After six months immersed in Cleantech, it appears to me that we Americans, unfortunately, without a lot of thought, some ignorance, and access to inexpensive resources, have established a model of living that is both excessive and wasteful. This problem is difficult enough to solve, but now our model of living is being replicated around the planet at an alarmingly fast rate. If we do not provide a new model of living soon that is replicated globally, we will suffer from both conflicts over the earth’s limited resources and climate change.
Having lived in Germany for three years, I have often imagined an America designed and built like Europe. It is extraordinary to see the inherent efficiency in European land planning compared to America’s sprawling development. Our abundant land and coal, and access to cheap oil have led us to an inherently energy inefficient model of living. Nevertheless, I think that a significant portion of the reduction in emissions per capita in Europe comes from European conservation and energy efficiency thoughtfulness. Europeans emit about half the CO2 per capita compared to Americans.
According to Northwest Community Energy, “Energy conservation and energy efficiency are presently the most powerful tools in our transition to a clean energy future. As depicted in the Energy Pyramid, renewable energy is an important piece of our energy future, but the largest opportunities are currently in energy conservation and efficiency.”
On Monday I had an opportunity to listen to Ran Nussbacher, Director Client Solutions at OPOWER, present at Clean Energy Fusion in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded by behavioral scientists, OPOWER is partnering with utilities to motivate homeowners to conserve and become more energy efficient by providing energy consumption data for nearby neighbors with comparable home and energy infrastructure profiles. They also offer customers a customized priority list of the most effective options to reduce energy consumption. Initial results show that customers receiving OPOWER supplemental insight reduce energy consumption by about 2.5% compared to a control group receiving only monthly bills.
I have had my doubts about the ability of Americans to address energy consumption and consequently climate change. The Washington Post article “It’s natural to behave irrationally” poses the problems associated with getting Americans to act and one potential solution. “In one small study around San Diego in 2007, researchers hung four fliers on doorknobs. One told homeowners that they should conserve energy because it helped the environment. One said saving energy was socially responsible. One said that it saved money. The fourth said that the majority of neighbors in the community were doing it. The researchers waited and then read the meters. The houses with the fourth flier showed the most change.”
Might neighbor and child, the potential conservation and energy efficiency trojan horse in the home, pressure homeowners to act? I have never wanted to keep up with the Jones’s, but I will be enthusiastically motivated to keep energy consumption down with the Jones’s.
