As the new home of NJPIRG's environmental work, Environment New Jersey can be contacted regarding this news release.
Over the past several decades,
New Jersey’s energy demand has grown twice as fast as our population, and
our increasing dependence on electricity brings with it a variety of problems
that directly impact our quality of life.
High Electric Bills:
We’ve all had that experience of opening up a utility bill, and gulping
at the amount due. The more energy we use, the more consumers are spending on
their monthly utility bills. This past August when electric rate caps were removed,
and customers experienced an increase in how much they were spending each month
to keep the lights on. We need to take advantage of solutions to lower electricity
costs for consumers.
Strain on the Electric
Grid: As we increase our electricity use, we pay in other ways as well.
High demand increases the likelihood of blackouts, such as the one that occurred
last July along the shore. High demand also increases the amount of money that
utility companies spend on the lines and poles to transport electricity—costs
that are passed along to ratepayers. Two weeks ago, over 500 residents of Ocean
and Atlantic counties showed up at a public hearing to oppose construction of
new electric transmission lines near senior communities. Experts agree the transmission
lines would improve service to Southeast New Jersey. However, in a crowded state
like New Jersey, new lines will not be welcome no matter where they are built,
since the choices are either residential areas, the preserved Pinelands, or
the historic view shed of the Parkway. New conflicts will continue to occur
if we do not curb our electricity use.
More power plants:
Current electricity use depends almost entirely on dirty and dangerous sources
like natural gas, coal, and nuclear power. Increased electricity demand results
in more health-threatening pollution like soot, smog, and toxic mercury, and
continues our reliance on aging nuclear plants like Oyster Creek.
We need to make our everyday
energy use more efficient. New Jersey should start by passing statewide energy
efficiency standards.
We surround ourselves with
appliances and technology that depend on electricity to run. One of the easiest
ways to reduce unnecessary energy use is by making sure everyday fixtures in
our lives are more efficient, like the traffic light on your street corner,
the lamp in your home, or the heater at the office.
Since the 1970s, common
appliances like the household refrigerator have had efficiency standards to
protect consumers from high electricity bills. In large part because the standards
took outdated technologies off the marketplace, a typical electric bill for
household refrigerator use has dropped from $193 to $40 a year. The current
New Jersey legislation looks at a set of new products that are not currently
regulated.
The products in this legislation
were chosen because there are efficient technologies already on the marketplace
that meet the proposed standards. The goal of the standards is not to push new
technologies, but rather take the most inefficient technologies off the marketplace.
The products were also chosen
because all will save the consumer a significant amount of money over the life
of the product through decreased electricity bills. For almost all the products,
the purchaser will start saving money within a year or two.
Three Product Examples:
Traffic signals:
Traffic signals typically use incandescent light bulbs that waste energy and
burn out frequently. Traffic signals using LED technology reduce electricity
use by 90 percent over incandescent bulbs. LED technology also lasts up to 10 times
longer than incandescent lights: saving cities and states money on electricity
bills, lowering maintenance costs, and improving traffic and worker safety as
fewer lights will be out at any given time. The upfront costs of the product
is made back through electricity savings within three years, and energy savings
for each traffic light is more than $450. However, the real savings for towns
is in the decreased maintenance. A New Jersey manufacturer, Dialight, based
in Farmingdale, estimates that 30 percent of New Jersey towns already use the more
efficient lights because of the huge benefits. By 2020, this standard will save
New Jersey towns $41 million dollars.
Cable boxes: The
typical cable box, given to you by the cable company when you sign up with them,
is using electricity all the time—even when you television is off, even
when you are at work, even when you are sleeping. Inexpensive technology exists
to reduce the electricity use by up to 75 percent, by reducing the amount of
“standby power” used, but most cable companies continue to give customers
the outdated, wasteful product. Even though the technology costs no more than
a few dollars, the companies have no incentive to offer more efficient boxes
and as a result, consumers suffer with higher electricity bills. By 2020, this
standard will save consumers $655 million dollars.
Torchiere lamps: Torchiere
lamps are popular portable lamps that direct light upward, producing soft indirect
lighting. Typically, these lamps consume around 300 watts of energy and the
bulbs run extremely hot. In fact, more than 400 fires have been traced to halogen-based
torchiere lamps. Torchieres using compact fluorescent technology typically use
80 percent less energy to produce the same amount of light and run much cooler, saving
energy and eliminating the fire hazard. By 2020, this standard will save consumers
$567 million dollars.
The wasted electricity from
inefficient appliances does not just affect the individual homes and businesses
where the products operate, but everyone. Higher demand for electricity increases
the rates everyone pays for electricity. Increased electricity use also results
in more health-threatening soot and smog pollution from coal and natural gas
power plants and increases our reliance on aging nuclear power plants with safety
risks. And increased demand for electricity means more power lines in our already
crowded communities.
Energy efficiency standards
on appliances is a simple step that reaps huge benefits for the state. In fact,
the energy saved over the next 15 years from the standards currently in the
legislation will be equal to the amount of electricity used by roughly five
percent of the households across the state.
By the year 2010, the energy
efficiency standards in the New Jersey legislation will reduce New Jersey’s
peak demand by over 300 MW, the demand of roughly 300,000 households. Increasing
energy efficiency will decrease the amount of new power lines needed in the
future, avoiding the problems that South Jersey now faces. And by the year 2020,
the new energy efficiency standards will save New Jersey homes and businesses
over $1.7 billion on their electricity bills.
We need to make changes
in how we use electricity. The first step must be increasing energy efficiency,
and energy efficiency standards are a good start. I urge this committee to act
quickly to enact this common-sense policy, so New Jersey electricity users can
start reaping the benefits.
