Massachusetts Leads U.S. In Decreasing Energy Use

Massachusetts residents have cut their energy consumption by one-quarter in the decade since the Arab oil embargo, state officials said yesterday.

That means every family is saving $1,500 a year over what they could have been paying because of a 10-year effort to conserve energy, Gov. Michael Dukakis said.

Statewide, officials estimated Massachusett kept $16.5 billion within its borders by changing the way it uses energy over the years that followed the 1973 energy crisis.

"With the possible exception of the state of Rhode Island, this state has done the best job of conserving energy and becoming energy efficient of any state in the nation," Dukakis said.

National Shift

Buoyed by the findings, Dukakis called for a shift in national energy policy to make conservation and energy efficiency a centerpiece of national strategy.

His comments came on the 10th anniversary of the oil embargo, and coincided with a similar appeal by U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), co-chairman of the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition.

"We have for the past two years in Washington had an administration and national energy policy which has brutally cut back on federal investments in energy conservation, energy efficiency, in the development of alternative, renewable energy products," Dukakis said.

The only increase in energy spending has been in research and development of nuclear energy, he said, and, "That just makes no sense at all."

The state's success in conservation was reported in a study released at the news conference.

Costs Up

That report said that while consumption was down to three-quarters of what it was a decade ago, Massachusetts residents are paying more than three times as much for energy.

State Energy Secretary Sharon Pollard said consumption nationally has only dropped one percent, while it is down 26 percent in Massachusetts.

Oil consumption in the state has been cut 40 percent, while use of other primary fuels is up over the decade, according to the report issued by her office.

For other fuels, the report said coal use is up more than ten-fold; natural gas consumption is up 25 percent, and generation of nuclear power rose 180 percent.

Dependence on oil--87 percent of all energy consumed in 1972--is estimated to be at 70 percent a decade later for the state, she said. "That 70 percent is better, but it's still way too high," she added.