Energy Conservation - Opportunities

In 2007, Alexander Jung wrote a piece for the German website Spiegel Online entitled Why Conservation is the World's Best Energy Source. In it, he writes "With humanity wasting massive amounts of oil, gas and coal to heat buildings, power industry and fuel vehicles, the potential for conservation efforts is vast."

With the world, and especially huge developing countries like China, India and Russia, using more and more energy, mostly in the form of finite fossil fuels, it is becoming more difficult, and expensive, to supply the needed energy. However, "one reliable source of energy is not even close to being depleted: Simply saving it may be the safest and cleanest option mankind has. It also happens to make a tidy profit."

"Without much effort, the almost 500 million citizens of the European Union could reduce their energy use by one-fifth, studies have found. That would add up to savings of roughly €60 billion ($79 billion) per year. Such huge sums become less abstract when broken down to household level: An average family could save from €200 to €1,000 by using their energy more efficiently." -- Alexander Jung

My own experience confirms this assessment. With a moderate amount of effort and expense, I was able to reduce my household energy usage not by Jung's 20% "without much effort" estimate, but by a whopping 60%. That equals an actual savings of a couple of thousand dollars a year, in addition to hundreds of dollars in savings in the form of tax deductions for some of the home improvements done to a achieve the reduction.

Amory Lovin of the Rocky Mountain Institute argues in favor of what he refers to as "radical resource efficiency" and points out that saving energy costs less than buying it. Radical resource efficiency is just what it sounds like - the act of achieving maximum efficiency in the use of resources, such as energy. This includes using energy efficient technology as well as designing and planning homes, businesses, communities and lifestyles in such a way as to achieve maximum efficiency.

There is a really great commercial running on TV recently regarding energy efficiency. The scene opens up on an apparently naive and idealistic young lady nervously presenting her boss, a practical, no-nonsense middle-aged businessman, a report recommending a number of changes to achieve better energy efficiency for their company.

The boss, obviously just humoring his younger employee, patiently explains that those ideas are nice and will make the environmentalists happy, but he has to run his company in the real world. He then asks "Why should I sign off on this?" Obviously, he is not expecting a decisive answer.

The young lady responds by explaining that their company spends tens of millions of dollars on energy each year, and that those changes will save the company millions of dollars.

The boss, now with a stunned look on his face, asks "where do I sign?".

"Between 75 and 90 percent of the energy we consume is wasted due to bad design and poor choices." -- Michael Potts of the Rocky Mountain Institute

What opportunities does this create?

Radical energy efficiency and conservation is one of the more important next strategies in building a sustainable future. This creates a multitude of opportunities for those willing to seize them.

For politicians and others involved in public policy, the need for radical energy efficiency creates opportunities for leadership in the field of energy efficiency and conservation. Planning and supporting energy efficiency as a matter of public policy will pay huge dividends in balancing budgets and aiding the economy, as well as promoting national security.

For city managers and other bureaucrats who run local, state and federal governments, this creates opportunities for substantial savings and balancing budgets.

For scientists and engineers, this creates opportunities for research and development of new and improved technologies and systems.

For business leaders, this creates opportunities for saving money, building capital and improving cash flow.

For entrepreneurs, this creates significant opportunities for new businesses. Businesses involved in developing, manufacturing and selling new, energy efficient technologies have a promising future, as well as those involved in teaching and consulting other businesses and governments in energy and resource efficiency.

For employees, this creates opportunities for well paying jobs in new industries.

For individuals and families, this creates opportunities to greatly reduce household expenses.

Start looking around and imagining all the new opportunities that radical energy efficiency and conservation will create. And start considering all the ways you can benefit from those opportunities.

For ways to achieve radical resource efficiency, please check out The Resource Miser.