The ACEEE report, The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market: Generating a More Complete Picture, further suggests the US can cost-effectively reduce energy consumption by an additional 25% to 30% or more in the next 20 to 25 years. The report was prepared with support from the Civil Society Institute along with the Kendall Foundation and the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association.

Describing the contributions of efficiency as "often unnoticed" and "invisible," the report notes that the "nation is not aware of the role that energy efficiency has played in satisfying our growing energy-service demands." Since 1970, energy efficiency has met about three-fourths of the demand for new energy-related services while conventional energy supply has covered only one-fourth of this demand.

It adds, "Efficiency can make an even larger contribution towards stabilizing energy prices and reducing greenhouse gas emissions--should we choose to fully develop it." Total investments in more energy efficiency technologies could increase the annual energy efficiency market by nearly $400 billion by 2030, resulting in an annual efficiency market of more than $700 billion and total additional investments from now until 2030 of nearly $7 trillion.

Energy efficiency has a significant impact on commercial and industrial real estate. About $300 billion a year is invested in energy efficiency, three times the amount invested in traditional energy infrastructure, the report notes. In 2004, the base year for the study:

• About $178 billion was invested in buildings. Commercial and residential buildings account for 39% of total US energy consumption, but received 62% of total efficiency investments in 2004. About 29% of the total investment in energy efficiency buildings was for commercial property. About 22% was for residential and the rest, 49%, was spent on energy-efficient appliances and electronics.
• About $75 billion was spent on the industrial sector The industrial sector received about a quarter of the total efficiency investment for the year. The proportion of investment in industrial was lower than the proportion of its energy use (25% and 34%, respectively).

Just last week, San Luis Obispo, CA-based REC Solar Inc., a solar power provider specializing in grid-tied residential and commercial design and installation, announced it is expanding its operations to include a commercial division in Westminster, CO. In addition to its residential business, the company plans to offer commercial solar electric installations to businesses throughout Colorado. REC Solar has offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon and New Jersey.

"For the past three years the solar industry in the United States has grown an average of 40% each year. However, REC Solar expects to see a 275% increase in its business in Colorado," says Angiolo Laviziano, CEO of REC Solar. The Rocky Mountain state averages 300 days of sunshine annually, statistics show.

In 2004, voters in Colorado approved Amendment 37, a renewable energy portfolio standard that required the state's largest utilities to obtain 10% of their electricity from renewable energy resources by 2015--the first and only time in US history that voters rather than a state legislature ratified such a standard. Since then, Colorado legislators have doubled the renewable requirement, and state and local governments have taken additional steps to encourage solar and renewable development.