Submitted by WA Contents
We’re Moving Beyond Energy Efficiency Into ’Demand Destruction’
United Kingdom Architecture News - Aug 02, 2014 - 14:46 1851 views
Hybrid cars, solar panels, and LED lightbulbs aren't just reducing our energy consumption—they're totally upending it.
Clos du Bois Winery, located in the Alexander Valley, near Healdsburg, California, features solar paneled roofs. (George Ross/Getty Images)
The Wall Street Journal had a good front-page article this week about the challenges facing the nation’s utilities. For the longest time, electricity sales and consumption went hand in hand with economic growth. In the last several years, not so much. Electricity retail sales peaked at 3.77 trillion kilowatt-hours in 2008, dropped in 2008 and 2010, recovered a bit in 2011, and fell in each of the next two years. The 2013 total of 3.69 trillion kilowatt-hours was down 2 percent from 2008.
The culprits are many: changes in the economy (less industry, more services), higher prices and low wages pushing people to cut usage, more people and companies generating their own electricity on their rooftops, and a renewed focus on efficiency. I’d add another factor, one that the Journal underplays: Utilities are confronting the prospect of significant and widespread demand destruction.
Demand destruction is different from energy efficiency. Efficiency is when you decide to use a little less of a resource than you did last year (turn out the lights, drive a more efficient car) or on a seasonal basis (turn down the heat during the winter). That can be a bummer for a provider. But in many instances, it is part of the business model. Many states require regulated utilities to run, fund, or offer energy efficiency programs....Continue Reading
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