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Power use declines as numbers of gadgets rise

BLADE ILLUSTRATION/WES BOOHER

Power use declines as numbers of gadgets rise

Homes are being built more energy efficient

NEW YORK -- American homes are more cluttered than ever with electricity-consuming devices: cell phones and iPads that have to be charged, DVRs that run all hours, TVs that light up in high definition.

But electricity demand is leveling off.

New homes are being built to use less electricity, and government subsidies for home energy savings programs are helping older homes use less power. In the short term, the tough economy and a weak housing market are prompting people to cut use.

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From 1980 to 2000, residential power demand grew by about 2.5 percent a year. From 2000 to 2010, the growth rate slowed to 2 percent. Over the next 10 years, demand is expected to decline by about 0.5 percent a year, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit group funded by the utility industry.

Overall demand, including from factories and businesses, is still expected to grow, but at only a 0.7 percent annual rate through 2035, the government says. That's compares with the average of 2.5 percent a year the past four decades.

Utility executives were particularly surprised by a dip during the first three months of this year, the most recent national quarterly numbers available. Adjusted for the effects of weather, residential power demand fell 1.3 percent nationwide, an unusually sharp drop.

Residential demand doesn't usually track economic ups and downs very closely. Even when the economy is stagnant, people still watch TV and keep their ice cream cold.

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"No one knows if it's customer concern about the economy or a structural change," said Bill Johnson, chief executive officer of Progress Energy, which serves Florida and the Carolinas.

A mix of long-term and short-term factors is at work:

Lighting, which accounts for 10 to 15 percent of a typical family's power use, is much more efficient than it used to be. Americans are installing compact fluorescent bulbs and light-emitting diodes, which are up to 80 percent more efficient than incandescent bulbs. Traditional incandescent bulbs will start disappearing from store shelves next year.

Federal and state efficiency programs have expanded rapidly. Twenty-eight states have passed laws that force utilities to help customers use less power. The federal stimulus program allocated $11 billion to local efficiency programs, including subsidies for home weatherization and the purchase of energy-efficient appliances.

With the U.S. economy in the doldrums and gasoline prices high, families are trying to save money. It's easier to turn off the air conditioner than shorten a commute, said John Caldwell, director of economics at the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group.

The weak real-estate market has kept people from moving into bigger houses. And because of high unemployment, young people who in other eras would be starting jobs have moved back into their parents' homes.

When Stephen Botehlo, a software designer in Westwood, Mass., moved his family into a 2,000-square foot, 80-year-old ranch house, he requested an energy audit from his utility, Nstar, to help cut his power use. Nstar installed what Mr. Botehlo estimates to be $200 worth of compact fluorescent bulbs. He replaced the house's electric dryer with a gas-powered one. And with the help of rebates from the state, he had insulation blown into his attic. Next up: replacing a 14-year-old electric water heater with a gas model, which he expects will cut his $950 annual water-heating bill in half.

Suddenly faced with shrinking sales, some utilities are asking for regulatory changes so they can charge higher rates per kilowatt hour in exchange for helping customers further reduce consumption.

In California, where utilities pioneered this approach in the early 1980s, residential power demand has grown at half the nationwide pace over the last 30 years, even though the state's population grew at a faster rate than the nation's.

Because costs of materials and labor have risen more rapidly than the price of power, the cost of building a power plant, in general, exceeds that of helping customers cut use. There will continue to be a need for new plants, however, as facilities age.

Residential power use has fallen even as the number of electronic and electric devices has exploded because the devices themselves have gotten more efficient. In the 1970s, for example, refrigerators used 2,000 kilowatt-hours a year. Today, they use 500.

The first flat screen TVs used twice as much power as their wide-bodied ancestors, but they have become dramatically more efficient in recent years, according to Tom Reddoch, executive director of energy efficiency at the power research institute. "The flat-panel community heard they were energy hogs and they did something about it," he said.

Appliances are expected to get even more efficient over the next two decades. An analysis by the power research institute predicts refrigeration will become 29 percent more efficient, space heating will become 24 percent more efficient, and TVs and computers will become 22 percent more efficient. Energy needed for lighting will decline by half.

First Published September 17, 2011, 2:59 p.m.

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