What's So Good About Waste? Five Part Series on Efficiency

The Climate Progress blog has a five part series on energy efficiency, started this past summer - an excellent primer on energy efficiency. None of these posts are overly long, and all have good comments attached. One has to wonder with such a case why efficiency is so frowned upon, or in all too many more cases, simply ignored. To date, we have tended to favor supply-side solutions over demand-side savings.

Energy efficiency is THE core climate solution, Part 1: The biggest low-carbon resource by far cites a well documented study from 2007 by consulting giant McKinsey & Co, which makes the claim that energy efficiency has the potential to account for as much as 40% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Energy efficiency, Part 2: The limitless resource documents the progress a division of Dow Chemical made in discovering efficiency through a series of ROI Contests. The author copied the process and found similar success within divisions at the Department of Energy.

Efficiency, Part 3: The only cheap power left demonstrates the absurdly low price of efficiency (less than 2 cents/Kwh) when compared to supply side solutions. And yet, incredibly, supply side solutions ranging from traditional coal and nuclear generation to renewables get far more press. Go figure.

Energy efficiency, Part 4: How does California do it so consistently and cost-effectively? A combination of building code and lighting regulations and decoupling have made California a model for all other states when it comes to efficiency. ("Decoupling" is the term for providing utilities regulatory incentives for energy efficiency programs that save consumers money - compensating them for NOT producing energy.)

Energy efficiency, Part 5: The highest documented rate of return of any federal program shows that the key to making efficiency work is good regulation and sensible legislation. Indeed, good government can produce tremendous savings when it is put into practice. Too often, politics gets in the way.