Save Energy, Money, and the Planet with Negawatts

Eco-conscious citizens are crying out for clean sources of energy; wind and solar power, geothermal, smart grids, hybrid, electric, and fuel cell cars…the list goes on. We know that, with the climate crisis threatening the well-being of the entire planet, developing cleaner energy sources is crucial and urgent.

Lucky for us, the quickest, easiest, cleanest, cheapest, and most readily available source of energy is already within our capacity. On a widespread scale, we can tap this resource far more than we currently do. Best of all, it hardly costs a thing. In fact, in many cases it will actually put money back in our pocket.

I’m referring of course to becoming more energy efficient. We focus a great deal of attention on where our energy comes from, more so than we examine how we actually use it.

Even with a monstrous effort, it will take decades to overhaul our sources of energy. Advances in technology, infrastructure development, and capital raising can only progress so quickly, especially since our country has grown into an empire entirely dependent upon cheap, abundant fossil fuels.

Energy efficiency can help close the gap between the supply of clean energy and our energy needs, a gap that is currently filled by burning fossil fuels. In reducing the amount of energy that we need to create, efficiency is essentially a source in and of itself (this is the Negawatts concept). Despite the numerous benefits of becoming more efficient, we’re still a nation that apparently enjoys being wasteful.

We have made positive strides- CFLs are now commonplace in American homes, compact cars have reemerged from the dead, and we’re a bit more mindful about our thermostats. However, we are still embarrassingly wasteful, from seemingly trivial individual habits to the global operations of Fortune 500 companies. We’ve picked a lot of low-hanging fruit, but there is much more work to be done.

Consider our driving habits. If you jump on any highway in the U.S. and drive the speed limit, it won’t be long before you feel like a slug. Even semis will blow your doors off. Our lead-feet bode well for the budgets of police stations and the Highway Patrol, but we burn through copious amounts of fuel in the process. Of the 20+ million barrels of oil our nation uses every day, I wonder how much is burned simply by speeding drivers. How much money and energy could be saved literally overnight if we would simply change behaviors like these? It would be substantial.

Seriously, the speeding thing irks me. We’re in an economic meltdown and 90%+ of all American drivers are still voluntarily throwing money down the drain by little habits like these. What gives?

Efficiency has been mostly ignored in the United States, probably due in large part to our cheap energy supply. We could afford to be ignorant to our wasteful ways. People don’t conserve resources that are abundant and cheap. That spells big trouble when those same resources suddenly aren’t so plentiful, nor inexpensive.

It would have amounted to political suicide to even mention the possibility, but had we gradually made burning fossils fuels more expensive (as Europe does with their high gas taxes) long ago, our economy would be light-years ahead of where we are today. Unfortunately though, the crooked politicians in Washington seem to care more about their own special interests than the well-being of this country. The lobbyists working on behalf of Exxon Mobil and Chevron have far more clout than anyone pushing for bills that will actually reduce our energy needs, so our government has done next to nothing on this matter.

Then there’s the almighty GDP. We believe that growth is king and our savior. We somehow believe we can develop new technologies that will simultaneously save the planet and grow our economy, no sacrifices needed. Come on, this is America! We don’t save energy, we create new sources of it.

A smaller, simpler economy is all but certain to be our future reality however.  Growth was a major cause of our problems; downscaling is one the solutions. The previous economic model was characterized by gluttony and excess, but the new model won’t be able to accommodate such waste.  We will be efficient by necessity.

Our individual ability to influence national policy may be fairly small, but we can sure make many positive changes in our own lives, which is where real change and progress begins anyway. All Americans are going to reexamine and transform how we live, whether we want to or not. Becoming far more efficient is one of these changes, and it’s beneficial all-around; we can save money (at least in the long run), save energy, and help the planet at the same time. Might as well embrace it now.

Here are some resources that might be of use:

Treehugger
Planet Green
Mother Earth News
National Geographic Environment

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