by jbs101209 j3 — October 14, 2009—Energy efficiency remains America’s cheapest, cleanest, and fastest energy source for five years running. That is the conclusion of a new study that shows that the utility cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy efficiency has held steady or even slightly declined at about 2.5 cents over the last half decade, even as the costs for new coal, nuclear, and other supply-side energy alternatives have risen.
Saving Energy Cost-Effectively: A National Review of the Cost of Energy Saved Through Utility-Sector Energy Efficiency Programs updates the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy’s (ACEEE) widely cited benchmark research of 2004 showing that the average cost of delivering energy efficiency programs in the U.S. was then 3 cents per kWh.
The report notes, “In contrast, recent conventional energy supply-side options have typically cost between $0.07 and $0.15 per kWh—about three to four times the cost of energy efficiency investments…In 2008, pulverized coal cost between $0.07 and $0.14 per kWh, combined-cycle natural gas cost between $0.07 and $0.10 per kWh, and wind cost between $0.04 and $0.09 per kWh…Furthermore, as energy supply-side resource costs are highly volatile, energy efficiency remains a financially stable, long-term investment. In the near future, this cost picture will likely be very similar.”
ACEEE cites U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in 2020 new conventional power plants including coal and nuclear will cost about $0.10 per kWh, or four times higher than current energy efficiency program costs.
The new ACEEE report looks at energy efficiency programs from recent years in 14 states across the U.S., with utility costs ranging from $0.016 to $0.033 per kWh and an average cost of $0.025 per kWh. The six natural gas efficiency programs covered in the report also saved energy cost-effectively, spending $0.27 to $0.55 per therm, with an average of $0.37 per therm, which ACEEE says is less than a third of the average residential retail price seen over the past five years.
The report’s authors say that the findings have “major implications” for state, national, and international deliberations on climate legislation and that they “show conclusively why energy efficiency should be universally regarded as the ‘first fuel’ in making energy decisions.”
