Community energy management in Tennessee

Energy became a subject of national debate following the Arab oil embargo of the early ly70s. A decentralized or local solution to the U.S. energy problem, has, however, received little attention. There is a lack of systematic, state-of-the-art analysis of local energy management activities.

This study had two general objectives. One was to describe the internal and external energy management activities that Tennessee local governments have implemented or have considered. A mail survey of Tennessee cities and counties was conducted during the Fall of 1981 to achieve the objective. A second objective was to explore the barriers to energy management faced by Tennessee local governments. Interviews of selected State and regional officials were used to achieve this objective.

It was found that low or no cost internal energy management v/as practiced by most Tennessee local governments while barely one-third had implemented measures to encourage or require community wide energy management. City respondents were more likely to have practiced internal and external energy management than were county respondents. Cities and counties with larger populations were more likely to have tried to reduce internal and external energy costs than were smaller cities and counties. Tennessee local governments most often sought to affect demand rather than both supply and demand for energy. Barriers to local government energy management identified during the study included a lack of money, inadequate technical expertise, a short-term perspective and that local governments and their citizens feel powerless to affect their energy situation.