Conserving Electrical Resources
February 24th, 2010
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By Pam Blair Dad sits in his easy chair reading the paper, while Mom is at the table making notes. Junior is busy playing with his truck. In another room, both the the television and stereo are on, and a lamp lights a now unoccupied space.The meter spins along, recording usage from electrical items throughout the house. It doesn’t matter that no one is watching the football game. The meter only knows the television is drawing power. The family will pay for all of that electricity—even the part wasted from lights and electronics left on when the last person exited the room. Conservation does not mean being uncomfortable or inconvenienced. It is about being mindful of electrical use, and choosing to adjust behaviors to minimize wastefulness: flipping off the lightswitch when leaving a room, turning down the thermostat when no one is at home and shutting off the television when no one is watching. By conserving electricity, the consumer directly benefits from a lower power bill. In the case of publicly owned utilities, the consumer wins again, because the less power people use, the less power the utility must buy or produce—and the less you pay. Maximizing Existing Resources At work and at home, Americans use equipment that requires a lot of energy. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), if the nation’s appetite for electricity continues at its current pace, the United States will use 20 percent to 50 percent more energy in 2025 than it does today. The EPA estimates Americans could net more than $500 billion in savings in 25 years and save up to 30 percent on their energy bills through implementation of energy-efficiency measures, delaying the need to build dozens of costly new power plants. That assessment is echoed in a 2009 report on the prospects for energy efficiency in America by the National Academy of Sciences. "Taking advantage of technologies that save money as well as energy to produce the same mix of goods and services could reduce U.S. energy use to 30 percent below the 2030 forecast level, and even significantly below 2008 energy use," the executive summary states, noting that means "no new generation would be required except to address regional supply imbalances, replace obsolete generation assets or substitute more environmentally benign generation sources." The 30-percent reduction can be achieved at a cost less than current average retail energy prices, the report adds. Ramping Up Energy Efficiency In response to climbing energy costs, depletion of existing resources, increasing costs to build new power plants and a growing awareness of the environmental impact of energy use, the federal and state governments are emphasizing energy efficiency. More than $2 billion in grants have been awarded to states, territories, local governments and Indian tribes through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Projects aim to improve energy efficiency, and reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions. In December, the Arizona Corporation Commission formally initiated an Energy Efficiency Standard rulemaking process. It would require utilities to achieve at least 22 percent savings from energy-efficiency measures by 2020. |
"Cooperatives have always supported energy efficiency," says Chris Baggett, power services technical administrator for Sierra Southwest Cooperative Services, based in Benson, Arizona. "What has changed is the scope. They need to multiply what they are doing by 10 to even make a dent in the amount of energy efficiency they must achieve." The Northwest also is pursuing aggressive energy-efficiency targets. In its draft power plan, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council suggests 58 percent of the region’s new demand for electricity in the next five years can be met through energy efficiency—85 percent in the next 20 years. The plan calls for achieving 1,200 average megawatts (aMW) of efficiency during the next five years, up from the 700 aMW target for the five-year period ending in 2009. While utility officials "value conservation as the least-cost, least-risk resources and they strive to achieve all cost-effective conservation in their service territories," they are concerned about the magnitude of target, John Saven, chief executive officer of Northwest Requirements Utilities, wrote in formal comments to the council. The targets include measures that are not commercially available yet or may be unattainable because of the poor economy, wrote Scott Corwin, executive director of the Public Power Council. Conservation Pays Big Dividends No one questions the financial payoff of improving the energy efficiency of appliances, consumer electronics, lights, motors, electrical equipment or building construction—and wisely using energy. California’s dedication to energy efficiency since the early 1970s has saved more than 10,000 MW—the equivalent of 20 power plants—and reduced electricity bills by $15.8 billion, according to the California Energy Commission. Since 1983, the Northwest has reduced demand by 3,700 aMW, resulting in about half as many new power plants being built—and consumers saved more than $1.6 billion in electricity costs in 2007 alone, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council states. Although energy efficiency improvements have a cost, it is lower than building new power plants. In 2008 in the Northwest, it was 2 cents a kilowatt-hour, which was about one-fifth the cost of power from a new generating plant fueled by natural gas or wind. "The cheapest kilowatt-hour is the one you don’t have to generate," says Baggett of Sierra. "When looking at power supply, energy efficiency really is the first step. Energy efficiency should help stabilize rates." n
Is Conservation Different Than Efficiency?The terms energy conservation and energy efficiency often are used interchangeably. While related, conservation typically refers to behaviors that reduce the quantity of energy used. Efficiency implies the use of technology to achieve the same level of service, but with less energy. As a practical matter, both refer to reducing the amount of energy used. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council actually defines conservation as improved energy efficiency, and refers to conservation resources as measures that improve the energy efficiency of all aspects of residential, commercial , industrial, irrigation and utility systems. "These efficiencies reduce operating costs and ultimately decrease the need to build new power plants," the council states in its latest draft power plan for the region. |