From the actions of emergency personnel on Sept. 11 to the outpouring of generosity in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Americans show our best qualities when our backs are against the wall.

Now we face a new crisis—less immediate or lethal, for sure, than a terrorist attack or natural disaster—but with serious ramifications for the economy and for the health and safety of many Arizonans.

Even though energy prices can be notoriously volatile, more and more experts are predicting an end to the era of cheap energy. High energy prices, coming on top of rising prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, will hit Arizona as we enter the summer, our peak season for energy use.

Fortunately, there is much that we can do to reduce our demand for energy, with a little help from our state and local leaders.

Energy-Saving Steps
To avoid another season of blackouts and skyrocketing prices, after the 2000-2001 energy crisis, California embarked on a PIRG-backed energy conservation blitz, slashing its consumption by 6 percent within a single year, saving billions of dollars.

Saving energy can also reduce the burden all Arizonans will face as we head into the summer months and beyond.

The Arizona PIRG Education Fund researchers have compiled and distributed energy-saving policy ideas. Here are a few of the steps that we are asking government leaders to take right now:

• Use the ‘bully pulpit’ to set goals for energy savings and to call on all sectors of society—from individual consumers to government to businesses—to do their part.

• Get energy efficiency tools into the hands of people who need them. That means launching a major effort to educate the public about energy efficiency, and using new tax breaks and incentives to get low-cost efficiency technologies into homes quickly.

• Walk the talk. Government cannot call for conservation one minute and waste energy the next. State and federal governments should lead by example by curbing their own energy use and using all the energy-saving policy tools in their arsenal.

Arizona PIRG has already helped to win approval of minimum energy use standards that will spur energy efficiency improvements in products sold in our state, promising to save residents hundreds of millions of dollars in energy costs in the years to come.

Currently there are efforts in Arizona and in states across the country to encourage state facilities and schools to implement energy efficiency measures and the use of clean energy and also to provide consumers with a tax credit for Energy Star-certified products which would save energy and water in Arizona.

Time and again, Arizonans have responded to crises in ways to make the state stronger. With a little help from our state government, we can ease the hardships, safeguard our economy, and emerge from the current energy crunch stronger and more secure.

Senior energy policy analyst Rob Sargent and senior researcher Tony Dutzik contributed to the research and writing of this article.