California: efficient, but ...

• Author: Mitchell, Cynthia
• Position: FROM READERS - Letter to the editor

Energy efficiency is indeed the fastest, most cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global climate change. Your article ["Energy Efficiency, Rediscovered," January/February] points to California as "probably offer[ing] the most notable example" of significant success in harvesting this low-hanging fruit via utility programs and state appliance and building efficiency standards. The proof: "[California] has the lowest per-capita electricity use in the United States, and this has remained flat over the last 30 years. ..."

Because so much is being made of California's success story, in 2008 we undertook a series of statistical analyses to better understand how energy savings and consumption are linked. We found that while energy efficiency has played a part in holding California's per-capita consumption relatively constant, the rising price of electricity is also a significant, and likely much greater...