢的生态网络分析中应从研究尺度、上升性分析和环境元分析的结合应用以及增加不同模型精细度的对比研究3个方面做出改进。     

Coping with the cold: energy storage strategies for surviving winter in freshwater fish

For many ectothermic animals, the acquisition, storage and depletion of lipids is integral to successfully coping with reduced metabolic rates and activity levels associated with cold, winter periods. In fish, lipids are crucial for overwinter survival and successful reproduction. The timing and magnitude of seasonal lipid storage should therefore vary predictably among fish with different thermal preferences and spawn times. Small‐ and large‐bodied fish should also face different constraints associated with season that influence lipid cycling. However, much work to date has been species‐ and location‐specific and a general conceptual model for the seasonal energy budgets of freshwater fish is lacking. Here, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of seasonal lipid levels in freshwater fishes. We predicted that warm and cool water species would be more likely to demonstrate peak lipid levels during warm months than cold water species, and expected a larger magnitude of annual lipid cycling in warm and cool water compared to cold water fish. We also expected dampened lipid cycling in larger fish due to their lower mass‐specific metabolic rates. Observed patterns in the timing and magnitude of lipid storage contradicted our prediction because lipid cycling was widespread across species, despite thermal guild, with peak lipid levels commonly occurring during warmer months, even in cold water fish. For body size effects, larger bodied fish species had dampened seasonal lipid cycling, as predicted. We developed a conceptual framework describing how the ‘scope’ for variation in annual lipid cycling changes with body size both among and within species in order to guide future work. Together, our findings suggest that energy acquired during warm months is broadly important for overwinter survival and reproduction in fishes, and provide a new perspective on the differential constraints and physiological responses to seasonality among freshwater fish. Improving our understanding of these dynamics is especially pressing given that a changing global climate is anticipated to alter existing seasonal signals.     

Assessment of surface water quality in Legedadie and Dire catchments,Central Ethiopia,using multivariate statistical analysis

The quality of surface water in an area could be determined both by anthropogenic actions and natural processes. The current study assessed surface water quality in Legedadie and Dire catchments that cover a total area of 285 km2 in Central Ethiopia northeast of the nation’s capital Addis Ababa and within close proximity (20-30 m) from this city.. Accordingly, Addis Ababa is, and will continue to be, the major beneficiary of the the catchments which are in fact the primary sources of potable water supply to the city. Despite its potential ecosystem benefits, the catchment area was seriously affected by the rapid socioeconomic development phenomena that had been taking place in and around the city over the previous six decades. As a result, the catchment water resources are characterized by decades of deterioration because of severe pollution problems directly associated with mismanagement of natural resources coupled with other several factors. Hence, the current study was sought to examine the temporal and spatial determinants of catchment water pollutants. To that end, 14 water quality monitoring stations were selected and set up both in upstream and downstream parts of six rivers and two reservoirs. The water samples collected from different sites were monitored for 30 standard water quality parameters including nutrients, inorganic variable, and trace metals. Seasonal data were then measured for the 30 parameters monitored across two seasons (summer and autumn) over a two-year period (June 2014 – November 2015). The complex two-year seasonal data matrix that comprised of 3,660 observations was treated using multivariate statistical techniques: cluster analysis (CA), factor analysis/principal components (FA/PCA), and discriminant analysis (DA). CA successfully classified both the temporal (summer, autumn, and summer predominant) and spatial (natural, agricultural, urban, and mixed) clusters of water quality monitoring sites. Dimension reduction from FA/PCA was not as substantial as expected since it enabled only30% reduction from the original data matrix. On the other hand, DA procedures demonstrated the best result regarding data reduction and pattern recognition in both temporal and spatial analysis. It extracted data significantly and provided 5 parameters (Temp, pH, DO, salinity, and TN) to afford 96.8% right allocations during temporal analysis and only 7 parameters (pH, Turbidity, TN, Total hardness, Pb, Fe, and Cu) to yield 85.2% right allocations during the spatial analysis.Thus, these water quality parameters were most significant for seasonal and spatial water quality variation in the catchment. Therefore, DA enabled a significant reduction of the dimension of the original data matrix into a few significant parameters that affect water quality. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that multivariate statistical techniques are very useful for analysis and interpretation of complex water quality data sets for efficient assessment of water quality and identification of pollution sources as well as an effective understanding of the space and time effects of water quality.     

我国城市人与自然耦合系统的协调度

城市作为人类生存与发展的主要空间载体,是人与自然耦合系统的典型代表。城市人与自然协调度是认识人与自然耦合机制重要内容,对揭示城市人类活动对生态环境的影响,指导城市建设具有重要意义。从水资源开发强度、土地开发强度、水资源供给能力、环境污染物排放强度与碳排放强度五个方面分析城市人与自然协调度特征,评估城市建设与发展对自然环境的影响程度,并评估了我国146个城市的协调度特征,进一步分析了城市人口规模、城市经济规模、城市社会发展水平、不同生态地理区人与自然耦合协调度的关系。结果表明：2016年城市平均协调度指数为87.90,不同城市的协调度差距很大且协调度与城市人口规模、经济规模、发展水平呈显著负相关,而六大生态地理区中,西南地区协调度最高,协调度指数为92.81,西北地区协调度最低,协调度指数为82.25。研究发现我国城市建设与发展对自然环境影响仍然较大,并表现为（1）我国城市发展总体仍处于高需求高排放的发展阶段;（2）生态环境承载力是影响城市人与自然耦合协调度的重要因素;（3）提高能源利用效率,降低碳排放强度在改善城市人与自然协调度中发挥作用。最后,从优化城市布局、提高水、能源利用效率、控制环境污染等方面提出政策建议,为评估城市生态文明建设与可持续发展提供参考与依据。     

A Method for Measuring the Efficiency Gap between Average and Best Practice Energy Use: The ENERGY STAR Industrial Energy Performance Indicator

A common feature distinguishing between parametric/statistical models and engineering economics models is that engineering models explicitly represent best practice technologies, whereas parametric/statistical models are typically based on average practice. Measures of energy intensity based on average practice are of little use in corporate management of energy use or for public policy goal setting. In the context of companyor plant‐level indicators, it is more useful to have a measure of energy intensity that is capable of indicating where a company or plant lies within a distribution of performance. In other words, is the performance close to (or far from) the industry best practice? This article presents a parametric/statistical approach that can be used to measure best practice, thereby providing a measure of the difference, or “efficiency gap,” at a plant, company, or overall industry level. The approach requires plant‐level data and applies a stochastic frontier regression analysis used by the ENERGY STAR^TM industrial energy performance indicator (EPI) to energy intensity. Stochastic frontier regression analysis separates energy intensity into three components: systematic effects, inefficiency, and statistical (random) error. The article outlines the method and gives examples of EPI analysis conducted for two industries, breweries and motor vehicle assembly. In the EPI developed with the stochastic frontier regression for the auto industry, the industry median “efficiency gap” was around 27%.