Renewable Energy Versus Energy Efficiency

At the risk of stating the obvious, the subject of renewable energy is so much sexier than energy efficiency. I’m always amazed at all the interest on CFL bulbs, energy-efficient appliances – even hybrid electric vehicles. Every joule of energy your sending to the wheels of your Prius is coming from the chemical energy of the gas you’re putting in the tank; you’re just managing the process if bit better. Personally, I fail to see the excitement.

Energy efficiency is like dieting. You find ways to consume less, normally at the expense of some level of deprivation. What I like about renewable energy is that, once we’d gotten a handle on it, we can consume like utter pigs! Drive a Hummer with a 600 hp motor! Heat your swimming pool in February!

Again, a solar thermal farm in the shape of a square 92 miles on a side in the southwest US desert will produce more energy each day than the entire continent of North America can consume. We need this, or any of the other ways to capture and distribute 1/6000^th of the energy our planet receives daily from the sun.

I’m convinced that we have the technology at our disposal. Google “solar thermal,” “molten salt,” and “high voltage DC” and see if you don’t become convinced as well.

But do we have the political will to deploy it?