By Simon Butler
October 9, 2010 -- Green Left Weekly -- It is close to an article of faith among environmentalists that using
less energy is a big part of the solution to climate change. Energy
efficiency is often said to be the “low hanging fruit” of climate
policy. On face value, the benefits seem obvious.
The knowledge needed to make big gains in efficiency already exists.
Using less energy will save consumers and industry money, whereas other
policies will be costly. And most importantly, lower energy use could
make a big dent in global greenhouse gas emissions.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the
International Energy Agency both promote energy efficiency as an
important climate measure.
However, strong evidence has emerged that new energy efficient technologies alone won’t do much to cut emissions. Indeed, in a capitalist economy, it’s very likely that energy efficiency gains will lead to higher energy use, not less.