Cheaper, faster and cleaner: curbing our energy addiction through energy efficiency.

• Author: Ingmarsson, Lisa

Essentially, energy efficiency means using smart technology and conservation techniques to accomplish the same work while using less energy and fuel. Consumers can dry clothes of heat their homes without any sacrifice in performance. Because it reduces the amount of fuel we burn, and therefore the amount of greenhouse gas pollution we put into the air, enhanced energy efficiency is also one of the most important things we can do to stop global warming.

"Energy efficiency is all about the shockingly obvious idea that if we burn less fuel in our homes, power plants and cars, we will reduce air pollution while also saving money," says Seth Kaplan, CLF Senior Attorney and Clean Energy & Climate Change Program Director. "And if we do it right, our more efficient homes, cars and offices will also be better and more pleasant places, providing unexpected dividends beyond cleaner air and healthier bank accounts."

Burning fossil fuels--coal, oil and natural gas--provides nearly two-thirds of U.S. electricity. Power plants are responsible for almost half of the nation's carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emissions, the greenhouse gas pollutant chiefly responsible for global warming. Power plants are also the largest source of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain and smog.

For 30 years, CLF has worked to promote energy efficiency and clean energy in order to reduce air pollution from electricity generation, consistently acknowledging that enhanced energy efficiency is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to meet New England's future electricity needs.

CLF was instrumental in creating ratepayer-funded efficiency programs in the 1980s and 1990s, working with the New England Electric System (now National Grid USA). During the electric utility restructuring debate of the late 1990s, CLF helped design system benefits charges (SBCs) that preserved funding for energy efficiency programs in a competitive electricity market. SBCs are small surcharges on customers' electricity bills that are allocated for funding various policy initiatives, including energy efficiency programs.

"The energy efficiency programs CLF helped establish in New England were well-received, experienced great success and provided a model for the rest of the country," says Kaplan. The SBCs in New England now generate approximately $200 million per year--funding rebates on efficient light bulbs, appliances and household energy audits and providing real economic and...