Energy myth nine-energy efficiency improvements have already reached their potential

Abstract

Overall, the United States now uses 47% less energy per unit of economic output than it did 30 years ago, cutting today's energy costs by a billion dollars a day - like a huge universal tax cut that also cuts the federal deficit. Far from dampening global development, lower energy bills accelerate it.Andthere's plentymorevalue to capture. The waste heat thrown away by U.S. power stations - a fifth more energy than Japan uses for everything - could be lucratively recovered and reused if "combined-heatand- power" were encouraged as it is in Europe. Converting coal at the power plant into incandescent light in the room is only 3% efficient. And around 20 huge power plants spew out CO2 just to run U.S. equipment that is turned off (Lovins, 2005). Why do such inefficiencies continue? Many economists, policy analysts, and politicians believe that the country has already captured its energy efficiency potential, and that (as a result) not much promise is left. For example, in their comprehensive assessment of 20 years of industrial energy efficiency projects, Anna Shipley and R. Neal Elliot (2006) conclude that "a recurring theme offered by those opposed to the funding of industrial energy efficiency efforts has been that companies have already realized all the cost-effective industrial energy efficiency opportunities that exist." Richard N. Cooper (2005) notes that "there are many attractive ideas out there [for addressing energy challenges]," including energy efficiency practices and small-scale renewable energy systems like wind turbines. "But when one looks quantitatively at the possibilities for mobilizing them, it is clear that many can play only a niche role" (p. 271). Paul Joskow (1995) argues that "estimates of un-tapped economical energy-efficiency opportunities are nothing more than fantasy" (p. 531).