Revving up our energy efficiency
WIND POWER. Solar power. Hybrid cars. Biofuel vehicles. Cogeneration for the home.
These are all good ideas that experts have recently suggested as ways to help us achieve energy independence, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels in general, and use more renewable energy. Some are sexier than others, some are ready now; some are further off into our energy future.
What's missing from the list, however, is the basic building block of helping consumers and businesses reduce their energy use, save money, and have a positive impact on global warming, about which we are all increasingly concerned. Energy efficiency is the one ingredient of our energy solution that seems to get lost in the current conversation and that is a mistake. Just because it doesn't conjure up visions of some future world where we don't use gasoline or oil or coal to run our cars or heat our homes or power our computers and television sets doesn't mean it shouldn't have a big role to play in helping us get to that next phase.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of energy efficiency programs fueled by a tiny, one-quarter of a penny per kilowatt hour fee on customer bills. Our state policy makers years ago decided that it was in the public interest to charge electric customers a small surcharge on their monthly bills to help fund efficiency and the results of that decision are now being seen in some pretty hefty numbers. Since National Grid began offering energy efficiency programs in 1987:
Participating customers have saved more than $2.5 billion.
More than 26 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity have been saved - enough to power approximately 4.3 million homes for one year.
The programs also have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 14 1/2 million tons, the equivalent to removing 1.8 million cars from the road.
More than 4 million customers have used some type of electric energy efficiency program.
A total of 530 megawatts of demand reduction has been achieved, the equivalent of two displaced power plants.
While much of the energy savings comes from improving lighting efficiency, residential customers have also installed insulation and weatherization measures, new energy efficient refrigerators and washing machines, while business customers have also installed energy efficient motors, air conditioning and ventilation equipment, building shell improvements, and special controls. And we need to do all we can to achieve breakthroughs in these technologies.
The bottom line is clear when it comes to our energy policy: Yes, we need to encourage wind and solar power and keep looking for even more futuristic solutions but we also need to stay focused on what can work now and can be done by almost every electric customer - energy efficiency.
It is for that reason, that National Grid - and the newest member of our energy family, the natural gas supplier,
Funding for the electric efficiency programs is capped under the enabling legislation established in the late 1990s and has remained constant for over five years. Each year, programs are prioritized and funded accordingly. Yet, inevitably with the growing demand for energy efficiency services, program funds are exhausted annually. To respond to the growing demand for energy efficiency, National Grid supports funding through one or more of several mechanisms, including renewing the system benefit charge at current level, and through other public policy initiatives with one goal in mind: revving up the energy efficiency engine in our energy grid so more people benefit.
In addition to the need to jump-start the energy efficiency programs, we need to move to so-called decoupling. Decoupling will mean no longer will there be a link between the amount of electricity we distribute and the amount of revenue realized. National Grid sees decoupling, structured correctly, as a win for customers. Utilities can focus on investing in energy infrastructure and service reliability, while working with customers to reduce the effects of climate change by cutting energy consumption.
Where is it written that we should stop conserving after 20 years just because consumers and businesses did a good job? There is a lot more energy efficiency there to be tapped. So, while policy makers encourage wind power and solar power, we're ready to commit to another 20 years of reducing energy use even further.
Tom King is executive director of electricity distribution and generation for National Grid.
