South needs to increase energy efficiency

Attention fellow energy hogs, this is from the Knoxville News...

South needs to increase energy efficiency

With energy consumption projected to grow and the price of electrons keeping pace - note TVA's Monday announcement of a rate increase - energy efficiency can pay for itself in more ways than one.

That's among the findings of a new report released Monday that takes a look at the potential for energy efficiency in the nation's Southern states.

The South, traditionally flush with cheap power, is the nation's most notoriously wasteful region in terms of energy, and Tennessee is no exception. Tennessee represents 2.1 percent of the U.S. population and 1.8 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. The state consumes 2.3 percent of the nation's energy.

Over the next 20 years, energy consumption in Tennessee is expected to grow 15 percent. Much of that demand could be stemmed by energy efficiency, according to the report, which is co-authored by TVA board nominee Marilyn Brown.

The report was compiled by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where Brown is a professor at the School of Public Policy, and Duke University.

The report analyzed the potential effect a broad suite of energy-efficient technologies and policies would have on energy consumption in the South.

Energy demand in Tennessee is projected to rise 15 percent by 2030, but energy efficiency measures could curb demand by 6 percent in 2020 and 12 percent in 2030, according to the report.

The report offered specific strategies for saving energy, including tightening building codes, improving appliance standards and incentives, expanding the Weatherization Assistance Program - a federally funded energy efficiency program targeting lower income families - and stepping up incentives for retrofitting homes, businesses and factories with more energy-efficient equipment.

Unlike most other Southern states, however, power demand in Tennessee is expected to grow, even if all of the above measures were implemented, said Brown in a Monday teleconference.

"(The Tennessee Valley) is still able to save a lot of energy, and the financials on that are very impressive," said Brown. "It's just not quite able to hold steady the energy consumption for the next 20 years."

Of course, achieving such savings requires investment, and the report stated that $1 billion in public incentives and private dollars in 2020 and $1.3 billion in public and private funds in 2030 would be required to achieve the projected energy efficiency targets.

However, there would be a return on that investment - $1.6 billion in energy-related costs savings in 2020 and $3.1 billion in 2030, according to
the report. The measures also would generate 15,000 jobs in Tennessee in
2020 and 20,700 jobs in 2030, the report stated.

Neither the report nor Brown offered a specific plan for how incentive
programs and regulatory policies should be rolled out - or who should foot
the bill.

"Rather than advocate for particular policy reforms or initiatives, we're
promoting the idea of addressing the energy efficiency in different sectors
somehow," she said. "We have a particular prescription of better information
and some incentives and net metering - but it could be tackled another way."