November 13, 2008

ENERGY EFFICIENCY POLICIES RECOMMENDED FOR VIRGINIA AT MAJOR ENERGY CONFERENCE

ACEEE staff completed an analysis and report on the potential for energy efficiency policies in the Commonwealth of Virginia and presented it to Governor Kaine at the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Energy and Sustainability Conference in Richmond on September 19, 2008. ACEEE Associate Director for Research Neal Elliott presented the results of the study, Energizing Virginia: Efficiency First, before over 500 attendees in the plenary session immediately following the Governor’s opening comments. Governor Kaine has formally declared that this next year, his last year in office, will be his year to focus on energy issues in the Commonwealth.

ACEEE undertook an extensive stakeholder process as part of the project. The stakeholders included representation from across all sectors including Virginia utilities, industrial end-users, environmental NGOs, academic institutions, state and municipality operations, the state legislature, and low income organizations. The outcome of the stakeholder process produced a broad level of acceptance for the final results of the study, which have already been used extensively by a number of organizations since September. In addition, ACEEE has given presentations at various conferences and meetings in Virginia. Neal Elliott and Suzanne Watson, ACEEE Policy Director, will present the report results to the relevant state legislative committee on November 19, 2008 with the hope that —much like what has occurred in Maryland and Florida as a result of ACEEE’s work in those states—the Governor will embrace the report and that it will inform energy efficiency-related legislation being introduced in next year’s session.

Prior to issuing the report, which focused exclusively on the Commonwealth, ACEEE had ranked Virginia 38th out of 50 states in employing energy-efficiency programs and technologies (see ACEEE's 2008 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard. Virginia is the latest in a series of states to receive ACEEE’s analysis following on similar studies for Florida, Texas, and Maryland.  ACEEE is currently working on similar studies for Pennsylvania and Ohio that will be released in early 2009.

Energizing Virginia: Efficiency First confirmed that energy efficiency has the potential to reduce consumer electricity bills by bringing down overall consumption. In addition, at one-third the cost of new conventional energy supply, energy efficiency has the added benefit of moderating future electricity price increases. According to the study, the recommended policies can cut customer electricity bills in Virginia by a net $15 billion by 2025. 

The study also found that energy efficiency and demand response can reduce peak demand, which occurs during those days in the summer when electricity use is highest. Energy efficiency, together with demand response (i.e., shifting consumer demand for energy from peak periods to off-peak periods) can reduce peak demand by at least 26% by 2025.

Back to ACEEE's Grapevine Online