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Electric Co-ops Promote Efficiency |
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Conservation through energy efficiency on an individual level can make an extensive impact on our nation’s energy use, according to Colorado’s electric cooperatives. Simple changes in use of lighting, appliances and temperature regulation are being recommended to co-ops members by their co-ops.
It is estimated that residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal lighting uses about 22 percent of all the electricity generated in the United States and accounts for 39 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. And, experts point out that technology already exists to save between 50 and 90 percent of the power now consumed by lights in the United States. That would save $30 billion a year — enough electricity to retire 70 to 120 large power plants — and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 20 to 25 million tons a year.
The most basic and effective way to save money on electricity is the simplest. Individuals should turn lights off when they are not using them. Work areas should be arranged near windows so that natural light can be used as much as possible. Timers can be put on lights that need to be on for specific times to keep them from consuming energy when not in use.
Energy savings can be increased even more by replacing older incandescent bulbs with modern compact fluorescent lamps. CFLs cost more than incandescent bulbs, but replacing a 75-watt incandescent bulb with a 20-watt CFL pays for the extra cost in just two years in terms of saved power costs. CFLs last longer too, continuing to work for upwards of eight years.
If every American home replaced the five highest-use light fixtures in their home with energy-saving fixtures, or the incandescent bulbs in those fixtures with CFLs, each family would save more than $60 every year in energy costs. Collectively, we would keep more than one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air, a reduction equal to the emissions of 8 million cars.
This is why Colorado’s electric co-ops have given away thousands of CFLs to their members in the last five years.
The need for energy efficiency is old news to electricity co-ops. Since they were created in the 1930s, co-ops have been encouraging their members to think about conservation and its benefits.
When electric cooperatives were incorporated, miles of line needed to be built to provide power to hundreds of rural areas without electricity. Members didn’t have the luxury of squandering the scarce resource of power. As non-profit, member-owned organizations, co-ops had no incentives to encourage members to use more electricity than they needed. Instead, from the very beginning, cooperatives have worked with members to help keep their electric bills as low as possible and decrease the demand for energy.
Today, with concerns about greenhouse gases and the high costs associated with building new generation facilities, saving energy has gained new momentum. Some utility experts have termed saving energy the fifth generation source. Cutting electric use, whether through efficiency or conservation, could help forestall the need to build new power plants. In dollar terms, every dollar spent on conservation equals five dollars spent on generation. Return to the Cutting Costs article index page As always, electric co-ops are at the forefront of the movement toward more efficiency than ever. Though rebate programs, education, and the use of more environmentally-friendly technology, cooperatives lead their members toward a brighter energy future. |
