Threat of Power Shortages Generating New Urgency

And the region's emissions of carbon dioxide -- a major greenhouse gas -- have grown rapidly, because of its heavy reliance on coal-burning power plants.

"Increasing electricity almost inevitably leads to more global-warming emissions," said Frank O'Donnell, of the District-based group Clean Air Watch.

Now come stepped-up warnings of serious power shortages. In December, a study by the Maryland Public Service Commission found that the state might face rolling blackouts as early as 2011 or 2012. Power could be shut down for perhaps an hour at a time in certain areas, probably on hot days when air conditioners strain the grid.

Virginia officials have agreed with utilities that more power plants or transmission lines will be needed in that state in the next decade. The D.C. Department of the Environment has not yet evaluated utilities' predictions of power shortfalls, an official said last week.

Power companies are pressing for a wave of projects. Natural gas plants have been proposed near Waldorf and Front Royal, Va. Constellation Energy wants to add a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant.

And three power transmission lines have also been proposed in the area. One would begin in Prince William County, jog over to Southern Maryland and then cross the Chesapeake Bay to the Eastern Shore. The others would link the region with power plants in southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Environmental groups say the region should try harder to save energy before it goes out looking for more.

Activists say that customers could save energy by lowering their thermostats two degrees in the winter and raising them two degrees in summer; that they could buy efficient appliances and power-saving compact fluorescent bulbs; and that they could turn off computers and other electronic equipment when not using them.

On a larger scale, activists want utilities to install so-called "smart meters," which send alerts to customers, encouraging them to cut electricity usage when demand and, therefore, rates are high. A program in the District is about to test remotely operated systems that, if customers consented, would enable Pepco to turn off air conditioners for short periods on hot days.

"The cheapest power plant out there," said Johanna Neumann, a staff member of the activist group Maryland PIRG, "is the one you never have to build."

Virginia and Maryland have proposed ways of cutting back energy use in their states. But state officials, like the utilities, say they are skeptical that such programs can eliminate the area's thirst for more power.

"We do not believe that conservation alone is going to get us where we need to be," said L. Preston Bryant Jr., the Virginia secretary of natural resources.

But many consumers say they are eager to try. In the District's Mount Pleasant neighborhood, for instance, a group of homeowners has proposed saving energy, and generating their own, by putting solar panels on roofs.

"Every time you want to make power, you don't have to build another coal-fired power plant," said Anya Schoolman, who heads the Mount Pleasant Solar Cooperative. "I just think it's time for a different way to do business."

Staff writer Steven Mufson and staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.