Study cites impact of efficiency

-- Electricity customers would save money and thousands of new jobs would be generated if power companies spent more on energy efficiency, a study says.

A coalition of environmental groups commissioned the study and released it yesterday at the state Capitol.

The environmentalists plan to pursue legislation that would require utilities to promote efficiency and give them financial incentives for doing it.

"Energy efficiency is the cleanest, cheapest and quickest way to meet our electricity needs," said Tom Cormons, Virginia campaign coordinator for the group Appalachian Voices.

The group also includes the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club.

The groups oppose Dominion Virginia Power's $1.8 billion, coal-burning power plant under construction in Southwest Virginia, in part because it would release gases linked to global warming.

Utility spokesman Jim Norvelle said the company already is engaging in energy-saving programs, including a partnership with Home Depot that allows customers to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs at about half price.

"More can be done, and we're going to do more," Norvelle said. But an expected 4,000-megawatt increase in electricity demand over the next 10 years -- the amount needed to serve about 1 million new homes -- can't be met through efficiency alone, he said.

The study was done by Abt Associates Inc., a Massachusetts-based research firm that has worked for government, business and nonprofit groups.

Instead of building a power plant, it's cheaper to save the same amount of electricity through better insulating buildings, using power-saving light bulbs and appliances, the study says.

Relying on efficiency instead of building the Wise plant would create at least 2,600 more jobs and save the average household $52 to $91 per year in 2012, the study says.

The 585-megawatt Wise plant is set to open in 2012, but the environmentalists are trying to block it in court.

Other groups in the environmentalists' coalition are the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards.

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .