Energy Matters Update - June 19, 2007

Volume 4, Number 3

It's a no-brainer:

Region should get all low-cost conservation

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council has released a study showing that the region has a lot more bill-reducing energy efficiency available than we originally thought. If there’s more energy efficiency available, shouldn’t we try to get it to lower costs and avoid greenhouse-gas emissions?

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council wants to hear from you.

Click here to tell the Council to raise the 5th Plan’s energy efficiency targets!

The Council is the region’s official power-planning agency, representing the governors of Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Every five years, the Council lays out a new 20-year road map showing Bonneville Power Administration and utilities where to get the resources they need to meet projected electricity demands.

In its most recent guide, the December 2004 5th Northwest Power and Conservation Plan, the Council called for meeting half of new electric demand with 2,500 average megawatts of energy efficiency (“conservation”). But the just-released Council study, “A Retrospective Look at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Conservation Planning Assumptions,” suggests that the plan’s efficiency goals were way too low.

Instead of taking 20 years to acquire all the available cost-effective conservation, the study says, the region is on pace to do so in 12-14 years. It’s remarkable that this is happening with little help from the Bonneville Power Administration. BPA has constrained its budget to achieve only the Council’s original target. But if other utilities can do better, so can Bonneville – and if BPA were to step up its efforts, the region could gain 30-40 percent more efficiency than the 5th Plan envisioned.

In other words, the pool of “cost-effective” (defined as cheaper than any new generation) efficiency resources is much larger than we thought, and consumers are more eager than ever to save energy. That’s why we’re harvesting those resources at a target-busting pace. So what’s the problem?

The problem is that BPA’s efficiency goals are tied to the 5th Plan’s target. Unless the Council makes a mid-course correction, BPA won’t have to acquire – or help its customer utilities acquire -- any conservation beyond that recommended in the 5th Plan. If the Council increases its target, BPA will have to do so, as will Washington state utilities whose conservation requirements are tied to the Power Plan through Initiative 937.

NW Energy Coalition policy staff asked the Council to revise its efficiency goals. The Council responded by putting out a general call for public and stakeholder comments on whether it should raise the 5th Plan’s conservation targets to reflect the paper’s findings.

Now is the time for the region’s clean-energy advocates to be clearly heard. Tell the Council to amend its 5th Power Plan to reflect the increased rate of energy efficiency acquisition that the study shows is possible. With several coal plants being proposed in and around the Northwest and consumers feeling the pinch of rising energy bills, we have a unique opportunity to lower costs and avert development of dirty power sources by continuing agressive investment in energy efficiency.

Comments are due by July 13 to:

Click here to tell the Council to raise the 5th Plan’s energy efficiency targets!

For a more detailed discussion of the findings and ramifications of the new Council study, read The Transformer article, “Study shows region outpacing conservation goal”

Additional Information:

Northwest Power and Conservation Council report: “A Retrospective Look at the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Conservation Planning Assumptions,”

5th Northwest Power Plan

Energy Matters Updates are electronic publications of the NW Energy Coalition, issued as needed to provide news of interest to clean-energy advocates throughout the region. Energy Matters Updates are distributed free of charge.

Contact cy@nwenergy.org to subscribe

The NW Energy Coalition is an alliance of more than 100 environmental, civic and human service organizations, progressive utilities and businesses in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and British Columbia. We promote development of renewable energy and energy conservation, consumer protection, low-income energy assistance, and fish and wildlife restoration on the Columbia and Snake rivers.