FIGURE 4.6 Commercial natural gas savings potential, 2030.

Source: Brown et al., 2008.

the weighted average of savings for all the measures in that end-use cluster. (The CCE here is given in terms of delivered energy.)

Table 4.2 compares the average CCE with the national average retail energy price. The analysis indicates that the projected baseline energy use in 2030 can be reduced by about 30–35 percent at a cost less than current average retail energy prices. That the results show an average CCE well below the retail energy prices in all areas means that adopting efficiency measures is very cost-effective for households and businesses: the average CCE for electricity-savings measures is only about one-quarter of the average retail electricity price. Of course, factors such as local energy prices and weather will influence cost-effectiveness in any particular location.

For the entire buildings sector, the cumulative capital investment needed between 2010 and 2030 is estimated to be about $440 billion to achieve annual energy-bill savings in 2030 of nearly $170 billion. These savings result in an average simple payback period of 2½ years, or savings over the life of the measures that are nearly 3.5 times larger than the investment required. (This analysis considers only the cost [or incremental cost] of the efficiency measures to purchasers; it does not include the costs of policies and programs aimed at increasing the adoption of the measures.)