Budgets everywhere are being slashed and homeowners, companies and even countries are looking at ways to cut energy bills.

This morning, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released this report which outlines specific ways that countries can cut electricity use while maintaining grid reliability. As populations around the world rise along with electricity consumption, countries may soon be facing a time when the only way to maintain grid reliability is to more closely manage electricity consumption.

“Prolonged electricity shortfalls can undermine economic activity by creating uncertainty in
electricity supply and increasing electricity costs,” wrote Sara Bryan Pasquier, author of the report.

“The environmental impacts of a prolonged electricity shortfall can also be significant. Faced with mandatory rationing or indiscriminate blackouts caused by load shedding, consumers often
invest in expensive on‐site electricity generation produced by air‐polluting fuels such as diesel.”

The IEA is a multinational group whose aim is energy security, economic growth and environmental protection for its 28 members countries.

Although the IEA already published Saving Electricity in a Hurry (2005), a book that presented several case studies in which countries effectively implemented emergency energy saving programs (as seen in the graph above from the IEA report), this follow-up report is intended to assess the impacts of previous programs and give updated suggestions for the future.