Energy Efficiency - The Future For US North West
Increasingly authorities are realising that energy efficiency is the way ahead to get control on demands for energy and rising generation costs.
This realisation was reached by the North West States in the United States.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council unanimously adopted a regional energy plan Wednesday that avoids any new coal-fired plants for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana through 2030.
The plan for keeping the lights on across the Pacific Northwest for the next 20 years will also keep greenhouse gas pollution to a minimum.
The council has revised its regional plan, as it does every five years, and in the this latest update it recognises that most of the increased demand for electricity can be met with improved energy efficiency and conservation.
Instead, the council says the region can save 5,900 average megawatts of electricity over the next two decades — enough power for about five cities the size of Seattle — by investing in energy-efficient equipment, buildings and products.
The plan reports that about one-sixth of future demand can be met by clean wind power and some low-emission natural gas-fired plants.
Hydropower still supplies most of the regions electricity, and no coal plants are expected in the regional plan.
Energy efficiency is the way ahead for so many regions worldwide.
