25 years: International finance
Over the decades, the world has invested a huge amount in renewable technologies to fight climate change. Over 80% of the investment has been on the supply side to feed consumption and yet. In this video, Jonathan Maxwell explains why energy efficiency through demand side solutions will be the key to tackling climate change.
Over the decades, the world has invested a huge amount in renewable technologies to fight climate change. Over 80% of the investment has been on the supply side to feed consumption and yet. In this video, Jonathan Maxwell explains why energy efficiency through demand side solutions will be the key to tackling climate change.
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14 mins 46 secs
To-date, the world has been attempting to fight climate change by feeding consumption (focussing on the supply side) and yet atmospheric CO2 concentrations have gone up every year. It is imperative that we focus on stopping carbon from getting into the atmosphere by reducing demand for energy.
Key learning objectives:
Understand the importance of energy efficiency in tackling climate change
Understand the different sources of energy inefficiency
Outline the mistakes by policy makers with regards to demand side solutions
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Demand side energy solutions facilitate a transformation in productivity without sacrificing growth. Over $3.5 trillion US dollars have been invested in renewables such as wind and solar in the last 20 years. Compared to the supply side, the demand side has been overlooked and it can unlock perhaps trillions in savings through energy efficiency. Around 70% of energy is used in buildings, industry and transport. Reducing demand by removing inefficiency provides investment returns, results in emissions reductions, productivity gains and increased energy security.
The opportunity exists because, although energy is worth trillions and everyone and everyone and everything depends on it, and nations are at war over it, and it represents some 80% of the human-made contribution to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, we waste most of it.
In the USA around 70% of primary energy is lost before it gets to the final consumer. Many geopolitical, economic and climate challenges won’t be addressed without energy efficiency. Competition for resources and the excessive consumption of them is a cause of both climate change and conflict. Every unit of natural gas that we don’t use equates to 2.6 units of natural gas that we don’t need to buy. More than two thirds of the primary energy from the gas is lost before it gets to the point of use.
Energy efficiency is the largest, fastest and cheapest source of greenhouse gas emission reductions and is also a key to resilience from increasingly difficult climatic conditions. It also provides economic opportunity as the value of energy wastage for countries and companies is colossal.
Adopting an efficiency-first approach can turn society’s greatest challenges into its greatest opportunities.
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