Editor’s note: This commentary is by Andrew Rudin, who is an energy consultant, with 40 years’ experience. He collects articles about efficiency in general and post them on a website www.efficology.com. He lives in West Danville and Philadelphia.
[E]fficiency Vermont is probably a well-liked program throughout Vermont. It seems like we get free energy reductions without having to change our behavior. Data from the Public Service Board, however, show that the program has not been effective, and Efficiency Vermont’s annual reports show that the cost of their programs is extravagant.
Since these are likely not to be popular ideas, I would like to first give you some background. I lived in Adamant, Vt., for a dozen years and started a design-build construction company. I very quickly found out that I liked pipes, ducts and wires much more than plywood, studs and sheetrock.
I became an energy consultant right after the OPEC oil embargo in 1974, sold my construction business in 1978 and have been an energy management consultant for the 40 years since then. Most of my work is in Philadelphia and New York, but I have worked in Chicago, Boston, Arizona and many other places, mostly helping religious congregations reduce their energy costs.
I was a member of Gov. Snelling’s energy task force, on the board of the Residential Conservation Service and the president of the Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (1981-82).
Their work on an individual building may be successful, but in the big picture, Vermonters’ use of energy was the same in 2010 as in 2000, when Efficiency Vermont started.
I have analyzed thousands of buildings and applaud Efficiency Vermont when they actually reduce energy used by Vermonters. Their work on an individual building may be successful, but in the big picture, Vermonters’ use of energy was the same in 2010 as in 2000, when Efficiency Vermont started. By contrast, Vermonters used 17 percent less energy in 1990 than in 2000 or 2010. These data are on Pages E2 and E3 of the Vermont Department of Public Service’s 2013 report on Public Utility Facts.
Starting in May 2012, Vermont now judges the health of the state with Genuine Progress Indicators, which include economic, social and environmental factors as well as mere money. The GPI increased about the same amount in each of the two decades before and after Efficiency Vermont started – 1990-2000 and 2000-2010.
Efficiency Vermont recently won an award from a national rating system of state-by-state energy programs, but the criteria for that award exclude both measurable reductions in energy used per person energy and lower greenhouse gas emissions. We can assume, then, that many of these statewide energy efficiency programs are judged by shortsighted criteria.
Every Vermont electric utility invoice now includes a tax to support Efficiency Vermont, whether the ratepayer wants it or not, so, it is like extortion. In 2013, Efficiency Vermont’s expenditures were $37,060,921. While Efficiency Vermont claims that each “saved” kWh costs only 2.4 cents, their annual reports show that the average cost of a “saved” kWh from 2003 through 2013 is 30 cents, or 12½ times higher. This is $300 million in expenses divided by one billion “saved” kWh, with no resulting decrease in energy used by Vermonters. These savings are estimated only by Efficiency Vermont, with no reasonable basis for claiming any of those estimated savings will persist in the future.
Faced with climate change challenges, Efficiency Vermont should do much better than they have in the past. Otherwise, they are wasting our money.
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