{"id":526224,"date":"2010-04-13T10:40:47","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T14:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.southernstudies.org,2010:\/\/5.12220"},"modified":"2010-04-13T13:03:11","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T17:03:11","slug":"voices-with-so-much-potential-for-energy-efficiency-why-is-the-south-so-inefficient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/526224","title":{"rendered":"VOICES: With so much potential for energy efficiency, why is the South so inefficient?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"south_metro_carbon_footprints.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>By David Roberts, Grist<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

When it comes to energy reform, the American South has often been a
\ndeadweight, anchoring the country to the status quo. There are any
\nnumber reasons why: It’s oil, coal, and nuke country. It’s heavily
\nRepublican. Many of the affluent white men who dominate its politics
\nview energy as part of the culture war, another attack by hippies on the
\n American way of life. Plus they like trucks.<\/p>\n

But one phenomenon more than any other shapes the South’s attitude
\ntoward energy policy. It lies beneath all the others, yet it’s the least
\n well-understood and the most rarely discussed. What is it?<\/p>\n

Instead of ruining the surprise, let’s take a quick detour that will
\nhelp make the point.<\/p>\n

Energy efficiency in the South<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to a report released this morning, for every dollar the
\nSouth invests in energy efficiency, it will receive an average of $2.25
\nin benefits over the next 20 years in jobs, economic growth, and lower
\nbills.<\/p>\n

“Energy
\n Efficiency in the South<\/a>” is a detailed new study from researchers
\nat the Georgia Institute of Technology and Duke University’s Nicholas
\nInstitute; it uses models based on U.S. Energy Information
\nAdministration forecasts to estimate the benefits of various energy
\nefficiency policies across three sectors: residential, commercial, and
\nindustrial. The conclusions, while in keeping with past research on the
\nsubject, are nonetheless pretty jaw-dropping.<\/p>\n

According to the study, an aggressive set of energy efficiency
\npolicies in the region could:<\/p>\n

\n

1. Prevent energy consumption from growing over the next 20
\nyears. <\/strong>In the absence of such initiatives, energy <\/strong>consumption
\n in these three sectors is forecast to grow by approximately 13 percent
\nbetween <\/strong>2010 and 2030.<\/p>\n

2. Generate new jobs, cut utility bills and sustain economic
\ngrowth.  <\/strong>Overall utility bills would be reduced by $41
\nbillion each year in 2020 and $71 billion in 2030<\/strong>; the average
\nresidential electricity bills would decline by $26 per month in 2020 and
\n $50 per month in 2030; electricity rate increases would be moderated;
\nand 380,000 new jobs would be created by 2020 (annual job growth
\n increases to 520,000 new jobs in 2030).<\/strong> The region’s economy
\nis anticipated to grow by $1.23 billion in 2020 and $2.12 billion in
\n2030.<\/p>\n

3. Reduce the need for new power plants.  <\/strong>Almost 25
\ngigawatts of <\/strong>older power plants would be retired and
\nthe construction of up to 50 gigawatts of new plants (equal to the
\namount of electricity produced by 100 power plants) would be avoided.<\/p>\n

4. Result in substantial water conservation. <\/strong>The
\nreduction in power plant capacity would save southern NERC regions 8.6
\nbillion gallons of freshwater in 2020 and 20.1 billion gallons in 2030.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(Left off this list are the incredible health benefits of reducing
\nfossil fuel use.)<\/p>\n

The reason efficiency has such potential in the South is that it’s
\nthe least efficient region of the country and the most fossil-fuel
\ndependent. Low-hanging fruit abound. And it’s not just that the region
\nas a whole would benefit, it’s that the benefits are incredibly
\negalitarian. Virtually everyone in the region would see their fortunes
\nimproved.<\/p>\n

So, let’s see: Create jobs, save ratepayers money, save businesses
\nmoney, save state governments money, save lives, spur economic growth
\n… seems like a no-brainer! A case study for forward-looking public
\npolicy. And yet, despite their obvious benefits, such policies are not
\nforthcoming in the South, and they’re unlikely to appear any time soon.
\nWhy is that?<\/p>\n

Southern means Southern Company<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here we return to the single biggest factor in the South’s energy
\nintransigence: the energy companies that dominate it are not
\nparticipants in a competitive market. Most of the region’s utilities are
\n regulated monopolies, which means their customers and their profits are
\n guaranteed by law. They don’t compete; they manage state regulators,
\nwhich is a whole different kind of skill. They are involved in cozy,
\ngood ol’ boy relationships with those regulators that in some cases
\nstretch back generations. They have their way of doing things and it
\nworks for them. Why would they want change?<\/p>\n

In particular, regulated monopoly utilities have one way to make more
\n money: build more power plants and sell more power. They convince
\nregulators to offer a set return on capital, and then they deploy the
\ncapital to get the return. So all that decreased consumption? All those
\nsavings on power bills? All those avoided power plants? That’s all bad
\n news<\/em> for southern utilities. It translates directly into lost
\nrevenue for them.<\/p>\n

That’s why Southern Company, the region’s largest utility, has
\n more lobbyists in D.C. than any other energy company<\/a>, almost double
\n the runner up. Its position has always been secured through influence
\nover politicians. It’s got a bunch of dirty old power plants
\ngrandfathered under the Clean Air Act. It’s got guaranteed access to a
\ngrowing rate base. It’s trying its damnedest to keep any hint of market
\ncompetition or other radical changes as far away as possible. And the
\nlast thing it wants is for its customers to start using less of its
\nproduct.<\/p>\n

It’s a damn shame. If we treated efficiency as an energy source, we
\nwould see that the South has access to an enormous reserve of it. It’s
\nan abundant supply, and it’s cheap<\/em> — cheaper than coal,
\ncheaper than nukes, cheaper than natural gas. The South is a veritable
\n… dare I say it? … no, I shouldn’t … but I must … Saudi
\nArabia of energy efficiency<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the presence of huge demand and cheap supply means nothing unless
\n there is a market set up to bring the one to the other. And there’s no
\nmarket in the South. Energy incumbents control policy in the region, and
\n they’ve been publicizing costs and privatizing profits for decades.
\nThey don’t want a new competitor. It’s that simple.<\/p>\n

(Map from Southeast Efficiency Study<\/a>.)
<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Roberts, Grist When it comes to energy reform, the American South has often been a deadweight, anchoring the country to the status quo. There are any number reasons why: It’s oil, coal, and nuke country. It’s heavily Republican. Many of the affluent white men who dominate its politics view energy as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":247,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/247"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}