The Most Effective Actions U.S. Households Can Take to Curb Climate Change
In America, 38 per cent of energy is consumed by private households - far more than is consumed by the entire industrial sector. Now, in a new article for Environment magazine, a pair of researchers have published a list of the most effective ways for households to reduce their energy consumption.
Studies have found that most U.S. residents want to make behavioral changes that reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but they “lack accurate, accessible, and actionable information on how best to achieve potential savings through their own steps.” The authors claim that “without waiting for new technologies to appear, making major economic sacrifices, or losing a sense of well-being, households can reduce energy consumption by almost 30 percent—about 11 percent of total U.S. consumption.” How? By changing their selection and use of household and motor vehicle technologies.
From the article:
A comparison of energy saved by curtailment and by increased efficiency…reveals that efficiency-improving actions generally save more energy—and reduce carbon emissions more—than curtailing use of intrinsically inefficient equipment. For example, buying and maintaining a highly fuel-efficient vehicle saves more energy than carpooling to work with another person, lowering top highway speeds, consolidating shopping or errand trips, and altering driving habits in an existing gasoline-inefficient motor vehicle. This general finding challenges the belief that energy savings entail curtailment and sacrifice of amenities. Not only is efficiency generally more effective than curtailment, but it has the important psychological advantage of requiring only one or a few actions. Curtailment actions must be repeated continuously over time to achieve their optimal effect, whereas efficiency-boosting actions, taken infrequently or only once, have lasting effects with little need for continuing attention and effort.
To read the whole article, go to Environmentmagazine.org.
