Thomas Friedman writes about the new Save A Watt proposal from the CEO of Duke Energy, Jim Rogers.
Mr. Rogers’s proposal is based on three simple principles. The first is that the cheapest way to generate clean, emissions-free power is by improving energy efficiency. Or, as he puts it, “The most environmentally sound, inexpensive and reliable power plant is the one we don’t have to build because we’ve helped our customers save energy.”
Second, we need to make energy efficiency something that is as “back of mind” as energy usage. If energy efficiency depends on people remembering to do 20 things on a checklist, it’s not going to happen at scale.
Third, the only institutions that have the infrastructure, capital and customer base to empower lots of people to become energy efficient are the utilities, so they are the ones who need to be incentivized to make big investments in efficiency that can be accessed by every customer.
As Rogers explains, “Energy efficiency is the ‘fifth fuel’ — after coal, gas, renewables and nuclear,” and it is important that a incentivized plan like the ‘Save a Watt’ proposal is implemented. Some of the highest pay back gains in energy will come from energy efficiency. For more on this check out Negawatts vs Megawatts.
