July 16, 2007—Florida could save $28 billion—enough to cover this year’s entire education and transportation budgets—by using energy efficiency strategies that are available now, says a study released June 26 by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The study includes energy policy recommendations that would affect Florida building codes.
The ACEEE study shows that using energy efficiency policies alone (such as efficient windows, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and ENERGY STAR appliances) can nearly offset the state’s entire future growth in electric demand by the year 2023. Florida would also create more than 14,000 jobs in 2023, says ACEEE. The direct and indirect jobs created would be equivalent to nearly 100 new manufacturing plants relocating to Florida, but without the demand for infrastructure and other energy needs, the study says.
According to the study, if Florida both expanded its energy efficiency measures and invested in renewable energy sources like biomass and solar, the state could cut electricity demand by nearly a third in the year 2023. Specifically, the study found that energy efficiency measures could cut demand by 19.9 percent, and using renewable energy sources could cut demand by 9.5 percent by 2023.
The study comes at a time when Florida is at a crossroads in determining its energy future. Florida’s Public Service Commission recently rejected a proposal for a new coal power plant–the first power plant denial in 15 years. It was also the first time ever that global warming played a role in a PSC decision.
Florida’s electricity demand is growing faster than the state’s population, says the report. A particular challenge is peak demand, which is growing even faster than total electricity usage, and costs the most to serve. ACEEE notes that Florida has not aggressively implemented energy efficiency policies in the past.
The ACEEE study provides five specific energy efficiency and renewable energy policy recommendations that the state should consider:
- An energy efficiency resource standard that sets savings targets for utilities, such as Texas and several other states have reportedly done;
- More stringent building energy codes that make Florida’s buildings much more efficient in the future;
- An advanced buildings program that changes building practices, reducing energy demand;
- Onsite renewables policies that help meet much of these advanced buildings’ energy demand with solar energy; and
- A renewable portfolio standard that sets a target for utilities to procure a share of their power from renewable energy resources such as wind and solar, which more than twenty other states have reportedly done.
The report, Potential for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to Meet Florida’s Growing Energy Demands, is available for free download from ACEEE, or as a hard copy from ACEEE Publications.
