It's because of appliance and efficiency standards that we've been able to keep our energy usage relatively flat, and considering California is on average a warmer state, that's pretty amazing.
Alan Meier, a government scientist who specializes in energy efficiency, says existing appliance power supplies are "energy vampires" sucking up to 10 percent of the electricity that comes into a home.
Low household energy costs dampen demand for energy efficiency and most home-appliance manufacturers have hugely reduced their energy consumption in other ways.
Wedge theory, the idea that the world should pursue many different solutions energy efficiency retrofits, renewable energy, appliance standards means that a large number and variety of organizations are needed.