Negawatts - Twelve transitions, eight improvements and one distraction

Efficient use of electricity is undergoing 12 main transitions - in concept, content, scope, technology, implementation, regulation and market role - that make achievable savings far larger and cheaper than previously supposed, For example, large electrical savings are often turning out to cost less than small savings, Eight powerful classes of improvements can continue to keep end-use efficiency generally the least-cost resource, However, efficiency efforts have lately been diverted by a retail-wheeling myth which; if true, would only strengthen the business case for making very efficient use of electricity a core competitive strategy - with or without the rapidly approaching and radical decentralization of the electricity system. (C) 1996 Rocky Mountain Institute, Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.