Successful energy policy means recognizing the importance of increase energy efficiency for such things as buildings, vehicles, and appliances.
According to Leonardo Energy, use less energy, make more energy locally, and share surplus energy through an intelligent grid has become a mantra for environmentally conscious energy policy analysts. According to the WBCSD (World Business Council on Sustainable Development), there are huge gains to be made from existing technologies with buildings.
The WBCSD has published information on how we could improve energy efficiency by 35% and reduce the heating costs with 80%.
Life cycle analysis shows that 80% to 85% of the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions of a building comes from occupancy through heating, cooling, ventilation, and hot water use. If we want to make an impact on climate change, we therefore need to tackle this challenge. Combining the right materials when designing a building envelope can greatly reduce a building’s energy requirements, increase its life span and ensure consistent performance over time.
Of course, while improving efficiency is quite logical and profitable, the logic also would dictate that, if more GHG emissions come from the energy use during occupancy, then clean up the energy sources.
Policies and programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy can and should be combined to complement the progress each can make toward a shared goal.”
According to ACORE (American Council On Renewable Energy) and ACEEE (American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy), and, in a less loftier way, this blog, investments in energy efficiency combined with purchases in renewable energy show the greatest rewards.
And, while carbon dioxide is the primary focus because of its prevalence, it is important to develop and heed a useful measure of environmental impact, e.g., Grams GHG Equivalent per MJ of Energy. For instance, methane is 23 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and nitrous oxide is 310 times more effective than carbon dioxide.
One Trackback
[...] Such initiative is more likely to take place where there are feed-in tariffs and other incentives to improve the energy efficiency of [...]