Priority Resource

ENERGY EFFICIENCY is California’s highest-priority resource for meeting its energy needs in a clean, reliable, and low-cost manner. For more than three decades, California has adopted energy conservation and efficiency policies and made investments that are among the most aggressive in the nation. These efforts have saved more than 40,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity and 12,000 megawatts (MW) of peak demand1 — avoiding the need to build 24 large (i.e., 500 MW) power plants, and equal to the energy required to power 3.8 million homes. The broader benefits of California’s energy efficiency programs and investments include: • Reducing energy supply costs and lowering bills for customers. • Strengthening California’s economy. • Maintaining reliable energy services and reducing price volatility. • Protecting the environment by reducing air pollution, greenhouse gases, and other environ mental impacts of electricity generation. • Conserving water by reducing end-use water consumption. • Serving as a model for other states. Energy conservation and efficiency have played, and will continue to play, an important role in meeting California’s energy needs. California has only begun to tap its potential energy efficienc