We're Moving Beyond Energy Efficiency Into 'Demand Destruction'

[UrbScotty]

Demand destruction is different from energy efficiency. Efficiency is when you decide to use a little less of a resource than you did last year (turn out the lights, drive a more efficient car) or on a seasonal basis (turn down the heat during the winter). That can be a bummer for a provider. But in many instances, it is part of the business model. Many states require regulated utilities to run, fund, or offer energy efficiency programs.

So strategic demand reduction and management are part of the industry’s operating system; demand destruction is not. Demand destruction occurs when you eliminate or substantially reduce the need for the resource on a near-permanent basis. Somebody trading in a Chevrolet Malibu for a Nissan Leaf won’t be buying any gasoline for the next 10 years. Replacing a 30-year-old air conditioner with a more efficient new one will significantly reduce the power associated with cooling. Innovations in technology and business models can hasten the process of demand destruction—think of how the advent of iTunes cut into the sales of CDs. And there are signs that this is beginning to happen with electricity.

The price of solar panels has come down dramatically in recent years, and new business models, such as SolarCity’s leases, have substantially reduced the costs associated with installing rooftop electricity generation systems. As a percentage of overall electricity production, solar is minuscule. But each panel represents a bit of demand destruction. And when a company puts solar panels on the roof of a big-box retailer, as Ikea has done on 40 of its U.S. stores, or as Walmart has done (89 megawatts of capacity at 215 locations as of last fall), it is effectively destroying a decent chunk of demand over the 20-year life of the system.

http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/07/were-moving-beyond-energy-efficiency-into-demand-destruction/375398/

[NYC_SKP]

1. They're describing energy conservation more than efficiency, and they're solar modules, not panels.

It's an interesting article, and true, except for the poor use of terminology.

An efficient appliance is efficiency, turning out lights is conservation.

Replacing CFLs with LEDs and turning them off is a little of both.

Not to be confused with solar panels that may be for domestic water heating, the term "modules" is preferred.

Anyway...

Yes, indeed, efficiency and reducing demand, not just shifting time of use, are growing in importance as we strive to meet demand in a responsible fashion.

http://www.utilitydive.com/news/what-are-the-top-utilities-for-renewables-and-efficiency/291730/

[freedom fighter jh]

2. More bike paths!

Biking is not viable everywhere or for everyone, but there are many who would bike if they had safe roads on which to do it.

Make the world safe for biking. What better way to destroy demand for fossil fuel?

[Eleanors38]

3. Pet peeve here in "Bicycle-Friendly(not!)" Austin.

The traffic here is in the top 3 worst, yet planning for new bike ways is essentially millions for study and a bucket of paint. I'm an old fart & don't use my bike, not because I'm that far over the hill, but because it's damned dangerous! I hang out at a restaurant where many employees, young and athletic, bike. And the injuries due to cars is constant; concussions, shattered knees, broken elbows, road rashes, etc. Yet, year after year, little progress us made to secure bike-only through fares. Policy needs to be directed to the beer guts and clunker users who are financially strapped, not to the spandex ballet who have no trouble negotiating the figure-8 races that are Austin's roads.

[freedom fighter jh]

6. Just what I mean.

I'm an old fart (58) and I *do* use my bike, because I have the good fortune to live in a place where one can do so safely. If every place were like this, would everyone bike? Well, no, but many would -- more when gas prices go up as inevitably they will.

[Demeter]

4. The demand is shifting to other products....and utilities had better get with the times

or they will be left in the dust, just as Burroughs, Data General, Digital Equipment Co, IBM and others were left behind when the technology shifted out from under their product lines...

Utilities aren't 19th or even 20th century staples anymore.

[Eleanors38]

5. Perhaps a practice searching for a coining...

I've been doing the same, by pulling myself off the new-consumer-goods market. No more new clothes when plenty of good used ones are available. Most of my appliances are ancient, and used infrequently. AC in house and old van went out? Didn't replace. Need another shotgun? Bought used. Books? Used. Meat? Hunt.

Old economists called a similar national practice "import substitution" to wean a nation from dependency on another nation's goods. Provide your own, and no demand on the "system."