Southern Company endorses the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Energy Efficiency Action Plan. The plan recommends ways to meet the challenges of high energy prices, energy security and independence, air pollution, and global climate change through electric and natural gas energy efficiency.
Energy Efficiency Programs
To help decrease the amount of electricity used by household appliances, building heating, cooling and lighting, and industrial processes, we promote many federal and state programs, including appliance-efficiency standards, financial incentives for purchase and installation of energy efficient products, demand-response programs, and information-sharing programs. Examples include the Department of Energy's Climate Challenge and the Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR programs.
Programs:
- ENERGY STAR encourages adoption of energy efficient products and processes for homes and businesses. This EPA program is promoted in marketing materials and on our Web sites. Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved $12 billion on their utility bills and avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 23 million cars over one year. ENERGY STAR makes recommendations for household products, home construction, and business energy management.
- Direct load control pays customers for allowing us to cycle air conditioning on and off during periods of peak demand. Customers receive a credit to their bill for signing up. As of December 2005, 50,548 customers have joined.
- Demand-response and interruptible programs send a signal to participating industrial customers to encourage or require them to shift energy use to non-peak periods. With this program, we have reduced demand on our system by 850 megawatts, avoiding the need for a new power plant.
- EnergyDirect.com offers businesses energy load tracking to enable power-use planning and timely use.
- Weatherization assistance for low-income customers provides insulation and weather-proofing to low income housing.
- Low-interest loans enable residential customers to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes.
- Energy audits and surveys are conducted for residential and business customers, delivering free information on energy efficiency and one-on-one assistance to business customers to help them improve energy efficiency. Additionally, residential customers can complete an online Energy Check-Up to find ways to become more energy efficient. In 2005, we completed more than 20,000 in-home and online audits and check-ups.
- GoodCents provides thermal and HVAC efficiency standards for new construction. Customers in Florida can sign up for GoodCents Select , which enables them to program their largest energy-using appliances to automatically respond to varying prices. GoodCents Select serves more than 7,300 customers in Florida.
- Geothermal heating and cooling and high-efficiency electric water heating use temperature differences between the air and ground (beneath the surface) to heat and cool buildings and heat water. We promote geothermal heat pumps, electric water heating, and recovery ventilators.
At Gulf Power we offer customers a way to program their largest energy-using appliances to automatically respond to varying prices.
Demand-side programs for Southern Company's regional utilities are governed by state laws and public service commission requirements. These laws and requirements allow utilities to undertake programs only if the program cost is less than the cost of new generation. Energy efficiency programs typically must pass these cost-effectiveness tests to assure the best use of resources and the least impact on rates. Additionally, we must make sure sponsored energy efficiency programs do not impact customers who cannot, or choose not to, participate.
Visit energy efficiency pages for Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, and Mississippi Power.
Together, Southern Company demand-side and energy efficiency programs have avoided the need for nearly 3,000 megawatts of new generating capacity in 2005 — about the size of a large generating plant.