Energy efficiency
Three types of possible energy conservation practices may be described. The first type is restriction that is, doing without—for example, closing factories or staying home instead of taking trips. The second type is renovate, that is, changing the way people live and the way goods and services are produced—for example, outlawing further sub urbanization or switching to less energy-intensive materials in production processes. The third type involves the more efficient use of energy that is, adjusting to higher energy costs—for example investing in cars that go farther per unit of fuel, capturing waste heat in factories, and insulating houses. This last alternative is most readily acceptable to governments and society in general.
By 1980 many people had come to recognize that increased energy efficiency could help the world energy balance in the short and middle term, and that productive conservation should be considered as no less an energy alternative than the energy sources that have been described. Large energy savings began to occur in the 1970s, and further savings of 30 to 40 percent appear possible without dramatically affecting the way people live.
A number of obstacles stand in the way, however. One major roadblock to productive conservation is its highly uneven and simple character; it requires hundreds of millions of people to do ordinary things such as turn off lights and keep tires properly inflated. Another barrier has been the price. The cost of gasoline in the U.S. in 1990 was only slightly higher than it was in 1970, if inflation is factored into the calculation. This figure is one-third that charged in Europe. Low energy prices make it difficult to convince people to invest in energy efficiency. A third obstacle is the lack of information and enough money for energy consumers to make energy-conservation investments.
Over time energy efficiency improvements more than pay for themselves, but they do require diverting investments in the short term, which is more difficult for some sectors of the economy than for others. Major areas for such improvements are given in the texts B and C.