By Richard Douglas
It seems appropriate that the symbol most associated with Power Smart is a drawing of the earth. A globe.
This Canadian-born program to promote electrical efficiency is growing beyond our borders and becoming a global concern. People around the world have come to associate the Power Smart logo, placed on energy efficient products endorsed by the company, with products and ideas that cut power costs and mean real savings.
What started as a national club of energy savers is now a world-wide consortium with members in South America, Europe, Mexico, the United States, and the Caribbean. This global expansion comes at time when Power Smart's mandate of energy conservation is facing changes brought on by new directions in the industry. With a surplus of power across the country, an organization aimed at conservation and energy efficiency could appear, to put it kindly, anachronistic. But Power Smart is playing a new card these days, one that aims at helping the customer -- residential, commercial, industrial -- save on their power bills.
And that makes Power Smart as vital as it always has been, said Colleen Brennan, Power Smart's director of communications.
"Power Smart has come to mean really good things to the consumer. We certainly want to continue on with that, but the focus has changed from energy conservation to energy value."
Utilities are using Power Smart to help customers enjoy their lifestyles and business practises but to do so while using energy wisely.
"It's to provide a customer service and to point them in the right direction," she said.
For residential customers that direction may include appliances and light bulbs that have been endorsed by Power Smart as energy savers. For business and industry, Power Smart initiatives can include the use of high efficiency motors and efficient lighting systems.
Power Smart Inc. is owned by four provincial electric utilities including those of British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Ontario. Nova Scotia Power and TransAlta Enterprises, in Alberta, also share ownership. Additional membership is comprised of 20 electric utilities and four government agencies around the world.
The Power Smart name and logo are licensed to electric utilities, governments, manufacturers and retailers of energy-efficient products. These groups work together to ensure that highly efficient electrical products are available to customers at a reasonable price.
In October, which has been dubbed Power Smart month, members devise their own advertising campaigns for newspapers, radio and television to further promote the wise use of energy. This year, Power Smart will also participate in a special supplement to be included in Maclean's magazine.
New Management Team
Robert W. (Bob) Watson has recently been named the company's president and chief executive
officer. Previously, he was the general manager for Cambridge and North Dumfries Hydro, an
electric utility serving 38,000 customers in Cambridge, Ontario.
And after 13 years as president of Nova Scotia Power, Louis R. Comeau has become the company's new chairman.
"Utilities are committed to the long-term viability of Power Smart and will continue to promote endorsed products to customers," said Comeau. "Bob Watson will ensure that Power Smart achieves its goal of becoming a household name for energy efficient products."
With a membership that includes the Portland General Electric Company (Oregon) the Caribbean Utilities Company (British West) Indies and Fideicomiso De Apoyo Al Programa De Ahorro De Energia Del Sector Electrico (Mexico), Power Smart continues to find new members looking for ways to reduce costs and increase savings.
Power Smart Travels South
One the newest members is Eletrobas, the federal utility in Brazil.
After visiting several countries, to examine their conservation methods, representatives from Eletrobas chose Power Smart to help them meet their efficiency targets.
Brazil's National Program for the Conservation of Electricity (PROCEL) had been in operation since 1985. Its main focus had been to increase efficiency on the supply-side of the market. Now, as a member of Power Smart, PROCEL is learning more about demand-side management (DSM) and its use of high efficiency motors, regulations, codes and standards to benefit residential and industrial customers.
In addition, residential customers will be the target of an educational campaign featuring endorsed energy efficient products.
These steps are being taken now, proactively, in hopes of meeting electrical supply needs over the next 20 years.
It's expected that consumption in Brazil will increase by about 5.5 per cent a year during the 1990s. From 2000 to 2015 it's expected that energy use will grow by about 3.6 per cent annually.
Such growth would require an investment of more than $170 billion in order to meet the demand.
With both PROCEL's and Power Smart's programs in place, it's hoped that efficiency measures will reduce usage by 3,375 GWhrs this year. By the end of next year, PROCEL expects to see a savings of 7,228 GWhrs. After 1997, targets will be set each year until 2015.
By that time the program is projected to save 130 TWhrs a year. That would cut $50 billion from the amount needed for upgrades to the system.
Energy Efficiency in Europe
Power Smart is also working with new members in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In 1991, a
delegation of representatives from Canada's energy sector attended an energy efficiency conference
in Sorrento, Italy. Representatives from Czechoslovakia were also there.
Attracted by the potential economic and environmental benefits offered by Power Smart programs, generating utilities and energy agencies from the Czech and Slovak republics became sponsored members.
The problems faced by the Eastern European industry are different than those here. The concentration there has been on the demand side of the industry.
In 1993 a contract was signed for a two-part DSM feasibility study for the Slovak Republic. The project received funding from the Canadian government through a bilateral assistance program. At about the same time, a similar project for the Czech Republic was conducted by Ontario Hydro International.
