energy efficiency

At last, a champion of climate science as US energy chief.

Dr. Steven Chu, 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics and head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has been tapped to be the 12th Secretary of Energy of the United States.

This hour-long video lecture that Chu delivered at the 2007 Nobel Conference provides an excellent window into the ideas and politics of a man who could remake US energy policy. It's titled: The World's Energy Problem and What We Can Do About It. A snapshot:

In the end, it’s not about energy, it’s about carbon dioxide emissions.

The energy problem is global climate change, argues Chu. And we can beat it "by maximizing efficiency and also developing new clean sources of energy." Government regulation is vital, he says.

In part one of this two-part post, I suggested four principles that President-elect Obama’s economic team should follow as they create an economic recovery package. To sum up, America needs long-term investments in a new energy economy, with every dollar used strategically to solve several problems at once, including energy security, economic stability and a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Obama clearly understands this prescription. He has announced that he will champion a two-year recovery package to create 2.5 million jobs, in part by "creating the clean energy infrastructure of the twenty-first century." To his credit, he told governors and international leaders meeting in California last week that our economic mess will not deter his commitment to this investment.

"I promise you this," he said in a taped address. "When I am president, any governor who's willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House. Any company that's willing to invest in clean energy will have an ally in Washington. And any nation that's willing to join the cause of combating climate change will have an ally in the United States of America."

The question is whether the Congress and the American people will support a recovery package designed not just for short-term stimulus, but for long-term health.

When Barack Obama introduced us to his economic team in Chicago this week, you could almost hear an intercom blasting in the background: "Dr. Obama, please report to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, stat."

The new advisers gathered around the President-elect looked like a crew of surgeons about to go to work on a patient who is flat on his back and suffering a heart attack -- an apt description of the economy. How the Obama team chooses to treat the patient will mean everything for the long-term prognosis. The economy needs more than a jolt from a defilibrator; it needs a heart transplant. The doctors should use the paddles if they must, but they should not spare the scalpel.

As Obama’s team begins work on a recovery package, I hope they’ll keep a few guiding principles in mind.

Barack Obama has created a top-notch team to guide his transition into the White House. Next, he should create a team to guide America’s transition to a new energy economy.

I’m not talking about the prestigious group of economic advisers Obama already has assembled to help him identify solutions to the economic meltdown.

I’m talking about a team that includes experts in sustainable energy technologies, climate mitigation and adaptation, capital investment, state and local government, business, industry and labor.

In case you ever doubted that efficiency was one of the most profitable energy solutions, here’s another batch of evidence:

From 1972 to 2006, California saved $56 billion in electricity costs; created 1.5 million full-time jobs in low-carbon sectors; and added $45 billion in payroll. All from efficiency improvements alone.

So finds an exhaustive new report (pdf) from economist David Roland-Holst of the University of California at Berkeley.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has just handed out its annual energy efficiency rankings for the US states. Here are the top 10:

10. New Jersey
9. Wisconsin
7. Minnesota (tie)
7. Massachusetts (tie)
6. Washington
5. New York
4. Vermont
3. Connecticut
2. Oregon
1. California

Stats: California earned 40.5 total points, out of 50. Wyoming was dead last with zero. Idaho (number 13) earned "most improved." Wisconsin scored in the top ten (a first). Rhode Island was the most energy-efficient as a percentage of its total electrical sales -- achieving a savings of 1.23 percent.

More to the point: The US states, combined, spent two to three times more than the federal government did on energy efficiency -- the most common-sense and available solution to energy and climate change.

People opposed to action on global warming use three arguments most often: global warming is not caused by human activities, reducing CO2 will slow economic growth and really it's just an excuse for eco-liberals to create a neo-fascist nanny state to run everyone's life in an irritating and politically correct fashion.

There isn't much I can add to the debate on the first issue, but let's talk about the other two, with the help of the graph above which I found at the Canadian Green Party website.

We'll see that reducing CO2 by increasing energy efficiency improves the economy and that 'nanny' laws work when the free market doesn't.

That blue line going down shows the dramatic improvement in the energy efficiency of refrigerators in the US since 1973. That pinkish line rising tells an opposite story -- of the dramatic rise in standby power over the same period.

Together they tell a couple stories: one about vampires, the other about nannies.

As an economic cure for America, it’s something of an unknown quantity. But energy efficiency could deliver 1.5 million new jobs by 2030 -- if Washington doesn’t botch the opportunity.

That’s the major finding of a new report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

And it comes straight from the experience of the US labs of climate policy innovation: the states.

Many have stepped into the national void on energy efficiency and have released their findings for the whole world to see.

Linux enthusiasts, rejoice! You now have more ammo in your arsenal to throw out against rival Windows – and this time it’s green.

From Network World Magazine:

Independent tests show that Linux pulls as much as 12% less power than Windows 2008 on identical hardware.

For that, Linux captured the magazine's "green flag" award.

So how did Network World do it?

It’s not the sexiest climate fix in the world, it must be said. But energy efficiency works -- and now come the numbers to prove it.

For the first time ever, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has tallied all the money invested in US energy efficiency to get a quantitative picture of just how big the efficiency market is.

And you won’t believe what it found.