Have you ever described efficiency as an energy resource and gotten a quizzical look in return? We have, even though utility system planners have been using energy efficiency for decades to make sure that power for their customers is both reliable and affordable. For those of us who have been in the energy efficiency industry for years, or even decades, we sometimes take for granted that others will understand what we mean. But we must not. We must help educate a wider audience that energy savings from greater efficiency—whether we call them negawatts, an invisible energy source, virtual power plants, or something else—are a cornerstone of our nation’s energy system and critical to a clean and affordable energy future. In fact, energy efficiency is now the third largest resource in the US electric power sector, as shown in a new report we released today. How we crunched the numbers […]