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The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) released a 60-page report entitled, The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market: Generating a More Complete Picture. Their statement on energy efficiency is promising: “Given the right choices and investments in the many cost-effective but underutilized energy efficiency technologies, the United States can cost-effectively reduce energy consumption by an additional 25-30 percent or more over the course of the next 20-25 years."
According to the ACEEE, annual investments in energy-efficient technologies currently support 1.6 million U.S. jobs – that’s about $300 billion invested in energy efficiency in 2004 – or, three times the amount invested in traditional energy infrastructure. The 2004 investment alone amounted to 1.7 quads of energy savings - that’s out of 100.3 quads consumed by the U.S. in 2004, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The savings are roughly equivalent to the energy required to operate 40 mid-sized coal-fired plants.
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