PR 04 08

BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Contact: Katie Pruder, BPA, (503) 230-3111

BPA surpasses regional energy conservation goals

Portland, Ore. - The Bonneville Power Administration helped bring an additional 58.5 average megawatts of new energy efficiency into the Northwest in 2007, through beefed up conservation programs and incentives for regional utility customers. That's the same as generating enough energy to power 50,000 homes. It also significantly exceeds the 2007 goal of saving 52 megawatts.

"Energy efficiency is an important resource," says BPA Vice President Mike Weedall. "Saving electricity provides the same benefit as gaining a new, carbon free, and inexpensive source of environmentally-friendly power. That's one of the many reasons BPA established an aggressive new goal for energy conservation; a goal which I'm proud to say we solidly surpassed." BPA will officially publish these conservations statistics, which are preliminary at this point, this spring in the agency's Annual Report on Conservation Savings.

Many of the megawatts saved are a result of enhanced energy efficiency programs implemented through BPA's customer utilities, and about one-third of the energy savings came from encouraging the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs in homes and businesses.

BPA also partners with Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance to bring energy efficiencies to industries such as hospitals, grocery stores and office real estate. In addition, the partnership encourages residential construction companies to install energy efficient lighting as well as heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment in homes.

Another BPA program helps weatherize the homes of low-income residents in the four Northwest states. BPA increased the budget for this program for the 2007-2009 rate period, to a record $15 million. This program complements those at the state level, while following the Department of Energy Weather Assistance Program guidelines.

BPA will again increase its conservation goal in 2010, to 60 average megawatts. New programs will help support this goal, such as BPA's Energy Smart Design, ^TM which encourages construction companies to consider efficiencies at the start of the building design process. This approach can save energy for the building owner and tenants for years to come. A new building slated for construction later this year in Vancouver will be the first to feature design elements from the program.

Since 1982, BPA's conservation efforts have saved about 1,000 megawatts for the region, or about the same amount of power generated by one of the largest dams in the Federal Columbia River Power System.

BPA is a not-for-profit federal electric utility that markets more than a third of the electricity consumed in the Pacific Northwest. The power is produced at 31 federal dams and one nuclear plant in the Northwest and is sold to more than 140 Northwest utilities. BPA operates a high-voltage transmission grid comprising more than 15,000 miles of lines and associated substations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

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Bonneville Power Administration
905 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232

Mailing Address: Media Relations - DM7, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208-3621

Phone: (503)230-5131 FAX: (503) 230-5884 Web Site: http://www.bpa.gov/

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