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FROM THE FIELD
August 2005
Wake Up Call For Energy Management
It's been just about five years since the energy calamity hit California. At the time, some of us thought foodservice would finally wake up and get to work. Some chains did just that, and some parts of the country did, too. But for the most part, lethargy has marked not only foodservice but the utility business as well. Everybody understands short-term profit motives. But anyone trying to run a sustainable model should be in high-action mode by now.
A couple months ago I went out to Pacific Gas & Electric's Food Service Technology Center to attend a meeting about upcoming projects and the general state of both the energy and foodservice equipment industries. With representatives on hand from multiple West Coast utilities, many multiunit foodservice customers and a smattering of manufacturing execs, I was reminded that PG&E and other California utilities are way out in front of most of the utility industry where conservation is concerned. California and only a few other states are trying hard to manage demand growth without having to build expensive additional energy plants or buy expensive imported energy. They're trying to encourage conservation and spread unavoidable demand across non-peak hours.
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Perhaps we'll doze until we're hit on the head. It wouldn't be the first time.
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That's in sharp contrast to much of the country's utility industry, however, which is still in a "demand-building mode," even while fuel supply clearly is less than bottomless. Ever wonder why you don't get too many helpful conservation tips from your local energy suppliers? Now you know.
Without resorting to quoting shrill "experts" who are routinely smeared as anti-business, anti-American-way and anti-whatever, consider the following unchallenged facts: As of this writing, after dipping momentarily, the price of oil is up above $60/barrel again. Coal's available. But not all of it's clean or cheap to burn, which is why most newer electric plants burn natural gas to generate their juice. (Isn't it ironic that electric companies are using up natural gas?) In any case, the real point is that all these fuels are in finite supply, and costs in general can only go up.
Meanwhile, it's been reported that some China watchers estimate 400 million Chinese have risen out of poverty and into the consumer class in the past decade. With a total population of 1.3 billion, China's booming production and consumption growth mean energy demands will go nowhere but up. Way up. And what of India? With a population of a billion plus, India already graduates more engineers per year than the United States does, now rapidly building a skilled consumer class. In simplified terms, 2.3 billion people in just two markets will eventually come online. What does that mean for future energy demand?
Now obviously they won't all come online at once. But figure over the next decade China adds another 400 million people with disposable income. To avoid overestimating, figure India during the same period adds maybe 200 million. That's a total of 600 million new energy consumers. If they only consume half of what Americans burn up, they’ll hit the energy market like adding another America to global energy demand.
Are you sure you really want to do nothing about your energy efficiency?
Brian Ward
Chief Editor
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