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Is Energy Efficiency our Panacea for Power?

Forbes Saleem H. Ali, Environmental systems scientist at the University of Delaware, 29 Oct 23

Princeton University’s Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment hosted their annual meeting on October 27th with an informative and entertaining keynote by Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and on the adjunct faculty of Stanford’s newly endowed Doerr School of Sustainability. Mr. Lovins, who is a MacArthur Fellow, was introduced by Dr. Barry Rand, who heads external relations for the center, as the “Einstein of Energy Efficiency.” In his presentation, the take-home message from Mr. Lovins was that we neither need massive sources of baseload power such as nuclear energy or massive battery storage for renewable energy infrastructure to meet our energy needs for the foreseeable future.

Instead, we need a smart transition to energy efficiency and a more robust interlocked grid which is able to act as backup for baseload power.

Furthermore, Mr. Lovins also suggested that carbon capture and storage and other forms of engineered “decarbonization” were largely unnecessary as well because a much faster transition away from fossil fuels was possible……………………………………………

Energy efficiency and a relatively less painless transition towards a lower carbon future are perhaps within our reach, but in a world of suboptimal decision-making we cannot be complacent that the best paths will be chosen. Furthermore, research on multiple new energy sources such as geological hydrogen or nuclear fusion will provide us with a broader range of opportunity sets if the material-energy nexus becomes a constraint in specific pathways for renewables. 

We are at an exciting moment in the Anthropocene where a systems perspective on energy is being embraced by eminent research institutes, and consumers are becoming more informed about their resource usage decisions. Embracing efficiency is a first but not the final step to securing our future.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/saleemali/2023/10/29/is-energy-efficiency-our-panacea-for-power/?sh=10843fc04b6d #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes

October 31, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY