Motivations to improve energy efficiency
– Decreasing energy use reduces energy costs
– Financial cost savings for consumers
– Energy savings offset additional costs
– Solution to minimizing greenhouse gas emissions
– Improved energy efficiency reduces global emissions
Removing government-led energy subsidies
– Promote high energy consumption
– Inefficient energy use in many countries
– More than half of countries have subsidies
– Removing subsidies can improve energy efficiency
– Reducing energy imports and depletion of domestic resources
Energy efficiency and renewable energy
– Twin pillars of sustainable energy policy
– High priorities in the sustainable energy hierarchy
– National security benefit
– Reducing energy imports from foreign countries
– Slowing down depletion of domestic energy resources
Energy productivity
– Measures output and quality of goods and services
– Reducing the amount of energy required
– Improving energy efficiency increases productivity
– Achieving more with less energy input
– Boosting overall economic growth
Methods to achieve energy efficiency
– Implementing commonly accepted methods
– Energy-efficient technologies
– Improving efficiency in buildings, industrial processes, and transportation
– Potential to reduce global energy needs by one third in 2050
– Contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_energy_use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy to achieve and maintain a thermal comfort. Installing light-emitting diode bulbs, fluorescent lighting, or natural skylight windows reduces the amount of energy required to attain the same level of illumination compared to using traditional incandescent light bulbs. Improvements in energy efficiency are generally achieved by adopting a more efficient technology or production process or by application of commonly accepted methods to reduce energy losses.
There are many motivations to improve energy efficiency. Decreasing energy use reduces energy costs and may result in a financial cost saving to consumers if the energy savings offset any additional costs of implementing an energy-efficient technology. Reducing energy use is also seen as a solution to the problem of minimizing greenhouse gas emissions. Improved energy efficiency in buildings, industrial processes and transportation could reduce the world's energy needs in 2050 by one third, and help reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. Another important solution is to remove government-led energy subsidies that promote high energy consumption and inefficient energy use in more than half of the countries in the world.
Energy efficiency and renewable energy are said to be the twin pillars of sustainable energy policy and are high priorities in the sustainable energy hierarchy. In many countries energy efficiency is also seen to have a national security benefit because it can be used to reduce the level of energy imports from foreign countries and may slow down the rate at which domestic energy resources are depleted.
