Negawatts: Saved Energy Is The Fifth Fuel
By Scott Kriner, Green Metal Consulting
The United States uses about 95 Quads of energy annually. One quad is the equivalent of 293 billion kWh of electricity. No matter how you convert a Quad into some form of energy, it’s a large number followed by an even larger number of zeroes. The demand for electricity in the country and in the world continues to grow as the population grows in number and changes habits. We see more electronic gadgets within the home, and electric cars are becoming more popular and available. In many parts of the world civilization is changing from agricultural to urban societies.
Here in the US, the electricity demand is expected to grow 1.1% annually. Estimates are that by 2030 our nation’s electricity demand will be 45% greater than today. And let’s not forget that the building sector represents over 70% of the nation’s electricity consumption.
Our economy relies on four major fuel sources for our energy needs – coal, natural gas, nuclear and oil. But there is a fifth fuel that is often overlooked – saved energy. It was Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, who coined a term back in 1989 to describe this fifth fuel. He calls it a “Negawatt”. According to Lovins, a Negawatt is a theoretical unit of power representing an amount of energy (measured in watts) saved.
As strange as that sounds, negawatt energy is the most efficient. Most of our electricity that is generated by the primary fuels relies on mechanical energy involved in the turning of a turbine using steam. These electricity generation systems are typically operating at 30% efficiency with the other 70% wasted energy in the inherent inefficiencies of the conversion process or transmission losses. Solar generated electricity is at most 20% efficient. Today’s modern wind turbines generate about 30% of their theoretical maximum output. But a Negawatt is 100% pure energy saved.
Lovins had a vision of being able to trade energy credits from Negawatts like renewable energy credits are traded today. That didn’t happen as quickly as Lovins had hoped. But we are seeing signs of that taking place now. Our utility industry is very interested in Negawatts. An executive at Pacific Gas and Electric once stated that “the cheapest, most reliable source of new energy is saved energy.” This is a strange comment coming from a spokesman from a major utility. But it points out the importance of utilities encouraging their customers to save as much energy as possible (or maximize their Negawatts) in order that the utilities can avoid building new power plants.
It’s true that conserving energy alone will not power our lights, cool or heat our spaces and heat our water. But it reduces the load placed on the grid. There are plenty of incentives to conserve energy and be more energy efficient. Federal legislation has provided tax incentives for residential and commercial structures that use energy efficient products or are designed to meet certain energy criteria. The famous national “cash for caulker” legislation provided financial incentives for weatherization of homes. More recently the “Better Building Initiative” introduced by President Obama, is yet another attempt to create incentives for commercial buildings to be more energy efficient. Utilities continue to provide rebates for customers who improve the energy efficiency of homes or buildings. Local governments too have their own programs to drive building owners to more efficient ways to build or retrofit their structures.
The concept of maximizing Negawatts is even more important when a building owner is considering rooftop solar power. Experts remind us that it is best to first lower the load of a building by implementing energy efficiency and conservation measures before contemplating a rooftop PV system. The advantages of lowering the load first should be obvious. The smaller the electrical load is, the smaller (and less expensive) the installed PV system needs to be. In addition, by first reducing the load of the building before installing a PV system a building owner may find that the PV system has excess electricity that can be sold back to the utility in a net metering program.
In this world where less is hip, we see electronics getting smaller, dresses getting shorter, building owners downsizing, homes getting smaller, and buildings moving toward net zero energy. But we finally have something in which we can indulge and not feel guilty. Maximize your Negawatts and no one will complain!
Scott Kriner is the president and founder of Green Metal Consulting Inc. He is a LEED Accredited Professional who began his career in the metal construction industry in 1981. His company is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, the California Association of Building Energy Consultants and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). Scott can be reached by email at skriner1@verizon.net or by phone at (610) 966-2430. You can also visit him on the web at www.greenmetalconsulting.com.
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