[761] in peace2
Energy Consumption and Reduction
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Felix AuYeung)
Mon May 7 01:03:35 2001
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Date: Mon, 7 May 2001 01:02:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Felix AuYeung <felixauyeung@juno.com>
To: earth-action@mit.edu, save@mit.edu, peace-list@mit.edu
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scientists in three-year research say that implementing existing and proven technologies can curb up to almost half of increase in energy consumption. bush and cheney will cut research money for new technologies and introduce policies that will focus on increased production through fossil fuels. ultimately, unless consumer patterns really change, new co-gen plants will have to be built; but not taking into account energy-saving measures into policy-making is just irresponsible if not a shameless bribe from the oil and energy industries.
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Energy: A Different Tack
Joseph Kahn
New York Times Service
Monday, May 7, 2001
Scientists See Big Possibilities in Conservation
WASHINGTON The scientists at the national laboratories in the United States have projected enormous energy savings if the government takes aggressive steps to encourage energy conservation in homes, factories, offices, appliances, cars and power plants.
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Their studies, completed just before the administration of President George W. Bush took office, are at odds with the administration's repeated assertions in recent weeks that the nation needs to build a big new power plant every week for the next 20 years to keep up with the demand for electricity, and that big increases in production of coal and natural gas are needed to fuel those plants.
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A lengthy and detailed report based on three years of work by five national laboratories said that a government-led efficiency program emphasizing research and incentives to adopt new technologies could reduce the growth in electricity demand by between 20 percent and 47 percent.
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That would be the equivalent of between 265 and 610 big 300-megawatt power plants, a steep reduction from the 1,300 new plants that the administration has predicted would be needed. The range depends on how aggressively the government encourages efficiency in buildings, factories and appliances, as well as on the price of energy, which would affect whether new technologies would be economically attractive.
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Another laboratory study found that government office buildings could cut their own use of power by one fifth, at no net cost to the taxpayers, by adopting widespread energy conservation measures and paying for the estimated $5 billion investment with the energy savings.
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But the Bush administration, which is completing preparation of a strategy to deal with what it calls an energy crisis, has not publicized these findings, relying instead primarily on advice from economists at the Energy Department's Energy Information Agency, who are often skeptical of projected efficiency gains and predict a much greater need for fossil fuel supplies.
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Administration officials said that some of the studies were based on theoretical assumptions that do not translate well into policy.
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"We are looking for practical solutions here," said Jeanne Lopatto, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department. "Whatever works, we're interested in. But some of these ideas have been funded over many years, and they have a very small impact on energy needs."
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The once obscure debate between scientists at the national laboratories and economists at the information agency, both sides working for the Department of Energy, reflects a raging dispute between Mr. Bush and many Democrats and environmentalists. While both sides agree that the United States faces energy problems, Mr. Bush's team has emphasized the quest for new supplies, while his critics stress untapped potential to reduce demand.
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Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking publicly the week before last on the energy plan that he is in charge of drafting, used the information agency's projections when he said that the nation would need at least 1,300 new power plants by 2020. Mr. Cheney used the figure to dramatize the need to mobilize resources to close a supply gap.
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Mr. Cheney has not publicly noted that other energy department studies show ways to trim that number - perhaps cutting the growth in demand for power almost in half.
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The laboratories' estimates assume widespread application of some time-tested efficiency standards and the success of some newer inventions that scientists love but that many bottom-line economists tend to distrust as expensive or unrealistic.
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Some of the proposed conservation steps are neither costly nor complex. Just last week, researchers at the Energy Department's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced that they had developed a fluorescent table lamp that would reduce the need for overhead lighting. The laboratory said the lamp matches the combined output of a 300-watt halogen lamp and a 150-watt bulb, but uses a quarter of the energy.
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"Widespread use of this lighting system in offices and homes could greatly reduce the current power problems we have in California," said Michael Siminovitch, a scientist at the laboratory.
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Other technologies have been proved in field tests. At Fort Polk, an Army base in Louisiana, electricity use during peak hours fell by 43 percent after base managers installed fluorescent lights, low-flow shower heads, new attic insulation and new home heating and cooling systems.
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Most of the savings came from installing geothermal heat pumps, an efficient home heating and cooling system that circulates fluids through underground coils but otherwise uses conventional technologies. Hundreds of homes on the base were equipped with the systems, generating immediate cost savings for electricity and eliminating the homes' use of natural gas for water heating. The entire installation cost was covered by a private contractor that makes a profit by sharing in the government's cost savings for the first 20 years.
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The heat pumps, though still something of a novelty, are completely proven and save so much money that Mr. Bush installed a system at his new ranch home in Crawford, Texas. Mr. Cheney's official home, the Naval Observatory in Washington, also uses geothermal heat pumps to cut its energy bill.
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The Clinton Energy Department projected that new efficiency standards for clothes washers, water heaters and air conditioners would reduce electricity demand by the equivalent of 170 300-megawatt power plants over 20 years if fully enforced.
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Mr. Bush's fiscal 2002 budget slashed spending on researching and developing energy-efficient buildings and factories, more fuel-efficient automobiles, new appliance standards and more efficient lighting. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said some of that work was better left to the private sector.
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Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, both former oil industry executives, seem to have assigned a tertiary role to efficiency improvements, behind new drilling for oil and gas and new construction of energy infrastructure, including pipelines and power plants. Neither the president nor the vice president has touted his own energy-saving home as a model.
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In fact, Mr. Cheney said the week before last, "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."
