Conservation With a Lot of Energy

When Ronald Reagan walked into the White House after his inauguration in January, 1981, his very first symbolic acts were to throw away Jimmy Carter’s sweater and turn up the thermostat. So much for Washington-inspired energy conservation in the wake of the gasoline and petroleum crisis in 1979.

Smart folk were not as hasty. In California, they included the state Energy Commission and the largest electric-power utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison. The Environmental Defense Fund was instrumental in persuading PG&E; in particular that energy conservation was not only a form of good citizenship but also made excellent business sense. And SCE chief Howard P. Allen has been recognized as an industry leader in promoting conservation and alternative energy sources.

The result was that both firms were able to forgo the construction of new power plants, thus sparing the environment tons of air pollution annually. And consumers saved billions of dollars. But the petroleum panic later turned to oil glut and enthusiasm for conservation waned. Last year, the Natural Resources Defense Council discovered that the California utilities had cut spending for conservation by half since 1985 and no longer were actively promoting the most advanced energy-saving programs for their customers.

Prodded by NRDC, the state Public Utilities Commission chided the utilities and called for a new conservation blueprint by the start of this year. A coalition of utilities, energy consumer organizations and industrial groups have come up with a cooperative program that could save consumers nearly $1 billion in energy bills in this decade alone. The firms would offer rebates for the use of long-lasting light bulbs, the installation of the most advanced insulating windows and the plugging of leaks in homes--something that could save as much as 50% on air-conditioning and heating bills. The most effective conservation measures of all would be those taken during the construction of new buildings.

The Public Utilities Commission should heartily endorse the plan when it considers it in March. Then the PUC must be certain that no one falls asleep at the California conservation switch again.