Friday, December 17, 2010
Good morning,
I read an interesting article the other day which
exemplifies something of a paradox to environmentalists
and conservationists.
Some Missouri residents and businesses soon could see a
new charge on their electric bills ? a fee for using LESS
energy.
Though it might seem illogical, the new energy efficiency
charge has support from utilities, most lawmakers, the
governor, environmentalists and even the state's official
utility consumer advocate. The charge covers the cost of
utilities' efforts to promote energy efficiency and cut
power use.
So the idea here is that consumers cut back on their energy
use and it ends up costing them more money? Why the backward
logic?
Peter Huber, a professor at the Manhattan Institute and
author of a book on the history and future of energy called
'The Bottomless Well' provides an enlightening answer below.
Thanks for reading,
Your Living Green editor
Email the Editor
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Many people believe that one way to lower our nation's energy
demand is to increase energy efficiency. However, history
reveals a paradox: the more efficiently we use energy, the
more energy we end up using.
Efficiency fails to curb demand because it lets more people
do more, and do it faster?and more/more/faster invariably
swamps all the efficiency gains. Ironically, efficiency
increases consumption. It makes what we ultimately consume
cheaper, and lower price almost always increases consumption.
To curb energy consumption, you have to lower efficiency,
not raise it. The United States' energy efficiency improved
49 percent between 1949 and 2000, according to the EIA.
However, during the same period, U.S. energy consumption
increased a whopping 208 percent!
In terms of the story above...the assumption is that charging
consumers for those initiatives ultimately will cost less
than charging them to build the new power plants that will
be needed if electricity use isn't curtailed.