By Ned Farquhar
Of the Journal
Efficiency is the answer. The question is what are we going to do about energy prices and climate change.
Nothing cures the addiction to oil like the efficiency treatment. Nothing reduces carbon congestion like the efficiency tonic.
Energy efficiency will be a prominent issue in the coming legislative session in New Mexico. A group of utilities, energy and environment advocates, governor's staff and consumer representatives has been working for several months with legislators, the Public Regulation Commission and other decision makers to develop a good energy efficiency program for New Mexico.
Mostly that package will deal with electricity. That's valuable. Additionally there are other efficiency issues that face everyday people every day.
Start with $3 gasoline. The adoption of clean-car standards by almost 15 states to date will sharply increase the consumer's buying power at the gas pump. These standards leapfrog the automobile mileage standards recently adopted by a reluctant Congress.
The most aggressive 50 mile per gallon standard— like that being implemented in Europe and Japan— might add from $2,000 to $4,000 to the cost of a car but save the average driver $1,000 to $2,000 in annual gasoline costs.
That's efficiency. Pay a little more at the beginning, and you save a lot in the long run.
Same with buildings. It doesn't cost a tremendous amount to make buildings 50 percent more efficient with better lighting, heating and cooling, insulated windows and doors and walls, designed to avoid summer sun and receive winter sun. The slight increase in capital costs for green construction pays back very well over the life of the building.
How about electricity? Consumers save literally tens of dollars when they lay out a couple of dollars to buy efficient light bulbs. When diode lighting, like the new brighter stoplights on our streets, comes to consumer and household scale, we'll save 90 percent of the energy that goes to light a conventional light bulb. There are similar savings with new appliances, heating and cooling systems and industrial practices.
New efficiency policy won't just save consumers money in direct electricity costs. It will also save future costs for new generating plants that can be enormously expensive. That avoided cost is in the billions of dollars for a new coal or nuclear plant.
In recent years new coal plant prices have risen 20, 40, even 60 percent. Utilities are backing away from coal projects all over the country. Financial analysts say the costs of removing and securely disposing of carbon from these plants are also potentially huge.
Utilities in fast-growing markets like Phoenix and Las Vegas are beginning to recognize that efficiency comes first— it is fastest to implement and pays back quickly.
In 2000 and 2001, the immediate implementation of conservation and efficiency measures on the West Coast— such as unnoticeable five-minute shutdowns of major air conditioning systems once an hour on a rolling schedule— shaved peak electricity use by 10 percent or more in critical situations.
In June 2006 the Western Governors' Association issued a report showing that the 18 Western states together could save $21 billion a year by adopting cost-effective energy efficiency measures that would reduce energy demand 20 percent by 2020.
That was followed by a national study, released by the McKinsey Global Institute in May 2007, saying the United States could save hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, create jobs at home, reduce its dependence on foreign energy, and increase energy reliability (gas, natural gas, heating oil, electricity) by adopting cost-effective energy efficiency programs.
Efficiency is the best policy. It doesn't mean being cold, not driving, sacrificing your home or business to the elements. It means being smart about energy use.
It's a solution that helps just about everyone, except some energy providers who want to keep reeling in historic profits. It's a solution we can pretty much all agree on.
Ned Farquhar, energy/climate advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, sits on the board of Western Progress, a regional policy organization. He also served as senior policy adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson. E-mail: inthewest@comcast.net.
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