Keywords

Abstract

Analysts agree about the need for developing both new and cleaner energy resources. At the same time, some argue that energy efficiency can provide only a minimal role in meeting future energy needs. Hence, energy supply is encouraged while energy efficiency is supported only minimally. Analysts Douglas Lightfoot and Christopher Green suggest in a series of papers, for example, that there are practical limits that will constrain the rate of efficiency improvement to no more than about one percent per annum over the next 100 years. This paper explores the assumptions that underpin such “practical limits” and concludes that efficiency gains perhaps could more than double the rate suggested by Lightfoot and Green. The question is not one of practical limits; rather, the issue is one of choosing to develop energy paths that allow greater system efficiencies to emerge.

Paper

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Panels of the 2004 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Panel 1. Residential Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends

Panel 2. Residential Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Panel 3. Commercial Buildings: Technologies, Design, Performance Analysis, and Building Industry Trends

Panel 4. Commercial Buildings: Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation

Panel 5. Utility Regulation and Deregulation: Incentives, Strategies, and Policies

Panel 6. Market Transformation: Designing for Lasting Change

Panel 7. Human and Social Dimensions of Energy Use: Trends and Their Implications

Panel 8. Energy and Environmental Policy: Changing the Climate for Energy Efficiency

Panel 9. Efficient Buildings in Efficient Communities

Panel 10. Roundtables: Thinking Outside the Box

Panel 11. Appliances and Equipment