Our power generation and distribution companies can adapt by getting into the LED lighting business, for example, or they can maladapt by killing government regulations and initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. It appears they have chosen to do both. Some energy companies are investing in wind, solar, or other renewable energy technologies while others are busy hatching plans to manipulate the democratic process in order to scuttle government incentives and regulations that threaten their bottom line.
When the power-generation utilities think about the disruptive challenges we face as a nation they quite literally see a mirror image of what the rest of us see. The threats they see include "demand-side management" (DSM), which refers to consumer energy-conservation measures, and "distributed-energy resources" (DER), meaning residential power generation such as rooftop-solar systems. This is explained in an national industry report released this past January by the Edison Electric Institute. Entitled "Disruptive Challenges, Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Electric Business," the report describes how disruptive consumer conservation and residential-energy generation can be to their business. To help electric-utility executives better understand the disruptive forces of socially responsible citizens it offers this useful flow chart: [http://tinyurl.com/m5py4rg]
by Edison Electric Institute
"Demand-side management involves reducing electricity use through activities or programs that promote electric energy efficiency or conservation, or more efficient management of electric energy loads. These efforts may":
- Promote high efficiency building practices
- Promote the purchase of energy-efficient ENERGY STAR products
- Encourage the transition from incandescent lighting to more
efficient compact-fluorescent lighting
- Encourage customers to shift non-critical usage of electricity from
high-use periods to after 7 p.m. or before 11 a.m.
- Consist of programs providing limited utility control of customer
equipment such as air conditioners
- Promote energy awareness and education
http://www.pacificorp.com/env/dsm.html
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