If the Northwest Power and Conservation Council is even within the ballpark of its predictions, the Northwestern states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington will become something of an energy utopia in the next 20 years.
The Portland-headquartered council forecasts that 85 percent of the area's new power needs over the next 20 years can be derived through various conservation methods and by production and distribution efficiencies. Such a benefit would eliminate the need for constructing new coal-fired power plants.
The council's numbers are these: Northwest energy efficiency and conservation could reduce energy use by 5,800 megawatts—enough electricity to generally supply an estimated 2.3 million to 5.2 million average residences. The council believes that over the past 30 years conservation has reduced power demand by 3,700 megawatts, or supplies for 1.4 million to 3.3 million homes.
It's an astonishing prediction, but not from a frivolous source. The council is charged by Congress to develop regional energy plans as well as policies for the federal Bonneville Power Administration and its 147 utility members. Its new plan will be issued in December.
Such energy savings portend amazing benefits for the region. Economic development can accelerate without adding noxious coal plants and thus maintain model protections of the environment.
A wide range of factors would be involved in these savings. Plug-in electric vehicles, home weatherization financed with federal stimulus dollars, a smarter, computerized electric grid for efficient distribution of electricity, solar and wind power and prudent personal energy consumption—all will be required.
This bold thinking and planning is a distinctly more refreshing vision than that of the "Drill, baby, drill!" promoters of gouging the earth for more oil. It also is a rebuke of former Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 disdain for conservation, which he called "a sign of personal virtue but ... not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."
Naysayers will be lurking in the shadows to try sabotaging any farsighted energy thinking. Saboteurs are trying to hoodwink the public into opposing health care reform, only to preserve their unrestrained corner on profits. And for generations, Detroit's auto industry swore it could not rapidly increase fuel efficiency, only to now say it has an auto ready for production capable of getting 200 miles per gallon.
If consumers keep pressure on energy companies and policymakers to find new ways to stretch megawatts through new conservation and production methods, then energy independence and cleaner air will truly be a reality.
