Check this out. Washingtonians could save enough electricity to power the state’s economic growth for 10 years—says a new study from the NW Energy Coalition.
From The Power of Efficiency:
- Over the past 30 years, energy efficiency has proven to be a low-cost, low-risk investment for meeting the region’s growing demand for electricity and avoiding the need to build costly new generating resources. Since 1978, regional energy efficiency measures have produced nearly 3,700 aMW of savings—more than enough to meet the needs of three cities the size of Seattle…
- With new and emerging technologies and more integrated building design, there is enough cost effective energy efficiency—approximately 5,200 average megawatts – to meet all the region’s growing needs for electricity through 2020.
And the closer:
Increased energy efficiency does far more for the region than provide an affordable, clean energy future. It also stimulates job growth, keeps local dollars in the region and often also conserves water.
Read the full study here (pdf).
John Gear
This is just so strange—we can’t afford to “meet the growing need” for electricity. We have to be planning to shut down Centralia, Boardman, and the Montana coal plants ASAP.Enough of the happy talk about agrofueled jets that claim to reduce greenhouse emissions (if you don’t count the full life cycle) and high-speed trains (when we can’t even get reliable service on existing lines).
Eric Hess
John—I agree, we can’t afford to keep going with business as usual. In calling out this report, I meant to focus on the accomplishments we can make through investing in energy efficiency. If we combine energy efficiency with other steps—like a comprehensive cap and trade program, investments in clean sources of energy—we can take some huge strides forward towards reducing carbon dependency and frivolous (or should I say obscene) energy spending.