Laugh if you want, we did, at the silly antics of Mayor John Hickenlooper and Gov. Bill Ritter as they stood before reporters Thursday and whipped off their ties to promote an energy conservation program that will raise thermostats in offices around the state.
As Congress holds hearings to try to divine what’s driving up oil prices and the president stumps for more domestic drilling, the simple principle of conservation has not gotten its due.
The supply side is only half the equation. The demand side has enormous potential for easing the pain of oil that was going for $142 a barrel Friday afternoon. Simply put, saving energy is easier than finding more.
Since the last energy crisis in the 1970s, the U.S. has taken steps toward greater energy conservation and efficiency with some success. But we need to go further, and it doesn’t have to come at the expense of our economy.
John A. Laitner, director of economic analysis for the nonprofit American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, told Congress on Wednesday that investment in energy efficiency strategies could result in an economy in 2030 that is 70 percent larger than it is today but uses no more energy than was consumed in the mid-1990s.
It would require efficiencies in the transportation sector, such as cars that get radically more miles to the gallon, alternative modes of freight movement, increased telecommuting and videoconferencing, and more mass-transit funding.
Others have more transformative visions. Energy-efficiency guru Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Old Snowmass, contends that conservation in conjunction with more efficient use of oil and increased use of biofuels could reduce U.S. oil imports from an expected 20 million barrels a day in 2025 to 5 million.
Harvard-trained Lovins detailed his ideas in the 2005 book “Winning the Oil End Game,” which was partly funded by the Defense Department and the Office of Naval Research and written for business and military leaders.
To be sure, Lovins’ ideas go well beyond adjusting the thermostat, involving more efficiently built homes, cars and energy generation.
But such a societal transformation begins with increased awareness and a collective public appetite for change. That’s where the “Cool Biz” program has its true value.
The program would moderate office air conditioning use by raising thermostats 4 degrees in seven city office buildings. Ritter is encouraging state offices to do the same wherever practical. Local corporations Coors Brewing Co. and Qwest Communications have signed on, as well.
Losing ties and adopting a cooler, more casual dress code between Memorial Day and Labor Day was part of the pitch to coax along workers who will have warmer workday conditions.
And while it won’t have a huge impact in terms of kilowatts, it does have the potential to open some minds to the idea that a big part of the solution to our energy problems has got to involve conservation. And there’s nothing goofy about that.
