EFFICIENCY: THE BEST ALTERNATIVE

Efficiency, Not Just Alternatives, Is Promoted as an Energy Saver
Matthew L. Wald, May 29, 2007 (NY Times)

WHO
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Paul Comey, vice president), Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, Sierra Club (Carl Pope, executive director), American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (William R. Prindle, deputy director, R. Neal Elliott, industrial program director)
It's really pretty simple.
WHAT
Business and industry, assisted by experts, are discovering the quickest way to cut energy costs is by moving to more efficient equipment and practices requiring no breakthrough technology. Utilities can make money incentivizing efficiency or producing more power. The former is good for the environment and the bottom line, the latter only for the bottom line.

WHEN
The article discusses present efficiency measures and other efforts to reduce utility expenses.

WHERE
Costs and methods from California and Utah to New York and Vermont are discussed.

WHY
- A recent poll shows new energy will not pay off in a time frame amenable to 75% of business and industry budgets. Only efficiency pays off fast enough.
- Duke Energy CEO James Rogers proposes letting utilities finance efficiencies on private premises and reap the profits. Example: Duke buys/installs extra-efficient air-conditioner ($1,000) and collects monthly fee on electric bill.
- “Decoupling” is raised by some: Because utilities (whose rates are set by state regulatory agencies, not a free market) profit more if they spend more to make electricity, they have no incentive to become more efficient. If they were “decoupled” from set rates, they would seek higher efficiency. California’s variable electricity rates are intended to do this. Utah has begun an experiment in gas rate decoupling.
More details, via the NY Times (click to enlarge)
- Vermont instituted its “Investment Corp” to help businesses like Green Mountain Roasters find ways to efficiency. When the business saves money on electricity, the state has to produce less and saves costs of generation. But some states find it is cheaper to build a new coal plant than reach enough payers and affect enough habits to save the energy the plant would produce.

QUOTES
- Pope: “Efficiency is the steak…Renewables are the sizzle.”
- Elliott: “When we started talking about this in 1990s in terms of energy efficiency versus coal energy, we were talking 4 cents a kilowatt-hour for coal, and 4 cents for energy efficiency…Today we’re talking optimistically, without carbon taxes, 10 cents for coal. With carbon taxes, we may be talking 20 cents for coal. And energy efficiency is still 4 cents or less.”