Experts: Efficiency key to meeting Oregon energy goals

A panel of energy experts took the stage at the Portland City Club to discuss Oregon’s energy future Friday. Their conclusion was unanimous: In order for Oregon to meet its renewable energy goals, improving energy efficiency must be the top priority.

For Bob Jenks, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board of Oregon, the question isn’t how Oregon will reach its stated renewable energy goal — 25 percent of the state’s energy needs met by renewable sources by 2025 — but how it will do so in a way that’s affordable to the utility customers who may be asked to pay higher rates to pay for up-front investments in renewable energy sources.

In addition to setting priorities about where the state invests when it comes to renewable energy, Jenks said efficiency is the most direct path — addressing both climate change and affordability at the same time.

“Our rates are going to go up, but if we’re efficient, it doesn’t mean our bills go up,” Jenks said.

Jenks added that while Portland based utilities — Portland General Electric, Pacific Power and Northwest Natural specifically — are setting a strong example by spending 5 percent of their retail revenues on efficiency programs, other Pacific Northwest utilities are falling short.

Jenks’ co-panelists, Angus Duncan, president and founder of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and Rachel Shimshak, executive director of the Renewable Northwest Project, talked about the state’s current renewable portfolio and whether it was up to the task of 25 percent by 2025.

“Can we technically meet the goals? Yes,” Duncan said. “But there’s a lot of work still to be done in the transportation sector. The auto is still king.”

“The Northwest is blessed with a generous endowment of renewable energy potential,” Shimshak said. “If we’re very aggressive with energy efficiency we can blow past 25 percent by 2025.” Shimshak pegged Oregon’s current portfolio of renewable energy at between 4 percent and 5 percent.

Visit Portland City Club for more information about the event and its rebroadcast availability.