We reduced a lot of wasted energy consumption by helping promote more cost-efficient appliances and building retrofit measures.

Twenty five years ago I worked at PG&E, where we pumped millions into energy efficiency, along with all the other utilities in the state — and that was before we were given incentives.

Markets change, regulatory frameworks change. They will change again and again.

Americans can and do improve energy efficiency without the assistance of utilities — they do so by simple conservation steps — and by a desire to lower utility bills.

I think this time the drive for an efficient economy may stick. It depends on whether American’s believe that turning off a lamp when a room is unoccupied is a good thing or a bad thing.

I run into people every day who really believe it is a bad thing. Why? I don’t know. Maybe they have an overdeveloped sense of privilege. But I find a lot of people who look at this as a political issue, rather than as an economic or national security issue.

It’s like a division between republicans and democrats — a division so strong that common sense cannot prevail.