Editorial
How could energy from coal possibly be green or clean? Sure, coal is a third cleaner than it was thirty years ago, and the US has a 200-year supply. Still, it's coal. It pollutes and the supply is finite, just like petroleum. Really clean coal, like cold fusion and hydrogen cars, is many years away.

Alternatives aren't around the corner
Alternative sources of energy are appealing to businesses that take responsibility for their energy use. Alternative energy is cleaner, safer, renewable -- but it takes time. Time to develop and adopt. Time to become affordable. Time for an industry to change.

We're making progress. The US has over 116,000 MW of installed renewable energy capacity. But all that renewable energy hardly puts a dent in our consumption of fossil fuels.

Does pushing away from coal long-term suggest pushing toward nuclear in the near term? That won't happen. No nuke plants have been started in the US in decades, for good reason. There are the security risks (plutonium), the operating risks (Three Mile Island) and the disposal problems (Yucca Mountain).

Acting responsibly in the golden years of coal
For now, the US will depend on coal for electricity -- and continue to be one of the largest coal burners in the world. We should view this as an interim situation, buying time to develop alternative energy sources. What should we do in the meantime?

Some businesses buy green power through programs that require their utilities to provide it; others install their own renewable energy sources. A car dealership in California covered their roof with solar panels, and generates 10 percent of their electricity from the sun. The cost was US$60,000.

The more interesting fact is that the same dealership had already saved 20 percent through conservation. Simply put, efficiency saved them twice as much energy as they could create. And saving energy saved them money.

The positive impact of a kilowatt saved declines as we move closer to having clean energy sources.

Green, clean and plentiful
The cleanest energy is energy we don't use. Not turning up lights or not running a shift doesn't use power and it doesn't pollute. It also reduces power bills. That's why energy efficiency and conservation provide the greatest immediate gains.

When you take a kilowatt of your coal power, and don't use it, you convert it from dirty and scarce to clean and plentiful.

And saving a kilowatt of coal power makes a bigger difference than saving a kilowatt of cleaner power. Think of it as coal not burned, skies not polluted, greenhouse gasses not emitted.

The most fertile ground for conservation is office and industrial facilities. Commercial users represent about 40 percent of US energy consumption.

Efficiency starts simply with awareness and individual measures to reduce energy use. Through steps like efficient lighting and HVAC, most companies are already using this basic form of energy management. Machinery is more efficient than ever. After all, we've had our eyes open to this problem since the sixties.

Taking a bigger step
More sophisticated conservation strategies involve active management of energy, and are usually driven by special pricing policies from the local utility. In peak hours, businesses respond to higher electric rates by reducing their demand. High-demand operations are reserved for off-peak hours, when rates are lower.

Time-of-use pricing and demand response programs are offered by a small but growing number of utilities. Businesses can, however, implement measures without the financial incentives, and be ready to take advantage of time-based pricing when it comes around.

During peak hours, your utility is buying power at premium prices. Power plants are running near capacity. Grid components are strained. Instead of upgrading the infrastructure at tremendous cost, it makes more sense to flatten the demand curve. By reducing your energy use, especially in peak hours, your business can make a difference.

Peak hours are usually late in the day. (Your utility will gladly give you more specific information about the shape of their daily demand curve.) Simply find ways to adjust your operations to reduce consumption during those times.

Coal era as opportunity
As long as we rely on coal, we undeniably harm the environment and deplete the best bet we have at the moment. But it's also a time when our conservation has the greatest impact, because it's coal energy we're saving. Think of it as an opportunity to make a little conservation make a big difference. We may never have this chance again.