With the passage of the Northwest Power Act in 1980, Congress defined energy efficiency as a key resource for meeting the region's load growth. The Regional Technical Forum was established as a body that would provide the region with consistent and reliable quantification of energy savings estimates for specific efficient technologies or actions. The energy savings estimates generated through the public processes of the RTF enable accurate estimates of the region's efficiency potential vital to power system planning, as well as a better understanding of the region's efficiency accomplishments. Since 1978, energy efficiency has provided significant benefits to the Northwest: