Overview

The world continues to demand more and more energy. For how we move, what we consume, how we live. As Chevron looks for more energy sources to meet growing demand, we all must be smarter about what we use and how we use it. It's time we all took action.

As an energy company, we at Chevron believe that energy saved is energy found. We believe that reducing demand isn’t about sacrificing in the way we live, but about being more efficient with the energy we all use. By making smarter energy choices and being less wasteful, we can all make a big difference.

About the Energy Generator

The Energy Generator is a tool that demonstrates that energy saved is energy found. Developed with the Alliance to Save Energy, the Energy Generator suggests several easy ways one can save energy in their daily lives. The tool then converts that saved energy and expresses it in easily understood equivalents. For example, a movie lover could offset the amount of energy it takes to watch 26 DVDs by simply carpooling to work one day.

Further, the Energy Generator can aggregate results to show how much energy could be saved if a thousand of people joined in. In all instances where aggregate results state "Power a (school, hospital, etc)", power refers to only providing the electricity to run that facility or unit.

Lastly, the Energy Generator can express saved energy in a cash equivalent so the user can better understand how saving energy might affect their motor gasoline, natural gas or electricity bill.

The energy savings earned for the actions in the first frame of the tool occur over various timeframes as indicated, (exceptions below). The second frame expresses those energy savings in the form of another energy-consuming action which is measured either in units of time, such as “play a video game for 24 hours” or in other units, such as “watch 25 DVDs.” The third frame expresses various actions that could be offset if people save energy together based on the first frame. These energy-consuming actions are again measured either in units of time, such as "power a fire station for 36 weeks” or in other units, such as “power an Amtrak train for 18 miles."

For the following two actions in the first frame, energy savings occur in discrete intervals, not over a period of time:

• Loads of laundry (savings are measured per load)
• Road trip in a hybrid (savings are measured per road trip)

All energy comparisons are based on the British Thermal Unit (btu) energy content of the source fuel. One btu represents the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. We used btu in order to compare fuels that are not interchangeable.

All electricity calculations are based on the energy content of electricity generated by fossil fuels, even though electricity is also generated by nuclear and renewable sources. To simplify calculations to use available data, we are comparing savings with a gas-fired power baseline. In other words, saving a kWh of electricity will decrease the amount of electricity that gas-fired power plants need to generate rather than reduce the amount of wind or nuclear electricity in that grid. Taking action to conserve energy generally will result in less electricity generation from natural gas – gas costs more, so gas-fired power plants generally will be the first to have their output cut in response to demand reductions.

All measures that involve water heating assume the water heater is fueled by natural gas.

Tool Limitations

The energy savings calculated by this tool consider only personal energy savings and do not factor in any additional effect these measures might have on an economy-wide scale. For example, biking to work instead of driving would reduce road congestion, which might enable other drivers to get better fuel economy. Only the personal savings from not driving is considered though, and not the extra energy all the other drivers might save.

The cost savings calculations only consider the money saved due to energy savings. Additional costs may be incurred in order to realize this savings (e.g., paying a public transportation fare), but the reported value of savings only considers the cost of the energy that is not consumed.

The energy savings from riding public transportation considers the energy saved by not driving, but it does not assume that any additional energy is consumed by adding an additional rider to the public transportation system.

Two of the measures involve lowering a thermostat, either for residential heating or for a water heater. Although this tool allows for a large temperature reduction, you should not actually lower either thermostat to an unsafe level. The minimum recommended temperature will vary for a home thermostat depending on climatic conditions, but a water heater thermostat should never be set below 130°F.

Why Develop the Energy Generator?

This tool is intended to help people better understand how they use energy and how they can use it more efficiently. By demonstrating that energy saved is energy found, Chevron hopes to inspire people to become energy savers.

If you have questions or feedback about the tool's development, its sources or functionality, or need technical support, please contact us.

Sources

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