What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy Efficiency and Conservation: A Guide to a New Relationship

Imagine the (highly improbable) headline:

Enormous oil field discovered in the American West

Imagine that this oil field promised to produce enough energy to substantially offset growing national demand, help prevent shortfalls in supply, and moderate rising prices for suppliers and consumers alike. And imagine further, if you can, that new technologies will enable us to tap into this vast energy reserve without leaving a footprint on our spectacular Western landscape.

What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy Efficiency and Conservation report provides a road map to this virtual oil field. Greater energy efficiency and conservation promise an impact equivalent to such a fantastic discovery. If a substantial number of businesses and households adopted energy-smart practices, the amount of energy “harvested” in savings would have a significant positive impact on the national energy supply. Yet the majority of Westerners have not yet begun to mine their cost-effective opportunities presented by efficiency and conservation.

The Center teamed up with the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP) to point the way to energy savings for well-intentioned Westerners. Lead authors Patty Limerick and Howard Geller (of SWEEP) have assembled a wide array of information on energy efficiency and conservation into an accessible and practical guide for individuals and businesses who want to save energy – and money – this summer and beyond. 

Praise for What Every Westerner Should Know About Energy Efficiency and Conservation

“Energy efficiency and conservation are critical to economic vitality and quality of life in Colorado and other Western states. I urge policymakers, businesses, and citizens throughout the region to read this report.”

– Tom Plant, Director of the Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation for the State of Colorado

“Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has set an ambitious goal of increasing energy efficiency in Utah 20 percent by 2015. The Center of the American West and SWEEP report will help us to achieve that goal by educating consumers and businesses.”

– Dr. Laura Nelson, Energy Advisor to former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.