Meanings
plural negawatts
- informalA unit of saved energy.
And he has suggested ways to help consumers buy the so-called time-of-use-meters […] so they can benefit from using energy at off-peak times and through "negawatts," or credits for not using power.
2000 December 24, Barbara Whitaker, “A Lightning Rod in California”, in The New York Times1 more example
Three-fourths of U.S. electricity--69% of which is used in buildings, nearly all the rest in industry--can be saved for less than the price of just running a coal or nuclear plant. This "negawatt" potential is not just in smarter motors, lights, appliances, etc., but even more in their larger systems.
2008 July 7, Amory B. Lovins, “The Case For Efficiency”, in Forbes
Origin
Coined by Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute as a contraction of negative watt on the model of similar compounds like megawatt, by surface analysis, nega- + watt. Lovins credited the term to a typo in a document by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in which the word "megawatt" was misspelled.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish negawatti
- negawatti"negative watt"
Cite this entry
negawatt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/negawatt
“negawatt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/negawatt. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “negawatt,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/negawatt.
Source: negawatt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.