Simple steps to save energy such as changing light bulbs or not quite filling up the kettle can also save carbon emissions, a UN report will say this week. The numbers are big: some $122 billion will be saved and nearly a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided globally by 2020 just by screwing in more efficient light bulbs.
The trouble is getting business and individuals motivated by measures like energy efficiency. "It's not that exciting," said Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, a public and private-funded company meant to drive a low carbon shift in British industry. "It falls uncomfortably between routine maintenance budget and capital investment. It doesn't justify going to the company board and making a big pitch."
But improving efficiency can cut almost any business's energy use and carbon output by a fifth, Delay said. And such measures could cut by a third carbon emissions from buildings by 2020, at a profit, the UN draft report says. Products are working on their image, according to the "Carbon Counter", a carbon-saving guide published by Collins.
"Low-energy fluorescent bulbs used to be ugly and chunky and take hours to heat up with a sort of sickly bluish light. Luckily they are now smaller and swankier than the energy-wasteful alternative," it says. And a "ban the incandescent lightbulb" campaign is mounting. Started by Australia in February, EU leaders have also demanded to phase out inefficient bulbs by the end of the decade.
"There are big steps we can all make in energy efficiency and waste management. We can be very positive -- rather than talk about the penalising side of climate change," said Miles Templeman, director general of Britain's Institute of Directors.
INVISIBLE: Maybe one image problem for energy efficiency is that savings are invisible, suggests Nick Robins, head of Henderson Global Investors 300 million pounds ($598.3 million) Sustainable & Responsible Investment (SRI) funds.
Henderson has 48 million pounds invested in energy efficiency companies. The International Energy Agency, energy adviser to 26 rich nations, says efficiency measures could cut carbon dioxide emissions by 5 gigatonnes, or 5,000 billion tonnes, by 2030.
This would not only pay for itself but knock some $8 trillion off consumers' electricity bills, and save $3 trillion in power plants that would no longer have to be built, it says. Some businesses are wiseing up to demand for efficiency kit. Microsoft introduced in its latest version of Windows a "sleep state" facility which uses "absolute minimal" energy.
"Thirty percent of PCs are left on overnight, 20 percent over the weekend. We're more capable now to allow a machine to shut down," said Paul Stoddart, Microsoft's UK Windows marketing manager.