"Energy efficiency" has become somewhat of a buzz word. With concerns about climate change, availability of natural resources, pollution, and rising costs, trying to conserve energy seems a bit like a no brainer - especially if one doesn't have to change their lifestyle significantly to do it! Therein enter "energy efficient" products. What's not to love about products that can do the same thing as old ones but using less energy? That means lower electricity bills, less demand, less need to produce electricity.
Well, the truth is that few "energy efficient" products do the same thing as what they replace. At least, not exactly. New technologies mean that the replacement products have their own risks and benefits, and that they don't perform in the same way as the old ones. In some ways this is good - the most obvious in this case being energy savings. But what happens when CFLs are used in place of incandescent lamps, for example? Disposal requirements change. The apparent color of a space shifts. The wavelength of light on is exposed to has different peaks. (The health impact of different wavelengths is a topic for a different discussion.) In short, something lamped with a CFL rather than an incandescent lamp will still produce light - and a comparable amount for less electricity - but the qualities of that light will be different.
None of this is to say that we shouldn't be conservationists. We absolutely should do what we can to be good stewards to the world and each other. But, change does not come without cost. And "easy" change that doesn't make us change our lifestyles may not be the most efficient way to conserve. We like easy, and easy changes are better than no change, of course. Real, lasting, sustainable change, though, will require lifestyle change for most of us. What steps we take will depend on what our priorities are.
For those interested in reading more about the technology and lifestyle balance, consider these links:
One in a Billion
EU Argument for Environmental Policy Pushes
Sustainable Consumption and Behaviour Change
This idea of prioritization and sacrifice is an important one. Sometimes, we lose sight of the big picture when looking for energy savings - to unanticipated results. To be better stewards, to be more sustainable, we will need to make some hard changes. But, I suggest that we shouldn't make these without evaluating the cost/benefit.
Walking more and taking more public transit feels inconvenient and takes more time - but it's often better for us, not just from a pure energy perspective but also health. That may not be as true for someone who lives or travels through a dangerous neighborhood; the crime needs to be addressed before people will see a "benefit" to traveling through such a neighborhood, particularly at night.
A skyscraper that I frequent this last week decided to reduce its electrical consumption by changing halogen MR16 lamps in the elevator cabs with LED retrofits. This seems like an easy way to be more energy efficient, even if it's a relatively small part of the building's overall energy consumption. But, not all LEDs are created equal and the result was considered a failure by several. The elevators had had a yellow, warm light from a fixture that indeed generated a little heat. Now, those cabs had a blue, cold feel, and in fact were colder, as the lamp didn't dissipate much heat. Worse, the lights flickered. Not an inviting entry nor a pleasant trip to an upper floor. In fact, there is a technological problem with many retrofit MR16 lamps on the market and how they are installed. This change was not worth the discomfort caused by this particular energy efficient solution. After some complaints, the building management changed the lamps back to the halogens, awaiting further study. There is a more energy efficient solution to these elevator cabs; cheap LED retrofits without consideration of color temperature and flicker is not the correct one.
How do we find the balance between efficiency and comfort? How much should we rely on technology rather than lifestyle adjustment?
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