California to reduce total electricity demand
The California Public Utilities Commission has produced new analysis that shows that the growth in demand for electricity in the state has declined to 1% per year. They expect total demand to begin falling due to continuing efforts in energy efficiency, which will be a historic event.
Californians today consume the same amount of electricity per capita that they consumed in 1975, while the rest of the country has increased its consumption over 50%. Some caution should be used in reading the statistics, however, because some of the reduction may be due to de-industrialization (essentially outsourcing electricity use). The state’s total energy use has continued increasing due to the increasing population, but continuing efforts in efficiency are expected to outpace population growth and lead to reduced total use.
Read the whole article at Natural Resources Defense Council: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/smartinez/some_skeptics_of_energy_effici.html