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Energy efficiency is the biggest answer to greenhouse gas pollution

Analysts Say Efficiency Key to Clean Energy Future in Australia Voice of America, Phil Mercer March 02, 2012 Sydney International experts meeting in Australia say global carbon emissions can be reduced by more than 50 percent through simple energy saving measures. Attendees at a conference in Australia, which increasingly relies on coal for power, say that reducing power consumption is an affordable way to both cut energy costs and reduce pollution.

While many nations turn to cheap and dirty energy sources, such as coal, to meet their increasing energy needs, analysts in Australia say the best way to meet those needs is to improve energy efficiency

.A range of simple solutions include using energy-efficient homes, household appliances and lighting, and driving electric cars.

Encouraging homeowners and office workers to switch off their televisions and computers at the end of the day is also seen as an effective way to save electricity.

Cutting consumption Grayson Heffner, from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, says curbing consumption could significantly cut global carbon emissions. He calls efficiency strategies the “soft giant” of clean energy.

“We forecast that energy efficiency will deliver something like three-quarters of the greenhouse gas emissions reductions over the
next 20 years.  So in the short term energy efficiency is the main way that we reduce greenhouse gas emissions but oftentimes it is no so prominently featured in the discussions,” said Heffner.

Energy conservationists working in China say authorities there are making significant cuts in power usage. ….
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Australian-Analysts-Efficiency-Key-to-Clean-Energy-Future-141165703.html

March 3, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general