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Call for Efficiency Being Heard |
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As electric co-ops talk the talk on energy efficiency, a new report finds that consumer-members are increasingly walking the walk.
The Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives 2008 National Survey on the Cooperative Difference looked at several aspects of energy efficiency. Sixty-two co-ops in 20 states took part.
“We found about 82 percent of members nationwide had taken action in the past year,” said Tom Laing, director of market research at TSE Services, which produced the survey. That’s up significantly from 75 percent when the question was last asked in 2006.
“They’re doing more than just cutting back. They’re making investments in their homes,” such as installing compact fluorescent bulbs, he noted. On CFLs based on federal government figures, “We’re actually exceeding the national average,” Laing said. “We believe we have over eight CFLs per home, on average, nationwide.”
Researchers also learned that age is a factor when it comes to consumer-members making energy saving improvements. “Older members have been least active, not only in CFLs but in saving energy in other ways as well, and those are the ones of most concern in terms of fixed income and ability to afford their bills,” Laing said. For them, the study urged a focus on what Laing called “simple solutions, including those in the Touchstone Energy pamphlet “101 Low-Cost/No-Cost Home Energy-Saving Measures.”
These brochures will be handed out at the National Western Stock Show in Denver in January by Colorado’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. Return to the Cutting Costs article index page |
