A report from the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates Tennesseans would save thousands over the next 15 years if President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan is implemented.
Specifically, the report looked at the potential impact of President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan and found that it could save the average Tennessee household more than $1,800 dollars in electricity costs over the next 15 years.
Stephen Smith, executive director of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, says the report validates a belief many have had for years.
“We have long challenged the Tennessee Valley Authority and their local power companies to do more in the energy efficiency area, so this reinforces other discussions that we’re having,” he states. “What we need is the political will and we need the utility to make the investment.”
According to the report, without any change in the way we produce and use electricity, households in Tennessee can expect to pay almost 6 percent more over the next 15 years.
The study says if Tennessee’s leaders adopt the least-cost compliance scenarios from the Clean Power Plan, electric bills would see significant savings.
Study author Marilyn Brown says it’s wrong to assume that consumers would have to do without common comforts by using Clean Energy.
“Energy efficiency is not taking cold showers and drinking warm beer,” she states. “It’s not suffering, it’s not consuming less in order to cut your bills. It means using energy more wisely, purchasing and using equipment in a more efficient manner.”
A common argument among fossil fuel advocates is that as the population grows so will the demand on energy, but Smith says that’s not the case.
“Just because the economy is growing, doesn’t mean that we have to be using a lot more energy,” he argues. “And that’s what has changed and that’s what the Clean Power Plan reinforces is – we have these technologies, we have the ability to keep people saving money, through using less power, and therefore that’s what we need to drive forward.”
The Environmental Protect Agency projects that the Clean Power Plan will help avoid more than 6,600 premature deaths, up to 150,000 asthma attacks and 490,000 missed days of work annually by 2030.
