Making Better Energy Choices

Janet L. Sawin

State of the World 2004

The path we are on is unsustainable, but not inevitable

Overview:

Trends in global energy consumption

Why our current path is not sustainable We can do far better without sacrificing quality of life Forging a different path

Energy That Moves Us

Transportation:
The worlds fastest growing form of energy use, largely due to the rise of the private car

Rise of the Private Car

Numbers
- 531 million private vehicles around the world - Numbers rising: 11 million more each year - More than 50% of vehicles bought in the U.S. are SUVs or other light trucks

Size and Weight

Distances Traveled
- Around the world, we are taking more trips and traveling greater distances

Energy Where We Live and Work

Building Trends:
Energy use in buildings is rising rapidly

International Energy Agency predicts that world electricity demand will double between 2000 and 2030, with most rapid growth in peoples homes

Household Trends
House size
- Average new U.S. home grew by 38%
from 1975-2000 - Larger homes require more energy to build, heat, cool, and light

Household Size

- Number of people living in each home is declining - Thus, more homes are required for a given population

Appliances
- Increasing in numbers, types, and sizes - Fastest growing energy consumers after cars

Energy in Everything We Buy

Manufacturing:
Largest share of global energy use goes to manufacturing our vehicles, buildings, appliances, and even our food and clothes Embodied energy: energy invested in a particular thing during its lifetime, from cradle to grave

Much of the energy embodied in

an item is that required to produce it

Embodied Energy
Homes
- Can live in a typical U.S. home for 10 years before energy used in it exceeds energy that went into components and construction - Worldwide, 21% of fossil fuel use goes to grow, process, package, transport, and cook our food

Food

Cars

- Energy needed to manufacture cars, to build and maintain infrastructure - Petroleum refining devours about 8% of U.S. energy

Where We Have Been

Global Energy Use, 1900-2002
TPES (millions of tons of oil equivalent)
12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0 1900 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002
Source: International Energy Agency (IEA)

and Where We Are Going!?

(if current trends continue)
Past and Projected Global Energy Use, 1900-2030
TPES (millions of tons of oil equivalent)
18,000

actual
15,000 12,000 9,000 6,000 3,000 0 1900

projected

1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024 2030
Source: International Energy Agency (IEA)

2. Our Unsustainable Path

Impacts of energy production and use
Environmental: air, soil, and water pollution, climate change Social: impacts on human health, costs to communities where fuels are extracted Economic and security: costs of relying on imported fuel from unstable regions of the world

Disparities within and among countries

Resource availability

Extreme Imbalance
Huge disparity in energy consumption between and within industrial and developing nations Worlds richest people consume on average 25 times more energy than worlds poorest

Annual Per Capita Energy Consumption, Selected Countries

United States Germany Japan Poland Brazil China* India Ethiopia 0
1.1 0.9 0.5 0.3 * China excludes Hong Kong 2.4 4.1 4.1 8.1

2 4 6 8 10 Per Capita Consumption of Commercial Energy (tons of oil equivalent)

Resource Availability
Impossible for everyone in developing world to consume as much as an average American
Ex.: If everyone in China used as much oil as the average American, China alone would need more oil than the entire world produced in 2001

Many analysts predict that, even at current world consumption rates, global oil production will peak before 2020

3. Energy Use and Quality of Life

What are the objectives of increased energy use?

growing our economy? achieving a better quality of life!

How much energy do we really need?

Energy Use and Quality of Life

Linkages exist:
- Energy helps people meet their basic needs

- Desire for better quality of life drives further energy use But, no fixed relationship exists between energy use and perceived quality of life

Can demonstrate this by looking at indices used to measure quality of life:

Human Development Index (United Nations) Well-being Index (Robert Prescott-Allen)

Energy Use and Quality of Life

For the worlds very poorest people, who use little energy, even a very small increase in energy consumption has significant impacts on value of Human Development Index (HDI) Above a certain level, even very large increases in energy use have NO impact

Per Capita Energy Use and Human Development Index (HDI)

1.0

0.8

Value of HDI

0.6

0.4

Estimated HDI or Calculated Actual HDI

0.2

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10 000

Per Capita Energy Consumption (KOE/H)

