How Can We Maintain Energy Conservation Programs In the Brave New World of Electricity Deregulation?

Abstract

Dere gulation of the electric industry poses en vironm ental thr eats as
well as oppo rtunities. This indu stry is now a major source of air pollu-
tion in th e U.s., i.e., acid rain producing SOx and NO x emission s and
gr e enh ou se gas emi ssions in the form of carbon dio xide from burning
fossil fuels . Henc e, there is more at stake than finding cheap pow er.
Ene rgy enginee rs and professionals n eed to realize that savin g
d ollars is not the same th ing as conserving en erg y. We have a moral
obligati on to identify strategies to keep our en erg y con ser vati on and
efficien cy pro grams alive and well in a deregulated electric mark et.
We also need to join the larger debate and insist on pol icies which
will p ro vide the prop er incentives and conditions to encou rage effi-
cienc y, as well as clean "green " p ower gene ra tion, in order to prot ect the
env iro nme n t and serve the public interest.
Does the epidem ic popularity of sp ort utility vehicles m ean th at the
ene rgy crisis is over ? Or just that the appeal of superflu ou s con sum er
goods c onqu er s all? How easily we for get the social and environm ental
con s equ en ces of our actions and life-styles!
In 1990, the Un ited States sent troo ps to the Middl e Eas t to fight for
oil. While that war cos t billions and produ ced man y casualties (in addi-
tion to U'.S . an d allied casu alties, over 100,000 Iraqi s di ed) , it is onl y a
dim mem or y for m ost of us as we race to the next oil war in o ur "spo rt
uses," not-so-mini "m ini-vans" and all variety of ga s-gu zzl er s and petro-
p igs. Ave rage U.s. vehicle fuel efficien cy is declining wh ile we still im-
port over half the oil we con sum e.