As the Retail Merchants Association of NH's (RMANH) and others' new energy efficiency project gets up and running, an opinion piece which underscores the importance of doing what we can do in the here and now to be more “green” appears in today’s Augusta, Maine Morning Sentinel.

The column – “Energy efficiency should get as much attention as green power” – is written by Gordon L. Weil, author, publisher, consultant and former Director of the Office of Energy Resources and Public Advocate for the State of Maine, and says in part:

We should not overlook a much less dramatic approach to making the country more energy independent and reducing emissions. It can have a major impact.

It is the more efficient use of energy. When we use less or can match our energy use to times when electricity supplies are readily available, we can avoid building new power plants and power lines.

People don't want to wash clothes at 3 a.m. Fortunately, we won't have to go such extremes, thanks to "smart grid."

It is the remote control of power usage so that it has almost no discernable negative effect on human activities.

Smart grid and other efficiency measures can deliver everything that green power offers with less transmission cost. They leave more green in our pockets.

Legislators and regulators need to focus now as much on promoting and funding less glamorous energy efficiency as they do on green power.