California could save billions of dollars and reduce the number of new power plants needed in the state by investing more heavily in energy efficiency, according to a new report released last week by Xenergy. The study found California can save up to 3,500 MW of peak demand and net over $8 billion in savings over the next decade by restoring public efficiency funding to just above 1994 levels (adjusted for inflation).

“Our research shows that there are thousands of megawatts of untapped energy efficiency potential left in California,” said Mike Rufo, Xenergy vice president and author of the study. “In fact, we found you could double California’s current investment in energy efficiency and save Californians an extra $3 billion. Saving energy by increasing our efficiency is the fastest, most environmentally sound way to meet increased demand, in addition to offering price stability at a low cost.”

Xenergy’s study, “California’s Secret Energy Surplus: The Potential for Energy Efficiency,” assessed energy efficiency potential across California for all electricity customers, large and small. The study also looked into the achievable energy efficiency potential over the next ten years using hundreds of commercially available measures. According to the company, Californians currently support energy efficiency investments of approximately $240 million annually and have created about 10,000 MW of peak demand reduction from past energy efficiency investment.

“The energy efficiency potential in California is the size of a dozen or more major new generation facilities. Yet with efficiency we can get lower energy bills and create no power plant emissions,” stated Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The question for California is how to ensure that efficiency is weighed fairly against generation options as we decide when and how to invest to meet our energy needs.”

The study also found that over the next 10 years, there is significant remaining achievable and cost-effective potential for electric energy efficiency savings beyond the business-as-usual savings that are likely to occur under continuation of current public goods funding levels. Capturing this additional achievable potential would require an increase in public goods funding levels for energy efficiency programs. “For example, doubling public goods funding levels could increase peak megawatt savings by 2011 from 1,800 MW under the business as usual scenario to roughly 3,500 MW under the Advanced Efficiency scenario and produce net benefits of $8.6 billion over the lives of the measures implemented,” Xenergy said..

The study said that most of the potential savings are obtainable from energy-efficiency measures that are readily available today, for example:

Xenergy added that although there was a significant amount of solid, empirical data upon which to build the analyses conducted for this study, “several key data and methodological uncertainties require significant further work.” To view a copy of the 118-page report, visit the Energy Foundation web site at: www.ef.org.

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