A negawatt market is a proposed idea of implementation of the demand response (balancing the electrical grid through the changes in consumption) that uses an energy market where the commodity traded is a negawatt-hour, a unit of energy saved as a direct result of energy conservation measures.
A "negawatt revolution" would involve the rapid deployment of electricity-saving technologies, such as heat pumps.[1]
Negawatt power is investment to reduce electricity consumption rather than investing to increase supply capacity. In this way investing in negawatts can be considered as an alternative to a new power station and the costs and environmental concerns can be compared.
Negawatt investment alternatives to reduce consumption by improving efficiency include:
Improved thermal insulation and airtightness for buildings – low environmental impact
Replacing older industrial plant – low environmental impact. Can have a positive impact due to reduced emissions.
Negawatt investment alternatives to reduce peak electrical load by time shifting demand include:
Storage heaters – older systems had asbestos. Newer systems have low environmental impact.
Demand response control systems where the electricity board can control certain customer loads – minimal environmental impact
Thermal storage systems such as ice storage systems to make ice during the night and store it to use it for air conditioning during the day – minimal environmental impact
Pumped storage hydroelectricity – can have a significant environmental impact – see Hydroelectricity
other Grid energy storage technologies – impact varies
Note that time shifting does not reduce total energy consumed or system efficiency; however, it can be used to avoid the need to build a new power station to cope with a peak load.
