We just don’t give a sh*t about energy use
Why we like renewables, but we couldn’t care less about energy efficiency
The Delft University of Technology developed the Trias Energetica. This theory identifies three main steps in creating a circular energy system:
The sequence of these steps is essential: eliminating energy waste and controlling demand is necessary in order to forecast future use. Not only can we indicate the amount of renewable megawatts that have to be added, it allows for a higher percentage of intermittent sources of energy, such as wind and solar. My experience in the energy sector taught me that it’s unrealistic to aim for 100% renewables. Optimalisation of fossil energy sources is essential if we want a continuous flow of energy.
All the government-run adds about reducing energy in your home make sense. I’m not going to throw numbers around and quote research about the enormous amount of electricity and gas that is wasted in our homes and offices, because we know from a personal perspective that it’s true. I love my house, but it’s really unefficient and as leaky as a seave.
As much as both scientists (check Vaclav Smil, he’s my favourite) and economists prove that energy efficiency is the best bang for your buck and that we should double down on retrofitting, we are not buying it.
Why?
Because humans don’t like to be told to NOT do things. Whether it is taking long shower or leaving on the lights.
Off course you’d rather spend 2k on a brand new kitchen than on insulating your cavity wall.
So, as much as all experts agree that enhancing energy efficiency in homes is the cheapest and most sustainable way to fix our energy future — it won’t save us.
Because we are humans, and we like shiny new things. We are consumers. Of course we live a sustainable life. That’s why we buy hemp shoes and organic carrot juice. The header picture of Middelgrunden Windpark is the Danish ministers’ new hemp shoe. Look people, I am pro-sustainability! Every time a new wind or solar park opens you see photos of a proud head of state in a helicopter admiring these ‘statues of progress’.
Humans nowadays not only like shiny new things, they also like to have impact. Luckily, in the second step of the Trias Energetica there is more hope. Unlike having an insulated house, owning a piece of a windmill or adopting a solar PV plant is actually pretty cool. You can definitely collect some respect points on a dinner party with that story.
In Germany, and more and more so in The Netherlands, local bottom-up initiatives for energy generation are on the rise. Energy cooperatives are becoming increasingly important and profitable for its members.
We have to understand that discussing energy efficiency is an elite activity. And elites telling others that ‘they should’ has never, and I mean never, worked. As much as energy efficiency is THE obvious first step…it is too difficult to incentivise. If I can credit myself a bit on understanding consumer behaviour, and I do, I think we should stop spending millions on poor government campaigns to get people to retrofit their homes. Won’t happen. Local energy cooperatives — that actually understand what makes people tick — have the future.
