Last month, McKinsey
Global Energy Materials asked in their report, Unlocking Energy Efficiency in
the US Economy, “How is it that so many energy saving opportunities worth
more than $130 billion annually to the US economy can go unrealized, despite
decades of public awareness campaigns, federal and state programs, and targeted
action by individual companies, nongovernmental organizations, and private
individuals?”
A perceptive question
really, why is it that knowledge has not translated into action, or—more
specifically—why has a national awareness of the need for smart energy
management not resulted in quantifiable results? What are we doing
wrong?
According to the
McKinsey report, the answer and solution is one and the same, “Significant and
persistent barriers will need to be addressed at multiple levels to stimulate
demand for energy efficiency and manage its delivery across more than 100
million buildings and literally billions of devices.”
In order to spur a
national energy efficiency policy, and capitalize on the opportunities inherent
in such a program, the McKinsey report lays out five key
steps:
1.
Recognize energy efficiency as an
important energy resource that can help meet future energy needs while the
nation concurrently develops new no- and low-carbon energy
resources
2.
Formulate and launch at both
national and regional levels an integrated portfolio of proven, piloted, and
emerging approaches to unlock the full potential of energy
efficiency
3.
Indentify methods to provide
significant upfront funding required by any plan to capture energy
efficiency.
4.
Forge
greater alignment between utilities, regulators, government agencies,
manufacturers, and energy consumers
5.
Foster
innovation in the development and deployment of next-generation energy
efficiency technologies to ensure ongoing productivity
gains
According to the report,
if these measures are followed with a goal of a positive turn on investment
within 10 years, the country can expect that an initial investment of $520
billion could translate into $1.2 trillion in savings by 2020. Additionally, the
report suggests that these efficiency efforts could also provide 9.1 quadrillion
Btus of carbon-free energy by the end of the next decade, enough to reduce the
impact of future energy demands by 23% (below our current national average). All
this could be accomplished because increased efficiency would result in a
reduction of energy production and generation, and that’s how these big numbers
come into play (including an additional estimate that these national efficiency
efforts could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over one gigaton).
So what do you think? Can a concerted
effort on a national level really produce these results? What about carbon
capture and alternative energies (not just wind and solar, but biofuels and
nuclear plants)? Is there a need for flexibility, or should the country take a
hard-line and enact efficiency rules and regulations? And finally, when many
efficient systems come with a small payoff in relation to the initial
investment, how can consumers and manufacturers be convinced that the cost is
worth the cumulative impact of a united efficiency effort?
For a look at the complete report, clcik here.