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8/12/01:
Justice and Electricity
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7/17/01:
West Coast Energy Crisis:
Summary and Update
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7/12/01:
Energy & Water: Pitch In and Save
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6/28/01:
Working the Demand-Side -- second in a series of Con.WEB special reports
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6/20/01:
Phase Two, 10% for Conservation Campaign
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6/18/01:
Region’s Largest Public Utility Steps Up To Load Reduction Agreement
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5/3/01:
3rd Cost Adjustment Proposal
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4/28/01:
Energy-efficient measures translate to real saving
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4/19/01:
Summer Outlook: Power Supply and Reliability, Superintendent Gary Zarker's slide show presentation to Seattle City Council's Energy & Environmental Policy Committee
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4/19/01:
Energy -- A Force That Affects Us All, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce membership meeting with Senator Patty Murray, Superintendent Gary Zarker, and Puget Sound Energy Vice President-External Relations Tim Hogan for discussion of the continuing energy problem.
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3/12/01:
Seattle City Light tells me its customers cut power usage by 6 percent last month, and Puget Sound Energy reports a 4 percent reduction in demand since we began this call for conservation in January.
Governor Locke Home Page
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3/8/01:
KCTS TV Channel 9
,
Connects,
hosted by Enrique Cerna, guests include Seattle City Light Superintendent Zarker, Snohomish County Public Utility District General Manager Elias and Tacoma Power Superintendent Klein.
Public utilities are on the front line of the energy crisis, involved in a battle to deliver energy to all consumers at a price we all can live with. But how high will rates rise as our region deals with the energy crisis, and will we face rolling blackouts like California in the months ahead? See
regional public power collaboration
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3/2/01:
A PRIMER ON POWER: WATTS UP? -- sold out CityClub lunch forum.
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2/8/01:
TEN PERCENT -- COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE ENERGY CONSERVATION SUMMIT -- resounding success
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1/25/01:
Governor Locke Home Page
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1/14/01
Joint Letter, Governors Locke and Kitzhaber renew call for energy conservation
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1/13/01:
Governors from nine Western states endorse emergency energy conservation measures. Conference,
Western Governors Association
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1/7/01:
The power crisis ultimately could cost the public more than the bailout of the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), which cost utility customers $2.2 billion, City Light spokesman Bob Royer said.
Seattle Times
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1/4/01:
New Power Realities, Superintendent Gary Zarker
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Priority Message, Mayor Paul Schell to City Employees, 12/7/2000
Content:
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April 28, 2001
Energy-efficient measures translate to real saving
Dan Hendricks' Monday letter suggests that there can't be much conservation potential out there because "a person can only insulate his attic once." He further argues that "many possibilities like energy-efficient motors themselves require much energy to be manufactured."
Hendricks is profoundly misinformed.>p>Here are the facts:
The Northwest Power Planning Council estimates that over the next 20 years, the Pacific Northwest could install energy-efficiency measures that would save 2,400 average megawatts of electricity. That's approximately equivalent to the annual output of Grand Coulee Dam; it's twice the annual consumption of Seattle City Light's service territory. And the average cost of saving rather than wasting that energy is 2 cents per kilowatt hour. That's one-half to one-third the cost of power from a new natural gas-fired power plant and it's a vanishingly small fraction of the price we're paying for "spot market" purchases today.
Seattle City Light has had the region's most aggressive utility conservation program for more than 20 years now. But just last year, staff from City Light and the Power Planning Council assessed how much more City Light could save in the next 20 years. The conclusion: Seattle can save another 210-260 megawatts by 2020 (18 percent to 23 percent of current system load) at an average cost of 1.7-2.1 cents per kilowatt hour.
Finally, it is true that manufacturing efficient motors, refrigerators, etc., consumes energy (though generally no more than manufacturing inefficient ones). For that reason, our utilities rarely recommend replacing even an inefficient piece of equipment before the end of its useful life. But when that old refrigerator finally does die, it is emphatically preferable to replace it with a highly efficient model. Energy efficiency is not the complete answer to our power crisis. But we would be foolish to walk away from a Grand Coulee of savings at costs that are a fraction of the price of electricity from new power plants.
Marc Sullivan,
NW Energy Coalition
Letters to the Editor,
Seattle P-I
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March 2, 2001
A Primer On Power: Watts Up?
The March 2 forum treated the audience to a serious debate on the energy crisis -- what went wrong, how it can be fixed and what it will take to avoid a future of sky-high electric rates and uncertain supplies. A blue ribbon panel addressed issues and answered questions: Ken Cannon, Executive Director, Industrial Customers of Northwest Utilities -- long-term observer of the regional energy scene; Jim Harding, Intergovernmental Relations Director, Seattle City Light -- with experience in California; Randy Hardy, former Bonneville Power Administrator and past Seattle City Light Superintendent; Sara Patton, Executive Director, Northwest Energy Coalition -- leading advocate for conservation and renewable resources; C.R. Douglas, Moderator & Host of
Northwest Week. CityClub pledges continued public discussion of a situation that will likely last throughout the summer. For more information from CityClub, call
206.682.7395.
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February 8, 2001
Ten Percent -- Coomercial Real Estate Energy Conservation Summit -- resounding success
The
Building Owners and Managers Association
, the
Downtown Seattle Association
and City Light are working together to meet the
conservation goal of 10 percent.
The nonstop three-hour Energy Conservation Summit yesterday (February 7)
in downtown Seattle was packed with ideas on how businesses can help cut back on soaring energy costs. Some were simple, such as turning off lights and computer monitors when not needed. Others were more complex, such as installing high-efficiency heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment.
More from Bill Kossen,
Seattle Times business writer, at
Summit: Turn off the light, Seattle
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