The Slovak power system is mainly comprised of one major generating utility, Slovak Power Company, and three regional distribution utilities. About 30 per cent of its power comes from nuclear plants, but that ratio will increase to greater than 50 per cent with the completion of a nuclear plant currently under construction.
Dusan Berka, in charge of Power Smart's international services, worked with representatives from Manitoba and British Columbia hydros to investigate the need for DSM in the Slovak Republic.
"Once we knew that DSM was feasible, we were set to go with phase two," Berka said.
By the time phase two began, Slovakia had become an independent nation from the Czech Republic. These vast political and social changes did not deter the program.
A goal of this phase was to further involve the Slovaks in the process of the study. Berka said there is little point in adopting a DSM strategy if the central players don't understand why it's needed, how it works or what it can accomplish.
Using the experience of Manitoba Hydro's energy management department, Berka and his team worked closely with the Slovak Power Company, the Ministry of Economy, regional distribution utilities and the Energy Inspectorate.
The Slovak members were trained in the latest energy efficiency technologies and DSM methods. They were showed how marketing the Power Smart name and ethic would help consumers save money and the environment by promoting the wise use of energy (At present, a majority of the country's power comes from thermal plants burning inferior grade coal. The resulting environmental concerns would be aided by any measures that increased energy conservation).
The second phase also defined two alternatives for technical and economic DSM potential.
The first alternative was high intensity DSM, a high cost option using discounts and direct financial support for customers. It would also include intensive training, education, marketing and consulting with customers during a 15-year period. Predicted energy savings from this option were 1,059 GWhrs per year and 324 MW in peak output over a 15-year period.
Berka's team came up with a number of energy efficiency programs that could be put into use. They included:
The second alternative was to implement a DSM plan of less intensity using information campaigns aimed at energy customers. This plan would result in predicted electricity savings of 504 GWhrs per year and 137 MW in peak output over a 15-year period.
"Unofficially, the low intensity plan is in effect," Berka said. "It is less costly and includes advertising, promotion and customer awareness."
It also includes something new for a business that once existed under a communist regime: customer service. The transition from a centrally controlled market to a free market means a different outlook is required; suddenly, the customer is a concern.
Other ideas are being adapted but continue to need some refinement. Berka said the utilities want to provide full DSM but have not yet implemented the framework for it.
"They're not really doing DSM, they're doing energy management," he said. "They do a lot of consulting and advising."
What's missing is the strategic planning and monitoring of DSM in order to provide a complete picture of power use.
"They won't really be doing DSM until they can quantify how much money has been spent and how many GWhrs or MW have been saved," he said.
To further spread the word of energy efficiency, last October two of the four Slovak members participated in their first Power Smart month. Using the Power Smart globe and a Slovak crown for visuals, the members ran 20- and 30-second commercials on national television. They placed advertisements in community and nation newspapers and published a newspaper supplement.
"This year it's going to be bigger and better," Berka said. "We hope to have the other two members take part."
Despite some bumpy spots along the way, he remains hopeful that all of the Power Smart initiatives will become part of the electricity infrastructure.
One positive sign is a draft he's seen of a new national energy policy that includes DSM as an essential component.
Power Smart Expands In The Czech Republic.
Like other Eastern Block countries expanding into a free market economy, it's expected that the
Czech Republic's energy needs will grow substantially.
Hoping to avoid future capacity shortages, two Czech utilities have recently become Power Smart members.
The Czech Power Company (CEZ) group, with headquarters in Prague, is the country's largest generation and transmission company.
The other, which became a member at the beginning of the year, is the Moravian-Silesian Heating and Power Plants (MST) group. Based in Ostrava, the Czech Republic's third-largest city, MST primarily produces and distributes heat (2,239 MW annually). It also produces 144 MW of electricity.
"That's a really unique opportunity because they are not purely an electric utility," Berka said. "Power Smart has always catered to electric utilities but we convinced them (MST) that the Power Smart methodology could be very well applied to their heating utility."
Berka said two areas where Power Smart can help have already been identified. Product labeling has been requested to increase conservation awareness and energy auditing of industrial, commercial and institutional buildings.
"What we promote is not just auditing, but training," Berka said." We don't do auditing for them, we train them so when the Canadians go home there's something left with them. We've learned that it's important to leave something behind."
Building An Identity
Another thing that Power Smart is leaving behind is its name. Berka believes it can become an
international symbol of Canadian environmentalism and conservation.
Even in countries where English is not the main language, he believes an identity can be established.
"Every time I turn around on television, billboards, magazines and radio, I see ads for Coca-Cola and McDonald's and people identify with them very quickly," he said. "Because it's foreign, because it's different, it catches their attention."
He believes, therefore, that Power Smart's name and logo could become a popular franchise anywhere there is a need for energy efficiency and conservation.