I'm always cautious about overpraising China. That reluctance is partially due to the experience of having lived in Hong Kong for five years in the last decade. I saw up close the amazing and inspiring story of that country's economic growth, which has led to hundreds of millions rising out of poverty. I also saw the negatives: air pollution from southern China's factories turned the Hong Kong's harbor sky into a sea of smog. Even now, while China's leaders are admirably investing billions in alternative power and energy efficiency, coal plants are being built every week throughout the country, and its major cities remain environmental catastrophes. And there's the small matter of political repression. Far-sighted planning can be a lot easier when one party has a monopoly on political power.

One of Australia's largest electricity providers says it is experiencing a "historic" cut in households' demand for power.

Ausgrid, which powers much of New South Wales, has announced demand for its electricity by regular households has fallen 2 per cent each year for the past four years.

It is the first time the company has seen a fall in demand since the 1950s.

"If you go right back to the 1950s, residential consumption has continued to rise year on year, and in around 2006, we saw that plateau," Ausgrid energy efficiency specialist Paul Myors said.

Ausgrid says the drop is caused by consumers switching to energy efficient hot water systems and light bulbs after seeing their power bills go through the roof.

"One example where we have seen most strongly is with residential hot water because we often separately meter this in households," Mr Myors said.

"We've seen reductions even greater than 2 per cent, even up to 8 per cent per year," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-15/power-consumption-makes-historic-drop/2839394