I’ve worked in energy efficiency, so I’ve thought about this a lot. Pure energy efficiency is getting the same utility with less energy. However, energy conservation is generally regarded as situations where you have to give something up, such as thermal comfort, convenience, travel, second homes etc. One successful example of energy efficiency is appliances in the United States such as clothes washers, refrigerators, and dishwashers now use about 1⁄4 as much energy as they did a few decades ago at negative costs for CO2 saved. I think there are still many opportunities to reduce energy use cost effectively and get the same utility. But once you go to non-cost-effective energy efficiency or directly limiting activities, the economic costs (taking into account non-monetary factors) get extremely high. I’ve run a few numbers and have gotten around $1,000 to $10,000 per ton CO2, versus ~$100 per ton CO2 for things including renewable energy and air capture. So I don’t think we should be directly limiting activities.
I’ve worked in energy efficiency, so I’ve thought about this a lot. Pure energy efficiency is getting the same utility with less energy. However, energy conservation is generally regarded as situations where you have to give something up, such as thermal comfort, convenience, travel, second homes etc. One successful example of energy efficiency is appliances in the United States such as clothes washers, refrigerators, and dishwashers now use about 1⁄4 as much energy as they did a few decades ago at negative costs for CO2 saved. I think there are still many opportunities to reduce energy use cost effectively and get the same utility. But once you go to non-cost-effective energy efficiency or directly limiting activities, the economic costs (taking into account non-monetary factors) get extremely high. I’ve run a few numbers and have gotten around $1,000 to $10,000 per ton CO2, versus ~$100 per ton CO2 for things including renewable energy and air capture. So I don’t think we should be directly limiting activities.