Juneau's Energy Emergency Ends: Query: How much of 30% energy use reduction will last?

[Divernan]

Good news from my peep in Juneau:

Monday, June 2, 2008
Energy Emergency Ends

Juneau's energy emergency has ended. The power company managed to reconnect the transmission line to Juneau's main power plant last night, and (relatively) cheap hydropower is again flowing through our energy-hungry veins. The construction crews finished the aerial repair work far ahead of schedule, thanks both to good weather and some on-the-ground innovation in that steep, avalanche-prone terrain. Their bag of tricks included shooting a high-caliber rifle out the side of a helicopter to sever still-attached powerlines from damaged transmission towers. That enabled them to get electrical work going -- even while it was still unsafe to land or set foot on the still-avalanching slopes.

The power rates won't come down instantly for all customers -- since some didn't start paying the higher prices for emergency backup power until well after the avalanches. Now we'll start to see whether Juneau's prodigious conservation effort -- with electricity consumption 30 percent or more below pre-avalanche levels -- will translate into any lasting environmental benefit. The utility burned more than 2 million gallons of diesel in the past month and a half to keep the city's lights on in this town of 30,000 people. That's about 70 gallons per person.