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1. 

   Big Gav Posted 11:11 am
   03 Apr 2009

   The only problem is that there has always been a tendency to greater energy efficiency. The result has not been less energy use, but more. And why not? It's good to be able to do more things.It is naive to believe that cutting overall energy use won't require foregoing either current or potential applications for energy. Nor is it necessary. What we need are reliable, low-carbon technologies and a bit of ambition. Instead of fretting about how little energy we can get by on, we should be trying to find ways of producing lots more energy. That'll give us the flexibility to deal with whatever the future holds.As this article argues, abundant energy isn't everything, but it helps a lot: http://is.gd/qzj3

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2. 

   Lhogue1 Posted 6:32 pm
   03 Apr 2009

   Another excellent post, David. I liked the "40 percent of where we need to go part" -- I'll check that link out. It's nice to see something besides the "growthgrowthgrowth" mantra that seems to pop up in the comments section. Boy there are a lot of supply-siders around here aren't there?

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3. 

   Lhogue1 Posted 6:51 pm
   03 Apr 2009

   The McKinsey link provided in the post took me to some weird spot in Grist, so I went back and found two articles covering different McKinsey reports from David's earlier posts:One was to coverage by Joel Makower of a McKinsey report showing that global energy demand growth can be held under 1%. The other was to New York Times coverage of a second McKinsey report showing that energy use could be reduced by more than a third with energy efficiency measures.Now I'm going to see if I can get my avatar to have a forehead.

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4. 

   sindark Posted 9:26 am
   06 Apr 2009

   There are certainly some areas where higher efficiency just cannot do enough. For instance, in trans- and inter-continental travel. Even if trains and aircraft were made much more efficient, we would need to cut back the total number of voyages significantly to get the kind of emissions reductions compatible with avoiding dangerous climate change.

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5. 

   ValenciaID Posted 1:15 pm
   06 Apr 2009

   I always found interesting that in the US energy efficiency captures all the attention while energy conservation has always deemed as too unpopular -epitomized by Jimmy Carter with a cardigan on TV. With the current recession, however, environmental groups should seize conservation as a win-win strategy for people's pockets and the environment, now that being frugal is becoming necessary.We need not be fearful of asking people to sacrifice, as indeed Americans do sacrifice on other fronts, prompted by religious or moral conviction in pursue of a greater good. People sacrifice time in order to volunteer for a cause, earnings to give to charity, and even sexual desires to satisfy abstinence pledges. So sacrifice is abundant in our society, and we need to publicize it more for climate change. The Earth Hour was a good signal in that direction and many people followed the call. 

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6. 

   Green Granny Posted 1:56 pm
   06 Apr 2009

   I read an essay by Joe Bageant over at alternet.org today. I think the entire piece is relevant to why Americans resist both conservation and efficiency.http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/135162/bageant:_we've_let_corporations_and_media_rob_our_souls_--_it's_time_to_do_something_meaningful/
   Not to quote too much:
   "For instance, most Americans believe there is little they can do in personally dealing with the most important moral and material crises ever faced, both in America and across the planet, beginning with ecocide, war making, and the grotesque deformation of the democratic process we have settled for. Citizenship has been reduced to simple consumer group consciousness. Consequently, even though Americans are only six percent of the planet's population, we use 36% of the planet's resources. And we interpret that experience as normal and desirable and as evidence of being the most advanced nation in the world. Despite that our lives have been reduced to a mere marketing demographic."

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7. 

   PermieWriter Posted 9:10 am
   07 Apr 2009

   We so need to rebrand effiency as being smart about our use, getting more out of it, rather than sacrificing. On that line, check out this home performance testing musical video (yes, you heard me): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pezKEkBIhqA

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8. 

   burnsrunner Posted 10:15 am
   08 Apr 2009

   Living on a budget these days is a given, but saving energy and living environmentally friendly during financially tight times is very doable. I was just reading out of Josh Dorfman's book, "The Lazy Environmentalist on a Budget," and I was amazed at the money saving tips that even I never thought of. Josh introduced me to
   lots of green companies and products that I never knew existed. I don’t know
   how he finds all this stuff.

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