Certainly, California's energy crisis gives off whiffs of political incompetence, cowardice and corporate subterfuge. More is at play than low water levels behind hydroelectric dams, but suspicions must yield to the reality of razor-thin power margins. Gov. Gary Locke and the Legislature have a package of policy proposals that can make a difference over time, but the immediate steps begin very close to home and on the job.
Conservation is back in fashion after being in and out of style with cycles of cheaper energy costs.
For much of the Northwest, those savings in the late 1970s and early 1980s were driven by a nasty recession. Power was plentiful because it went begging. When prices rebounded, and saving energy was embraced as cheaper than building new generating capacity, the Bonneville Power Administration and utilities responded with aggressive conservation plans. They faded, too, when changes in federal law and plentiful natural gas markets pushed electricity prices down again. Turn off the lights, turn down the thermostat and shut off the computer and any number of other power-nibbling appliances when they are not in use.