From the president on down, America expects a virtual revolution in energy efficiency. When investment in efficiency increases, people assume we’ll see dramatic cuts in electricity consumption growth, ultimately to zero or perhaps negative growth.
Is a letdown imminent? Legacy efficiency programs have accomplished admirable savings in recent years, yet increasing evidence suggests these kinds of programs might not easily scale up to the much higher rates of performance that are expected. Their cost-effectiveness (i.e., kilowatt-hours of consumption cut per dollar invested) might seriously suffer in the process.
