California proves benefits of energy efficiency

Felicia Marcus

Energy efficiency may not sound glamorous, but it is the cheapest, fastest and smartest way to extend our energy. Particularly in these tough economic times, implementing sound energy efficiency policies, coupled with investments in clean, renewable sources of domestic energy such as solar, wind and geothermal, is exactly the economic stimulus we need for a clean energy economy that will generate new jobs, businesses and innovation.

California is a good example of how leading-edge energy policy has helped save taxpayers billions of dollars. The California Energy Commission has adopted some groundbreaking standards for efficient buildings, appliances, and just recently for televisions, and it supports research and development efforts to uncover the newest efficiency opportunities. Utilities across the state offer efficiency programs that provide incentives and information to help their customers use energy efficiently and lower their bills. These efforts have saved California consumers more than $56 billion, helped keep the state’s per capita electricity use flat while the rest of the nation’s has skyrocketed, and eliminated the need to build several large power plants.

And California‘s brand new energy efficiency standard for TVs is expected to reduce television energy use by 30-50 percent. The electricity saved by the new standard is expected to be equal to the amount used by all the homes in Oakland and Anaheim annually. The new standard is expected to eliminate the need for California to build a new large-sized 500-megawatt power plant, reducing carbon emissions equal to removing 500,000 cars from the road and save $1 billion annually. NRDC was integral in the creation of the TV standard as well as California’s new utility-scale energy efficiency program—the biggest such program in the country.

The California Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a plan for utility companies to provide $3.1 billion in consumer rebates and other efficiency programs over the next three years. The package includes design and technical assistance for local governments and innovative approaches such as a comprehensive effort to retrofit 130,000 homes. Also included are new construction programs to help new buildings achieve energy savings above California’s building codes—already some of the most advanced in the world.

The program is expected to result in lower utility bills and cleaner air for Californians while moving the state a step closer to implementing its landmark Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32). While we’re focusing much of our energy efficiency work in California on working with utilities and manufacturers to maximize the money-saving benefits to consumers, we’re also working in other states to do the same thing, while examining our national energy use and looking to bring California’s policy solutions to the nation. This past year, the federal government stepped up to the plate to make significant strides in energy savings.

Over the summer, the U.S. Department of Energy, NRDC and other environmental groups agreed to review the existing energy efficiency standards for electricity distribution transformers, the gray boxes mounted on utility poles that bring energy from the street to the home, and propose changes to maximize future savings three years ahead of schedule. This agreement would ensure that distribution transformers are more efficient and is expected to speed up efforts to improve system reliability. In the fall, President Obama announced a new federal lighting standard that could cut energy costs by $70 billion and keep up to nine tons of mercury out of the air over 30 years.

The new standard, which is the greatest energy efficiency measure in the history of the DOE, would improve the efficiency of the common office light—the tube-shaped fluorescent bulb, as well as reflector lamps, which are used in recessed lighting, an increasingly popular home design choice.The Obama administration’s announcement that it was reconsidering weak standards for residential furnaces promises additional benefits from one of the home’s biggest users of energy.

Over 30 years, stronger standards for residential furnaces could save enough gas to heat all gas-heated homes in the United States. for one year, net about $11 billion in reduced energy costs, and cut global warming pollution by the amount emitted by 25 million cars per year.These efficiency standards for transformers, lighting and furnaces collectively could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 973 million metric tons over 30 years—more than twice the annual emissions from the entire state of California—and save consumers nearly $75 billion dollars.

These standards are among the 25 new appliance efficiency standards the Obama administration must complete during the next four years under court orders and congressional deadlines. Sound energy efficiency policies are quicker to implement than building new power sources and aiding our national security by reducing our dependence on foreign oil. We don’t have time to waste – for our economy or for our nation.

Felicia Marcus is the Western Director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.