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lot on traditional DSM approaches like our residentialPower Smart. There like elsewhere, the impact isoften dubious.“There’s no magic bullet, and there’s no sure-fireway of getting a lot of people on a regular basis toconserve a lot of energy,” says Alan H. Sanstad, staffscientist and energy policy analyst at the LawrenceBerkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California.“Even when DSM is effective, the results on thewhole are modest.”What is clear, he says, is what does not work.“There’s this idea that providing information gets peopleto conserve energy, and that idea is false, and wasdemonstrated to be false decades ago. When demandside management works, it works because there aremoney flows.”BC Hydro strikes backBC Hydro’s Patrick Mathot, manager of residentialmarketing for Power Smart agrees with one majorpoint made by Jaccard: BC Hydro does a lot of scrutinyof the effectiveness of their conservation spending,including accounting for free ridership.“We ensure that there are many more people who areinfluenced by our incentive activities and all the otherwork it takes to get that product in front of them. Thesheer volume of those people overwhelm the free ridersto ensure the program still makes business sense.”(Jaccard stressed that his research shows BC Hydroto be one of the best utilities in North America whenit comes to being “self-critical” and taking pains toaccurately evaluate the effectiveness of their DSMprograms.)tree.”The incentives will only growTo date, more than 4,000 BC households have reducedtheir energy consumption enough to collecttheir Team Power Smart $75 cheque, leaving about55,000 other Team Power Smart households out there-- including mine -- to take action.Mathot says BC Hydro’s installation of 1.8 milliondigital smart meters in B.C. homes and businessesstarting this summer (projected to cost over $900 million)will make it possible for customers to see whenand how much electricity is used in the home. “Butultimately,” he says, “it will be up to people to makethe decision to use less and take action to reduce theirconsumption.”Which brings this all back to me. Team Power Smart’sonline tools -- developed by social marketing expertsto spur my conservation, show that my small townhouseconsumed nearly 13,000 kWh in 2010 -- almostdouble what the average Californian residential utilitycustomer consumed.And therein lies a glimmer of hope for residentialelectricity conservation across British Columbia.When the day comes that I have to pay the same ratesas a Californian, I’ll have much more incentive to act.Like in California, the light bulb has been the primaryfocus of BC Hydro’s residential programs sincePower Smart began in 1989. He says their programsfocused on lighting have had the best return on investmentfor BC Hydro -- they’ve spent about $30 millionover the last 10 years, resulting in a savings of 600gWh in the residential sector alone. But he concedesthe job will get harder moving forward.“It’s getting to be more of a challenge to find moreenergy savings to have, because we are running outof the low-hanging fruit and are now moving up the62
Excerpts from the ensuing discussion in The Tyee’s comment section:Smart metersposted by “Steve Cooley” on March 9, 2011Smart meters would be smart if they cost the same asor less than the dumb meters to manufacture, installand service. Smart meters would be smart if they lastas long as the dumb meters or last longer. I have seenonly one comment about this aspect of smart metersand it said they cost more and fail sooner. Theirprimary virtue appears to be the elimination of meterreaders and the possibility of raising rates during peakperiods. It is disguised as reducing rates during lowperiods. The powers that be seem to think that automateddevices buy their service or product. Automateeverything and there will be no market for anything.There is a better return to society by spending moneyfor people to do things than spending the sameamount for a machine.One of things that has meposted by “Van Isle” on March 9, 2011One of things that has me baffled is that we allow thesale of high energy consumption electronic gadgets.As I understand it there are some new ‘flat’ HD TV’sthat consume twice the power than an ordinary oldstyle bulky tube-screen TV.Variable Ratesposted by “RBV” on March 9, 2011We were part of the variable rate pilot program fortwo years. The idea was that you were supposed toschedule power use to take advantage of the low rateperiods (essentially before 4PM, after 9PM and onweekends). Doing all of the reasonable things (eg.turning on the dishwasher before you go to bed, doinglaundry on the weekend, turning off lights in emptyrooms at night) still got us a power bill that was higherthan our single fixed rate bill. Power Smart’s suggestionsto actually save money involved doing thingslike “preparing your meals for the upcoming week onthe weekend and reheating them in your microwave”and “not watching television or listening to musicbefore 9 PM”. Whatever other merits the Smart Meterprogram may have, don’t plan on saving any moneyunless everyone in your house works afternoon shift.Another charade a la Carbon Taxposted by “freebear” on March 9, 2011Conservation ma work to reduce a houselholds energybill; but then hydro takes that saved enegy and sellsit to someone else to consume using their electronicgadgetry.The individual household/customers may save energy/consume less electricity (the per captita measure; perunit); but there are more of them so in the end moreelectricity is being consumed!Similarly, the Comox Valley wants me to conservewater, to openm up room for more consumers of water- the projected 45,000 new residents coming in thenear future!You can’t talk conservation out of one side of yourmouth; while pushing growth in consumption!Wait, that is what most people seem to be advocatingIf BC Hydro was serious about saving energyposted by “Gordon_Ramble” on March 9, 2011If BC Hydro was serious about saving energy, they’dretro-fit all the street lights throughout BC with solarpanels ... basically utilizing the same solar technologythat is now found throughout construction sitesin BC for powering temporary lighting.... however,BC Hydro isn’t serious about saving energy, so that’llnever happen in our lifetimes... the only thing BCHydro is serious about is; reaching deeper into yourpocket to enrich a small group of insiders at yourexpense.63
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greenfromthegroundupContributorsMon
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greenfromthegroundupHow Smart Is
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twentieth century, purely local mar
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Excerpts from the ensuing discussio
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Is this Canada’s Most Affordable
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“As it all turns out, we were abl
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Designers Challenged to Get Creativ
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