Conservation and Efficiency

Play your part in the energy future of the islands

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative is navigating today’s challenging and evolving energy landscape while also planning for our shared energy future. Across the region there is a rising demand for power, and we aren’t building new energy sources fast enough to meet that demand. While local renewable energy can help with supply and reduce our dependence on the mainland energy grid, conservation and energy efficiency also play a critical role in meeting the future energy needs.

Energy conservation is an effective method for reducing load and demand on our power grid and can be done by each member through a few small changes. A focus on conservation and energy efficiency allows members to take control of their energy use. Practices and behaviors can be put in place to work with everyone’s lifestyles.

Energy conservation is behavior based, such as turning off lights when leaving a room or running only one major appliance at once. Energy efficiency is seen as the use of advanced technology that needs less energy to achieve the same result. This can mean upgrading to an Energy Star-rated appliance, such as a dishwasher to run a load of dishes using less water and power, without sacrificing your quality of life.

Conservation and efficiency go hand in hand. Increasing the energy efficiency of your home or business can result in conservation of energy over time.

Conserving Energy in Your Home

It’s a myth that energy efficiency and conservation are too expensive. There are many small changes to make that slowly lower use over time and save on your energy bills.

Many of these things can be done without large up-front costs, like an appliance upgrade. Of course, upgrading appliances, insulation or adding a renewable energy source to your home grid is all still possible and can be easier to achieve with the help of OPALCO’s energy savings programs.

For those working with a limited budget, here are some practices you can institute to conserve energy in your home:

• Turn off all lights when you leave the room, especially if they are not LED bulbs.
• Run only one major appliance at a time. For example, if you are running a load of clothes in the washing machine, wait until the evening to run your dishwasher. Staggering your use or planning out specific days and times to use appliances can make a big difference over time.
• Seal your home’s windows, especially older windows that are poorly insulated or have leaks. You can buy reasonably priced window seal kits that adhere to windows seasonally or year-round.
• Washing clothes on cool or cold settings uses significantly less energy and cleans most everyday items. Set aside laundry like dirty towels that require high heat for the occasional high-heat wash cycle.

  

• Dishwashers save a significant amount of water compared to hand-washing, but if you are regularly washing a partially full dishwasher, you may be needlessly using energy. Wait to run your dishwasher until it is completely full. To further cut down, opt to air dry dishes instead of going through a full drying cycle.
• If you have individual room heating units or space heaters, keep all doors and windows closed to keep as much of the heat in the room you are in as possible.
• Turn off ceiling fans when you are not home. Ceiling fans are designed to cool people, not rooms. When you are away, they use energy to circulate air throughout the room but will not affect its temperature. Turn them back on and enjoy the air flow when you return home.

We Can Help You Be Energy Efficient

While OPALCO cannot regulate or ration power to its members, OPALCO has long been a supporter of energy efficiency and conservation measures and has great programs in place for members to save:

Switch It Up. Switch It Up is OPALCO’s on-bill financing program that allows members to finance an energy-efficiency improvement, solar and battery, or fuelswitching project on their monthly bills. Members can get these projects installed by a local contractor and take advantage of OPALCO’ s five- or 10-year terms with a 3% amortized service charge. Visit opalco.com/switchitup to learn more about which projects are eligible.

2026 Rebates. OPALCO has a variety of rebates available to residential and commercial members through our rebate program. Members can get money back on energy-efficiency projects up to $2,000, project dependent. Rebates for Energy Star washers and dryers, ductless heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, insulation improvements, energy-efficient window replacements and more are available. To see if your project qualifies for a rebate, visit opalco.com/rebates.

Conserving energy is an important practice to reduce strain on the power grid and dependence on mainland energy sources. Conservation is one piece of the puzzle to navigating our energy future. These small at-home efforts are not for nothing. The more we do in our own lives, however small it may seem, the more we can make a large-scale impact on energy use in our county, state and country.