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RSS FeedChapter 2: Making Better Energy Choices
by Worldwatch Institute on January 11, 2004
Everything we use and consume—our homes and their contents, our cars andthe roads we travel, even our clothes and our food—requires energy. We need energy to produce, package, distribute, operate, and eventually disposeof all these items.
Despite significant improvements in energy efficiency and a decline in the energyintensity of the global economy, the desire for bigger and faster lifestyles—combinedwith population growth—is driving a rapid increase in energy use worldwide.
In China, India, and many other developing countries, energy use is rising rapidlyas more people gain access to electricity and can afford to buy cars and modernappliances. While this creates new challenges in a world where resources arelimited—the planet simply cannot provide for everyone to live like theaverage American or European—consuming more energy is not always bad. Formany people, an increase in energy use is an essential prerequisite to meetingtheir basic needs, such as lighting, pumped water, or refrigeration.
In the industrial world, however, people are using more energy largely becausethey are buying more and bigger appliances, houses, and vehicles. Today, theworld’s richest people use on average 25 times more energy than the world’spoorest.
Yet it is possible to live a more energy-efficient life. Already, in countrieslike Norway and Japan, people enjoy a very high standard of living while usingfar less energy per person than the average American. Government policies—includingregulations, standards, subsidies, and taxes—are critical for improvementsin energy efficiency and conservation, and for the sustained growth of cleanerand “greener” energy technologies. At the same time, individual consumerscan play a large role through their everyday choices, by creating demand forproducts and services that are more energy-efficient, and by influencing widerpolicy decisions.
Janet L. Sawin
Everything we use and consume—our homes and their contents, our cars andthe roads we travel, even our clothes and our food—requires energy. We need energy to produce, package, distribute, operate, and eventually disposeof all these items.
Despite significant improvements in energy efficiency and a decline in the energyintensity of the global economy, the desire for bigger and faster lifestyles—combinedwith population growth—is driving a rapid increase in energy use worldwide.
In China, India, and many other developing countries, energy use is rising rapidlyas more people gain access to electricity and can afford to buy cars and modernappliances. While this creates new challenges in a world where resources arelimited—the planet simply cannot provide for everyone to live like theaverage American or European—consuming more energy is not always bad. Formany people, an increase in energy use is an essential prerequisite to meetingtheir basic needs, such as lighting, pumped water, or refrigeration.
In the industrial world, however, people are using more energy largely becausethey are buying more and bigger appliances, houses, and vehicles. Today, theworld’s richest people use on average 25 times more energy than the world’spoorest.
Yet it is possible to live a more energy-efficient life. Already, in countrieslike Norway and Japan, people enjoy a very high standard of living while usingfar less energy per person than the average American. Government policies—includingregulations, standards, subsidies, and taxes—are critical for improvementsin energy efficiency and conservation, and for the sustained growth of cleanerand “greener” energy technologies. At the same time, individual consumerscan play a large role through their everyday choices, by creating demand forproducts and services that are more energy-efficient, and by influencing widerpolicy decisions.
- Global Energy Use Trends
- Energy That Moves Us
- Energy Where We Live and Work
- Energy in Everything We Buy
- Policy and Choice
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