Dr. James E. ("Jim") McMahon is Head of the Energy Analysis Department, Leader of the Energy Efficiency Standards (EES) Group, and Co-chair of the Water Energy Technology Team (WETT) in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at LBNL. He currently leads the economic and technical analysis of U.S. appliance, equipment, and lighting standards, under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy.

For over 25 years, Dr. McMahon has led or participated in research to: 1) identify the feasibility and cost of engineering design changes that could increase energy efficiency, and in some cases water efficiency, for over 20 specific products (e.g., clothes washers, refrigerators, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, and fluorescent lamp ballasts); 2) analyze scenarios and economic impacts associated with adoption of these technologies; and 3) assess potential impacts on key market actors including consumers, manufacturers, utility companies, the nation, and the environment. The research has contributed to numerous government decisions regarding energy-efficiency standards for residential and commercial appliances, equipment, and lighting. He is co-author of over 100 publications including the Collaborative Labeling and Appliance Standards Project (CLASP)’s Energy-Efficiency Labels and Standards: A Guidebook for Appliances, Equipment, and Lighting, published in 2001 with a second edition in 2005. In August 2002, he facilitated the “Standby Power” workshop sponsored by the PIER program of the California Energy Commission. His special interests include the energy-water nexus, long-term forecasts of energy and water demand by end use, marginal energy and water prices, distributional analysis of consumer life-cycle costs, and risk or uncertainty analysis associated with technology adoption.

Dr. McMahon received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Providence College and a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biophysics from Florida State University. After two years at the University of California at Berkeley, he joined LBNL. He has provided consultation to many government agencies internationally as well as to companies, consulting firms, and non-governmental organizations.