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Katie Pruder-Scruggs: Hi, I’m Katie Pruder with the Bonneville Power Administration.
Today we’re in Portland, Ore., at the Northwest Industrial Energy Efficiency Summit where
BPA Administrator Steve Wright gave a speech about how conservation is good for business.
Steve Wright: And I will argue to you that investments in energy efficiency are probably
the single biggest thing we can do in terms of cost management. And why do I say that?
Because the biggest cost of power supply in any utility’s system is the cost of generating
resources or the alternative, energy efficiency.
Katie Pruder-Scruggs: Energy efficiency is especially relevant now as the region’s
demand for electricity continues to grow and the nation focuses on the benefits of clean
power. And with the tough economy, finding ways to cut costs instead of jobs is more
important now than ever.
Steve Wright: Number one thought that I you’ll take away today: we want you to be competitive;
we want you to be successful. We are here for the health of the Pacific Northwest and
strong industry is important to the Pacific Northwest. The river and the Bonneville Power
Administration are foundations of the Northwest economy, and people care a lot about jobs
in this region. It is a core part of our mission, to be a strong part of the economy of this
region and to support you in terms of developing jobs for this region. We want the employment.
We certainly want the tax base. We want a more vibrant and diversified Northwest economy
that will be able to withstand the ups and downs of global and national markets. And
we do care a lot about environmental protection, so we’re trying to figure out how we get
that strong economy with a healthy environment.
Katie Pruder-Scruggs: After the speech we caught up with Steve and talked to him one-on-one.
Steve Wright: We all know about the refrigerators in our houses and home insulation and those
kinds of things. But in industry each business is unique and consequently it’s harder for
us to understand it. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t tremendous opportunities out
there. And one of the things that I think we want to work on is better understanding
industry and making sure that we’re capturing the energy efficiency potential that’s out
there.
Energy efficiency is the least cost resource that’s available to our region so we want
to go get that. It’s what preserves the low cost advantage that this region has.