Less is more - GA’s Slow Pace on Energy Conservation

Georgia slowly moves toward energy conservation

Georgia’s population continues to swell and its insatiable hunger for energy grows. And with it comes the inevitable toll that powering our lives takes on the environment.

A report last week by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, concluded that carbon dioxide emissions from power plants nationwide rose 5.9 percent in the past five years. Georgia Power’s 10 coal-fired power plants contributed 5.9 million tons more of the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere than they did in 2006.

That news comes at a time when two new coal plants are being proposed in Georgia – the first ones in 20 years.

Georgians gobble up energy and waste it. According to the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, electricity use in Georgia increased by 54 percent between 1985 and 2003.

“It’s frustrating,” says Bobby Baker, commissioner of the Georgia Public Services Commission. “More people are moving into Georgia. People are using more electricity. The average residential household has 26 plug loads. And that’s going up. And we have more and more appliances we use every day that require electricity. So demand – even with conservation – demand for electric capacity is still going to grow in Georgia.”

The state, which successfully attracted growth with its cheap energy, falls behind in tapping its potential for conservation incentives and renewable power generation.

Because of Georgia’s geography, conservation is our surest approach to energy efficiency. “No matter how much you want to use solar power or wind power in Georgia, you just don’t have the right conditions,” Baker says. “You can have some limited generation. But it’s not going to be reliable 12 months out of the year. We’re not like Arizona or Texas.”

The state may be slowly righting itself on conservation. Officials and consumers have begun to place an emphasis on cleaner and less energy-intensive ways of life. The city of Atlanta boasts one of the highest numbers of LEED-certified buildings in the nation.

According to a 2007 report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, however, Georgia is one of the worst states in the nation in terms of energy efficiency, far behind more progressive locales such as Vermont, Connecticut and California. Through rebates and incentives designed to entice customers to use less energy, California utilities were able to stabilize energy demand while its population and economy grew by 79 percent.

“Energy-efficiency improvements remain the fastest, cheapest, cleanest energy resource,” says Dr. Marilyn Brown of Georgia Tech. It’s the low-hanging fruit in terms of what utilities, states and consumers can pluck to achieve conservation. Along with phasing out coal-fired power plants, it’s one of the recommendations made by the EIP report’s authors for what states can do to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

“Energy efficiency in buildings has got to be your top priority,” says Dennis Creech, executive director of Southface. He says customers can build or invest in energy-efficient homes and cut their power bills by up to 40 percent. The improvements sometimes pay for themselves in savings in as little as two years.

One approach states can use is advocated by experts such as Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute: demand-side management, a fancy term that essentially means utilities, such as Georgia Power, offer customers a financial or tax incentive to reduce energy use. Consumers would pay less for energy, and energy providers would save money because the conservation would mean less need for new power plants.

“What we don’t have is the public policy for energy efficiency or solar,” Creech says. “A lot of states now are offering tax credits, and a lot of utilities are offering incentives for energy efficiency – significant incentives. If you look at New York and California, their energy use has stayed flat over the last 10-20 years. And why is that? It’s because they’ve had significant investment in efficiency, primarily by the utilities industry.”

Baker argues that the energy sector should examine new ways, such as tiered pricing structures similar to how water customers pay more the more water they use. He also says such changes could send consumers a “price signal” to let them know when their energy usage is excessive or happening during peak times.

But he acknowledges there’s not much incentive for them to do that. “The electric company’s job is selling electrons,” Baker says. “It’s counterintuitive for them to say, ‘We want you to use less of our product.’”

But there’s good news.

Gov. Sonny Perdue’s 2006 Energy Council placed energy efficiency at the top of its priorities and stressed the need for the state to invest in renewable energy development.

Georgia Power, which discontinued a limited demand-side management program in the early 1990s after saying it was not cost-effective, recently rolled out new energy-saving initiatives: For example, it will provide free water-heater insulation covers to customers. Georgia Power has also contributed to such organizations as Georgia Interfaith Power & Light to weatherize low-income families’ homes. Critics have pointed out, however, that the utility has been less than aggressive in its efforts to encourage and promote energy efficiency across the board.

The company also recently agreed to begin distributing electricity generated from wood waste. The effort, however, will only make a minute contribution of less than 1 percent to Georgia Power’s capacity. Georgia Power spokeswoman Carol Boatright says it’s a step toward renewables the company hopes will become more commonplace and substantial in the future.

It’s a small step that could use a little quickening. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants are expected to increase 19 percent between now and 2030. And around that time, the state expects 4 million more people to call Georgia home.

Editor’s note: This story has been modified from the print version to correct an error. Since 2002, carbon dioxide emissions from power plants have risen 5.9 percent.