Opinion

Energy efficiency best way forward

By Joe Hogan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-07 07:52

If we're serious about developing low-carbon power sources, we also need to develop a power system that can deliver them -- a flexible and efficient smart grid that will effectively balance our energy consumption with the availability of wind and solar power. That technology is available now, but it needs to be implemented.

We also need to put renewable energy into perspective. Our only major source of renewable power today is hydro, and less than three percent of the world's electricity comes from other renewable sources. Clearly, they are just one part of our overall strategy for combatting climate change.

Surprisingly, our best prospect of reducing emissions is one that gets little attention - energy efficiency. Projections by the International Energy Agency show that using energy more efficiently has a greater potential to curb carbon dioxide emissions over the next 20 years than all the other options combined.

Governments can truly help by identifying and removing the barriers to the implementation of energy efficient technologies. Getting the international community to agree on binding targets for global CO2 emissions may look like hard work, but it will come to nothing unless we take the simple step of using energy more efficiently.

The author is CEO of ABB.