Officials Say It Will Be Difficult to Cut Energy Use

Local businesses and government agencies Tuesday applauded Gov. Gray Davis’ call for a reduction in energy consumption, but said it would be tough to cut back on their own power usage.

The county’s largest employers and officials from cities and school districts said they had implemented conservation measures long before the governor urged Californians to reduce power consumption by 7% in his annual State of the State address Monday.

Then, as the state’s electricity crisis worsened recently, many have stepped up conservation efforts even more.

“We will make every effort to comply with the state’s needs, but I don’t know what else we can do,” Camarillo City Manager Larry Davis said.

The city has cut back on its power usage by 10% over the last five years, Davis said.

Janitors cleaning city offices in Oxnard have taken to leaving notes on desks of employees who don’t turn off their lights when they leave for the day, said Assistant City Manager Karen Burnham.

“We’ve tried to heighten the awareness of all our employees,” Burnham said.

She said city officials will examine whether the conservation efforts in place since the late 1970s--including having lights and equipment on timing devices--have led to the reductions sought by the governor.

John Johnston, head of the county’s General Services Agency, praised Davis, saying that educating the public on energy conservation is key to solving the power problem.

“I’m old enough to remember the energy crisis in the 1970s,” Johnston said. “Even the Las Vegas Strip wasn’t spared.”

Johnston said that while the county has taken large steps to conserve energy--including interruptions of service during power shortages--officials will also be checking to see whether other measures can be taken to meet Davis’ target of 7%.

“We’ll do our job as patriots over here to compare his target with our consumption rate,” he said.

To help meet his goal, Davis proposed $250 million in cash incentives in his Monday night speech before a joint session of the Senate and Assembly.

But local government and business officials questioned whether the amount of money proposed would be adequate to alter people’s behavior.

“That won’t go very far when it’s for the whole state,” said Julia Wilson, spokeswoman for Verizon Communications in Westlake Village.

As power problems in the state have become more pronounced in the past few weeks, the company designed posters to hang in high-visibility areas reminding employees to turn off office equipment when not in use, she said. Verizon has also been awarded a federal grant for use of energy-efficient fuel-cell technology.

Ken Ferber, spokesman for WellPoint in Westlake Village, said he believed that the cash incentives were directed to building owners and businesses that have made few conservation efforts.

“Virtually all the newer office buildings in the county are energy-efficient,” he said.

But Dan Singer, interim city manager for the city of Ojai, said the cash incentives might be attractive to officials there.

Singer, who said the city has implemented only minimal conservation efforts, said he thought that the money could be used to buy technologies that would lead to permanent reductions in power usage.

“I hope that they will create an impetus for the [City] Council and the community to join the conservation bandwagon,” he said.