Note: Data for 100 developed and developing countries. Source: Suarez (1995)

Energy Use and Quality of Life

Nation Per Capita Well-being Energy Use Rank* Rank** 1 1 2 3 5 24 27 65 119 10 10 6 8 26 19 4 17 3 2
0 100 71 162 190 190 61 70 140

Share of Swedens Per Capita Energy Use (%)

100 100 112 104

Sweden Finland

Norway
Austria

Japan
United States Russian Federation Kuwait United Arab Emirates

173

* Out of 180 countries. ** Based on total primary energy supply.

Energy Use and Quality of Life

Nation Per Capita Well-being Energy Use Rank* Rank** 1 2 3 5 24 27 65 119 10 6 8 26 19 4 17 3
71 162 190 0 100 70 140 140 61 61

Share of Swedens Per Capita Energy Use (%)

100 112 104

Sweden Finland

Norway
Austria

Japan
United States Russian Federation Kuwait United Arab Emirates

173

* Out of 180 countries. ** Based on total primary energy supply.

Energy Use and Quality of Life

In fact, the way we produce and use energy degrades our quality of life through environmental, social, economic, and security impacts

Example: Rising costs of transportation

Traffic fatalities Pollution and resulting health problems Congestion (lost time) Costs of road transport estimated to start at 5% of GDP for industrial countries, and go even higher in some developing countries

4. Forging a Different Path

Waste Less and Conserve Energy
- Only 28% of energy consumed worldwide converts to useful energy - Yet efficient technologies that provide same services with less energy already exist - Pursue all options for energy savings

Shift Energy Sources

- Increase the share of energy that comes
from renewable sources, like solar and wind

Two Types of Choice for Change

Societal
through government policies

Family/Individual
within constraints imposed by availability and affordability, we all make choices about what to buy and how to use it

Making Better Energy Choices: Government Policies

Pricing Policies:
Taxes, subsidies, and infrastructure investments help to determine energy prices

Example: European governments tax cars and gas

more heavily, and invest more in public transit

Result: Europeans on average

own fewer, smaller, more efficient cars than Americans, and use them less

Making Better Energy Choices: Government Policies

Pricing Policies:
Also affect choices about energy sources Example: Subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear

power remain many magnitudes higher than those for renewable energy and efficiency

Result: Deceptively low energy

prices that drive over-consumption and discourage the use of clean, sustainable alternatives

Making Better Energy Choices: Government Policies

Appliance and Building Standards:
They drive manufacturers to produce more energy-efficient products

Example: California state building codes updated

regularly, based on best available technologies

Result: California buildings

far more efficient than US average

Making Better Energy Choices: Government Policies

Take-Back Laws:
They reduce the amount of energy embodied in products we use

Example: Several countries require manufacturers

to take back their products at the end of their useful life, for reuse or recycling

Result: Companies involved in

disassembly and recycling of their goods; improved quality and lifetime of products

Making Better Energy Choices: Individual Choices

Green Power
- More people are opting for renewable energy sources

Living Car Free

- Shifting reliance from personal cars to public transit, cycling, walking, and car sharing programs

Green Buildings
- Recycled and efficient materials, natural lighting and cooling, superior insulation, PVs, rooftop gardens

Other Ways to Save Energy

Purchase items made from recycled materials - Ex.: Producing aluminum out of recycled material requires 95% less energy than making it from raw material

Replace your 5 most-used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs

- If every U.S. household did this, more than 20 large power plants could be shut down

Other Ways to Save Energy

Buy the most energy efficient appliances and vehicles available when replacing old ones - In the U.S., look for the Energy Star label Conserve energy by - Turning off lights and appliances when not in use - Buying fewer items - Installing low-flow showerheads

Making Better Energy Choices

Options and technologies are available to produce and use energy in a more sustainable manner, while maintaining a high quality of life
Forging a more sustainable energy path is a matter of our everyday choices and political will to enact the right policies

About the Author

Janet Sawin is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute

More information on

State of the World 2004

at www.worldwatch.org