South Can Cut Utility Bills, Create Jobs and Conserve Billions of Gallons of Water

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 12, 2010 -- According to a new study released today by a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, aggressive adoption of energy efficiency programs in the South would lower utility bills by $41 billion, create 380,000 new jobs, reduce the need for new power plants, and save 8.6 billion gallons of freshwater by 2020.

Total energy demand in the South, where per capita energy consumption is already higher than average, is projected to increase 16 percent from 2010 to 2030. At the same time, many Southern states spend less on energy efficiency programs than their peer states in other parts of the country. The research strongly indicates the South’s projected growth in energy consumption need not materialize if the region begins to tap into its tremendous energy efficiency potential.

The energy efficiency policies examined by the research team fall into three broad categories: residential, commercial and industrial. Residential policies include changes to building codes, appliance standards and incentives, weatherization assistance, retrofit incentives and equipment standards. Commercial building policies include appliance standards and building retrofit incentives. Industrial policies include plant utility upgrades, process improvement policies, and combined heat and power incentives.

“Energy Efficiency in the South” found that the adoption of aggressive energy-efficiency initiatives in the South would:

1.Prevent energy consumption from growing over the next 20 years. In the absence of such initiatives, energy consumption in these three sectors is forecast to grow by approximately 16 percent between 2010 and 2030.

2.Generate new jobs, cut utility bills and sustain economic growth. Overall utility bills would be reduced by $41 billion each year in 2020 and $71 billion in 2030; the average residential electricity bills would decline by $26 per month in 2020 and $50 per month in 2030; electricity rate increases would be moderated; and 380,000 new jobs would be created by 2020 (annual job growth increases to 520,000 new jobs in 2030). The region’s economy is anticipated to grow by $1.23 billion in 2020 and $2.12 billion in 2030.

3.Reduce the need for new power plants. Almost 25 gigawatts of older power plants would be retired and the construction of up to 50 gigawatts of new plants (equal to the amount of electricity produced by 100 power plants ) would be avoided.

4.Result in substantial water conservation. The reduction in power plant capacity would save southern NERC regions 8.6 billion gallons of freshwater in 2020 & 20.1 billion gallons 2030.

“Energy Efficiency in the South” and state profiles that have been developed for each of the states are available on the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) website: www.seealliance.org/programs/research.php. SEEA is a nonprofit organization that promotes energy efficiency in the Southeast.

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