The region can meet 85% of its electricity needs over the next decades through efficiency.
The Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Council says efficiency alone can help the Northwest reach 85% of its electricity needs over the next two decades at half the cost of building power plants.
That’s a radical concept in an industry that typically meets growing demand by adding new production. Yet by all indications at the state and federal levels, energy efficiency’s day has arrived. In the draft of the 20-year energy policy blueprint that the advisory council is slated to vote on today, it’s at the top of the region’s shopping list.
“This plan is all about energy efficiency,” said Tom Eckman, the council’s manager of conservation resources. “In the next decade, that’s it. That’s where the action is.”
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