Obama & co: Make 2009 the Year of Energy Efficiency

The Greenwash Brigade

To face the long-term problem of global warming we need to be rooted in short-term reality. And the reality of the year ahead is a global recession that will make life harder for almost everyone. So, 2009 is an opportunity to utilize the tool that both cuts costs and lowers greenhouse gas emissions — energy efficiency. Focusing on efficiency over solar isn’t greenwash, it’s common sense.

I’m as big a fan of solar and wind power as anyone, but the recent crash in oil and natural gas prices make them less competitive than early 2008. And with our money problems in the US and beyond, we need our climate mitigation efforts to have a big bang for each buck. That’s why it is the perfect time to focus on energy efficiency.

Energy efficiency has helped US oil consumption fall more than 5% this year, with coal and natural gas demand about equal to 2007. This lower overall fossil fuel use is poised to translate into greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) that are ~2.5% below the 2007 level to the lowest net emissions since the 1990s! If we ramp up efficiency further, we can cut emissions further in the year ahead.

Obama & co. could support rapid efficiency deployment by initiating a federal Energy Corps that employs over a million people from Maine to Hawaii. The first wave of green collar professionals will be needed to do energy audits on homes, offices, and manufacturing plants. And the second wave can then provide the most cost-effective efficiency upgrades determined for each locale — from additional insulation to a passive solar renovation to CFL and LED lighting.

This Energy Corps can focus on markets where electricity consumption is projected to grow to prevent a need for expensive new coal and natural gas power plants and keep GHGs in check. Once the economy begins to pick up (hopefully in 2010), the Energy Corps can put half its focus on accelerating deployment of renewable energy to more than satisfy new demand and help emissions continue to drop even when the economy is growing.

In proposing this plan, I do not mean we should abandon renewables in 2009. We need to renew a Production Tax Credit through 2010 for wind power ASAP that lets wind producers know we support their long-term success. And we’ll need to think of innovative ways to support solar and other renewables along with the Investment Tax Credit recently extended through 2016. The recession will help lower solar panel and wind turbine prices as producers’ supply catches up with rapid demand growth. As long as we ensure renewables producers do not collapse a la the late-1980s they will be poised for more white-hot growth as their prices move toward grid parity in the years to come.

But 2009 is a year for belt-tightening. So, our focus should be on cost-cutting changes that help increase our energy security, mitigate climate change, and lower our energy bills all at the same time. Energy efficiency is the appropriate tool, and Obama and his companions in federal leadership can initiate an Energy Corps next year to deploy it.

December 8, 2008 by Dennis Markatos
5 comments

tags: Barack Obama climate change energy efficiency global warming oil solar wind

Comments (5)

Mickey Schuch | Respond
December 10, 2008 1:38 PM PT

My name is Mickey Schuch, I am a co-owner and founder of the "Building Energy Experts" based in Chicago, IL. We are excited for this long awaited "awaking" with energy efficient design and retrofitting. I only hope this new legislation does not become mired in the red tape as so often happens.

Allen | Respond
December 21, 2008 12:22 AM PT

"Energy efficiency has helped US oil consumption fall more than 5% this year,"

Woo-hooo! Just a few more recessions that are like this that are bad enough to have the press pondering another Depression and we'll have saved the Earth.

Dennis Markatos : responding to Allen | Respond
December 23, 2008 12:00 PM PT

Allen-
The sarcasm-meter almost broke on your comment. Responding to emissions falling in 2008 is sort of an attitude test: is the glass half-full or half-empty?

I'd say the glass is half-full. In the recession, we are using less fossil fuels and more renewable energy (wind, solar, & efficiency). We could have decided to ramp up our coal use but that hasn't happened. So, I'm psyched to see emissions falling. The challenge will be to keep emissions on a downward trajectory when growth begins by preventing new electricity demand from emerging (through efficiency) and replacing coal and oil plant generation with wind, solar and natural gas cogeneration.

We've got to align our economy (through a cap-and-trade or a carbon tax) to be harmonious with the environment rather than a destructive force.

Onwards in the sustainable energy transition-
Dennis

Mickey Schuch | Respond
December 25, 2008 10:14 AM PT

Dennis, I'm commenting on your reference to carbon credits. Unfortunately the average citizen (in my opinion)is more concerned about his or her pocket book than their impact on the global environment. Carbon credits quantify this issue on a dollar basis. Is this the best course of action though? We all know there is not one answer the issues at hand, but I do have some reservations with the carbon credit, mainly the resources to implement, manage, and oversee the program. Seems to be a lot of room for corruption. What are your thoughts?

Dennis Markatos : responding to Mickey Schuch | Respond
December 29, 2008 12:31 PM PT

Mickey,
Thanks for the comment. The tough recession does make the selling of voluntary carbon credits more difficult potentially - just like retailers are seeing is the case with selling anything but spam...
But for those that need to ride by plane or want to make a statement that their lifestyle is not only efficient (CFL lights, good insulation, and bicycling and carpooling) but also has a net zero carbon footprint -- carbon offsets can be useful. We have to get better at regulating them, and that will help us get better at overall monitoring of GHGs so that we can have a successful cap and trade program that connects a carbon market with Europe and elsewhere in the years ahead. A carbon tax could work instead, but it guarantees a cost. If we instead had a cap & trade system, the costs will be lower for all of us during a recession and then higher when we can pay for it during boom-times (because emissions generally follow the boom and bust business cycle). See www.setenergy.org for details on emissions levels and how far they have been dropping these last few months.
-Dennis

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

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