April 8, 2003
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PORTLAND ? Energy conservation increased the efficiency of electricity
usage in the Pacific Northwest by the equivalent of more than two Seattles
worth of power during the last 22 years, and the potential exists to
acquire as much conservation, and more, by 2025, the Council reported
today.
Since 1980, when the Northwest Power Act made cost-effective energy
conservation the highest-priority for meeting new demand for electricity,
the region's utilities and the federal Bonneville Power Administration
have reduced demand for power by nearly 1,500 megawatts through
investments in energy conservation in homes and buildings, industrial
facilities and irrigated agriculture. The savings primarily are in
energy-efficient water heaters, lighting, windows and equipment for
heating, ventilation and air conditioning. In addition, new building
codes that require energy-use efficiency saved 735 megawatts, and new
energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing and major appliances
caused another 375 megawatts in savings in the region, the Council
reported.
If the region's conservation achievements were expressed as power
generated rather than power saved, the total ? more than 2,600 megawatts ?
would be more than enough electricity for two cities the size of Seattle,
which uses about 1,150 megawatts on average. Energy conservation now
accounts for 10.2 percent of the Northwest electricity supply. That is, if
the energy conservation measures, codes and standards were not in place,
the Northwest would use 10.2 percent more electricity than it does now.
The reduced demand for power helps reduce the region's exposure to the
wholesale power market, which was important during the energy crisis of
2000 and 2001 when prices rose to levels never seen before.
?The region's accomplishments are impressive, but we are far from
having done it all,? Council Chair Judi Danielson said.
The Northwest has the potential for significant additional energy
savings in the future, according to the Council. For purposes of its next
Northwest Power Plan,
which will be completed later this year or early in 2004, the Council
estimates that 3,200 megawatts of cost-effective energy conservation could
be developed by 2025. Based on the Council's preliminary analysis, the
potential savings are in the following areas, expressed in average
megawatts (electricity consumed continuously for a period of a year):
| Agriculture | 25
|
| Non-aluminum industries | 350
|
Commercial non-building measures such as
water treatment, traffic lights, etc. | 300
|
| Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and windows |
200
|
| New commercial building lighting | 200
|
| Existing commercial building lighting | 250
|
| Residential space conditioning | 575
|
| Residential lighting | 660
|
| Residential water heating | 335
|
| Residential appliances | 305
|
Two PowerPoint presentations that detail the savings to date and
potential savings for the future are posted on the Council's website at
these locations:
The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and
Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a
program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia
River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an
adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.
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