Energy Efficiency in the South
Summary:
A report on the status of energy programs in the South and the funding that goes into the programs. Major conclusions from the report show that aggressive energy efficiency in the south would mean:
- Virtually ending growth in energy use for 20 years (without efficiency, continued energy waste would drive 16% growth in energy use)
- Retiring many (10 GW) old power plants, and avoiding many (49 GW) more (by my calculation, avoiding over $90 billion in power plant construction costs)
- Saving customers $41 billion per year by 2020, or $26 per month for each household
- Creating 380,000 new jobs and $1.2 billion in additional economic growth
- Saving 8.6 billion gallons of freshwater (without efficiency, power plants steam away)
- Reducing global warming pollution by up to 200 million tons per year
The benefits of the energy efficiency programs and policies in this study far outweigh the costs: annual energy bill savings of $40.9 billion by 2020, compared to annual costs of just $15.8 billion.
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