Nationwide, the Department of Energy reports that demand for electricity increased from 2 percent to 2.5 percent a year in the 1990s. It's not a new trend, nor one that's likely to end soon. Electricity consumption has been growing for decades. In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, power consumption grew by as much as 6 percent and 7 percent a year, said Alan Beamon, an economist with the Energy Information Administration, a Department of Energy agency. Now personal computers, fax machines, cell phones, cable television boxes and other gadgets help drive the demand for power.
Experts disagree on how much electricity high-tech products use.
No one can predict what electricity-eating gizmos may be invented. Portland General Electric, which serves more Oregon customers than any other company, says demand for electricity in its service area grew 2.8 percent a year between 1995 and 2000. During that period, demand for electricity by PGE's high-tech industrial customers increased by 12 percent a year. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimate high-tech and its products account for about 3 percent of electricity consumption. But the laboratory acknowledges that the high-tech demand for electricity intensifies in some areas.