Our New Analysis Finds Energy Efficiency is the 3rd Largest Resource in the U.S. Electric Power Sector
Have you ever described efficiency as an energy resource and gotten a quizzical look in return? We have, even though utility system planners have been using energy efficiency for decades to make sure that power for their customers is both reliable and affordable. For those of us who have been in the energy efficiency industry for years, or even decades, we sometimes take for granted that others will understand what we mean. But we must not. We must help educate a wider audience that energy savings from greater efficiency—whether we call them negawatts, an invisible energy source, virtual power plants, or something else—are a cornerstone of our nation’s energy system and critical to a clean and affordable energy future. In fact, energy efficiency is now the third largest resource in the US electric power sector, as shown in a new report we released today.
How we crunched the numbers
Last year we set out to quantify the size of the energy efficiency resource that currently exists in the electric power sector using a bottom-up approach to estimate energy savings achieved through specific policies and programs. We looked at three areas. First, through our State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, we had 10 years of state-level data on evaluated energy savings from utility-sector energy efficiency programs. Second, we used state-level energy savings estimates of appliance efficiency standards from the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP). And third, we used state-level energy savings estimates of building energy codes from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)…
To download the report, visit: http://aceee.org/research-report/u1604
To continue reading this blog post, visit: http://aceee.org/blog/2016/08/our-new-analysis-finds-energy
About ACEEE:
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy acts as a catalyst to advance energy efficiency policies, programs, technologies, investments, and behaviors. For information about ACEEE and its programs, publications, and conferences, visit aceee.org
