As energy experts remind us, efficiency is far cheaper than fuel. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest, 
fastest way to reduce energy consumption and energy costs. Consistent with this point, my primary energy focus would be greater energy efficiency.
This approach has already been remarkably effective. For example, since 1970, energy efficiency has met 75 percent of all new demand for energy services. And in 2006, a McKinsey Global Insight study of global energy efficiency potential found that all future energy service demand growth in North America could be met through cost-effective energy efficiency investments, such as greener building technologies and more efficient vehicles. Despite our best efforts, it is clear that enormous energy efficiency potential remains.
To maximize the potential for greater efficiency, I support a comprehensive energy efficiency agenda to reduce electricity consumption. This will require changing the way utilities do business. In the current model, utility customers and utilities have opposing interests when it comes to energy efficiency. Utilities earn profits by selling power, not by meeting energy needs more efficiently. While customers benefit when they spend less on their electric bills, utilities lose money when their "product" isn't used. We must decouple electricity sales from utility profits and enable utilities to gain from investments made in greater efficiency. (In states like California where this has already taken place, energy use per capita is about 30 percent lower than in the rest of the country.)
We must also phase out use of incandescent bulbs. Compact fluorescent bulbs use 75% less energy than traditional light bulbs and generally last 10 times longer. Switching one incandescent bulb to an efficient compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save $33 over the bulb's lifetime. The average home has 45 light bulbs, meaning $200 savings per year if all were switched. If every home in America replaced one incandescent light bulb with a CFL, we would save enough energy in one year to light more than 3 million homes, prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 800,000 cars and save approximately $600 million in annual energy costs. If every home installed five CFL bulbs, we eliminate the need for 21 power plants.
The average fuel economy of American cars has stagnated for the last 15 years. We must dramatically increase vehicle fuel economy standards. I support plans to raise fleet-wide fuel economy standards from the current level of 25 miles per gallon to 55+ mpg in 2030. By 2030, this will save consumers more than $180 billion per year and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 730 million metric tons.
