Report: Energy efficiency now third-largest electric power sector resource in U.S.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) published a new report on Friday quantifying the benefits and savings resulting from energy efficiency programs since 1990 and demonstrating that energy efficiency itself has become the U.S.’s third-largest electricity resource.

“For the past 40 years, energy efficiency has been a quiet success story in America’s energy sector,” ACEEE report authors Maggie Molina, Patrick Kiker and Seth Nowak said. “As the 1973 oil crisis put pressure on energy security and as prices spiked, consumers looked for ways to conserve energy and reduce environmental impacts. In response, a diverse group of scientists, analysts, and policymakers began to develop strategies to reduce energy waste and use less energy to deliver the same or better services to consumers and businesses.”

Drawing on information from energy efficiency policies and program, including appliance and equipment efficiency standards, utility-sector energy efficiency programs, and building energy codes, the ACEEE report demonstrates that efficiency efforts have conserved energy that would otherwise require 313 large power plants to produce.

“Today, energy-efficient technologies, policies, and programs impact everyone and have greatly influenced utilities, building designers, industrial planners, and manufacturers,” the authors said. “The result has been an unqualified success story, both economically and environmentally, although one often unseen by the public.”

ACEEE analysts claim that with continued effort to improve the standards and codes prioritized in the report, energy efficiency could become the largest electricity resource in the U.S. by 2030.