ENERGY: It answers many big questions

There is a "gold mine" of opportunity to save our state and country millions of dollars and employ hundreds of thousands of Americans.

That "gold mine" involves our leaking energy system. For every $1 we pay on our utility bill, 70 cents is lost as waste heat. That waste heat is by far the largest consumer of energy in America and it consumes the most imported oil. It's also responsible for the most CO2 emissions, according to Elton B. Sherwin in his book, "Addicted to Energy."

Power generation will never be 100 percent efficient, but when we consume less electricity or install more efficient appliances he says we eliminate most of that waste.

Here's one of Sherwin's 50 innovative solutions. To give building owners an incentive to save energy, he recommends giving a letter grade to all commercial buildings, based on their energy consumption per square foot. Then post the grades on the outside of each building and publish them on the Internet. Building owners would upgrade their lighting, heating and/or cooling systems in ways that would quickly pay for themselves in lower energy costs. Tenants would be more comfortable and owners could charge more when they sell their buildings. More energy auditors, HVAC contractors, engineers and accountants would be employed. Utilities would need to build fewer expensive power plants and our state and country would spend much less money for coal, oil and natural gas.

I'm calling on Avista and Kootenai Electric to sponsor pilot programs in the grading of all commercial buildings.

BILL IRVING

Hayden