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U.S. Department of Energy
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B. C. Hydro flips a market

Journal Article · · Public Utilities Fortnightly; (United States)
OSTI ID:5456898
The ultimate goal of demand-side management (DSM) is to stimulate markets for energy efficiency, to transform markets so that utilities can reduce their investments in DSM and have customers pay the costs themselves. This is not to say, however, that utilities will have a limited tenure in DSM, because market transformation, apart from being a new buzz word, is a moving target as technologies and techniques for efficiency improve over time. One of the prime examples of market transformation has taken place in the Canadian motors market in British Columbia, where the crown utility, British Columbia Hydro, has shifted its purchasing decisions from standard- to high- and premium-efficiency motors. By raising customers' awareness of the attractive lifecycle economics of efficient motors and providing an incentive for the purchase of the higher efficiency equipment, the utility has effectively transformed the market. Better still, B.C. Hydro has succeeded in reducing its incentives while maintaining high-efficiency motors sales levels by [open quotes]ramping down[close quotes] the program, using it in other areas and to promote other energy-efficient technologies such as adjustable speed drives, synchronous belts, and efficient gear speed reducers. B.C. Hydro began its initiative to promote high-efficiency motors with one basic goal in mind: to [open quotes]flip the market[close quotes] between the sale of standard- and high-efficiency motors. In 1988 the purchase of a high-efficiency motor was the exception, not the rule. Today it is the rule, and motor vendors have played a key role in this reversal. While they typically stocked standard-efficiency motors just five years ago, their inventory is now almost exclusively made up of high- and premium-efficiency motors.
OSTI ID:
5456898
Journal Information:
Public Utilities Fortnightly; (United States), Journal Name: Public Utilities Fortnightly; (United States) Vol. 131:15; ISSN PUFNAV; ISSN 0033-3808
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English