Today’s 85 million U.S. homes use $100 billion of fuel and electricity ($1150/home). If their energy intensity (resource energy/ft2) were still frozen at 1973 levels, they would use 18% more. With well‐insulated houses, need for space heat is vanishing. Superinsulated Saskatchewan homes spend annually only $270 for space heat, $150 for water heat, and $400 for appliances, yet they cost only $2000±1000 more than conventional new homes.
The concept of Cost of Conserved Energy (CCE) is used to rank conservation technologies for existing and new homes and appliances, and to develop supply curves of conserved energy and a least cost scenario. Calculations are calibrated with the BECA and other data bases. By limiting investments in efficiency to those whose CCE is less than current fuel and electricity prices, the potential residential plus commercial energy use in 2000 AD drops to half of that estimated by DOE, and the number of power plants needed drops by 200.
For the whole buildings sector, potential savings by 2000 are 8 Mbod (worth $50B/year), at an average CCE of $10/barrel.
