Fuel prices prompt return to energy-saving strategies Consumers turn to sun, wood, wind

By Greg Farrell
USA TODAY

Sideburns, disco and Cabinet secretaries from the Ford administration aren't the only reminders that the 1970s are back. So is energy conservation.

From Maine to Malibu, consumers are looking for ways to cut back on bills inflated by the soaring cost of energy, combined in many areas with the coldest winter in decades.

Among the hardest-hit areas is the Northeast, where home heating oil prices have broken through the $1.50-a-gallon mark. In the Midwest, which relies more on natural gas, the cost of heating a home between October and March is expected to jump 44%, from $540 to $780, according to the Energy Information Administration. In California, deregulation has led to a 900% increase in the wholesale cost of electricity. The state's utilities, which can't pass along the increase to consumers, are in danger of collapsing under massive losses. (Stories 1,3B.)

But no area has escaped, and the result has been a nationwide buying binge for products such as:

* Energy-saving thermostats. Jim Kane, vice president of Home Depot's Northeast division, says these devices, which can be programmed to turn down the heat in your home at night or when you're not there, are selling strongly. ''This is almost an automatic buy,'' he says. ''The technology keeps getting better and better, while the prices keep dropping.''

* Wood-burning stoves. ''This has been a big year for sales of wood-burning stoves and coal-burning stoves,'' says Dale Trombley, general manager of Vermont Castings. ''Sales in the Northeast have been extremely strong.'' The company's service department also has been busy. Lots of consumers are taking old wood-burning stoves out of storage and putting them back into operation, Trombley says.

The big surprise is that wood-burning stoves were supposed to sell briskly in 1999 on fear that millennium glitches would threaten traditional power sources. Most distributors stocked up on the products, only to be stuck with them when the Y2K meltdown never materialized. Inventory was a burden until a few months ago.

''We've sold all of our over-inventory from Y2K, and right now, we're finding that the manufacturers are backed up and unable to deliver more,'' says Jean Duggan, owner of the Wood Stove & Fireplace Center in Gainesville, Fla.

As a result of the increase in wood stoves, demand for firewood also has jumped. ''Generally, we don't do much business at Christmas, but we've had a bunch of people chasing after us this year, much more than in years gone by,'' says Dale Henderson of Dale Henderson Logging in Brewer, Maine. ''It hasn't been like this since we had that embargo deal.''

* Weatherstripping. After years of nonchalance bred by stable energy prices, homeowners are getting militant about plugging porous areas of their houses. ''Our weatherstripping department has been crazy,'' says Sheldon Hartstone of Fairmount Hardware in Bangor, Maine. ''There's no comparison to years gone by. It's at least double what it used to be. People are putting in new windows, foam insulation and going around their houses looking for cracks. The difference this year is the price of oil. For the last four or five years, they haven't had to worry.''

After a mild winter last year, retailers had plenty of 3M window insulator kits in stock heading into this winter. But demand has surged. ''In mid-November, reorders started coming in at an astounding rate, to where we went back into production,'' says Don Hollinger, 3M's business manager for home environmental products. ''But we still sold out. We've stopped taking orders.''

''It's been the best winter we've had in years,'' says John Smith of Don Smith True Value Hardware, Erie, Pa.

* Solar energy panels. In California, where the price of electricity has spiked -- and actual blackouts are threatened -- more consumers are worshipping the sun in a new way. ''We're doing quite a bit more in sales compared with last year,'' says Alan Junginger of Renewable Energy Concepts in San Luis Obispo. ''On our Web site, we'll give you a free quote. Just about every day, we get 20 to 25 requests. Before, we would only get that many on a weekend.''

* Wind power. For years, California has been the leading state for harnessing wind-generated energy. Now Texas has become a big producer of wind energy, according to Merwin Brown, an analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. ''Wind and photovoltaics -- solar energy sources -- have seen 20% to 30% in growth year over year,'' he says.

''There has very much been an increased interest in renewables because of the rising costs and scarcity of generating capacity in California,'' says Gary Schmitz of NREL. ''It may be too early to see a dramatic upswing in sales of solar equipment, because of the lead time, but there are several office buildings in California looking at putting solar on their buildings.''

Overall, energy-consciousness is back, even when buying such home appliances as washing machines. ''Traditionally, U.S. consumers haven't been interested in energy-saving devices,'' says Diane Ritchey, editor of Appliance magazine. ''But now, they're purchasing them, paying more money for appliances with an Energy Star label.''

''People are investing in the long term, buying energy-efficient appliances,'' says Home Depot's Kane. ''People are looking for higher-efficiency energy ratings in everything, even light bulbs.''

USA Today

-- Anonymous, January 18, 2001