New Report: Energy Efficiency Could Produce $1.2 Trillion in Savings by avra

The New York Times published a story yesterday describing a study just released by McKinsey consulting firm about energy efficiency.  I don’t want to re-report the news, but we I think it’s so important that I’ll give you the highlights and then let you read rest of the article for yourself.

1. An investment of $520 billion in improvements like sealing ducts and replacing inefficient appliances could produce $1.2 trillion in savings on energy bills through 2020, the study found.

2. If  such a program was carried out over the next decade, it could cut the country’s projected energy use in 2020 by about 23 percent.

3. It would also more than offset the growth in energy use that would be expected otherwise.

4. The $52 billion annual investment envisioned by McKinsey is four or five times more than the nation currently spends on energy efficiency, and would have to be maintained over a decade.

5. The potential gains would be spread across millions of homes and businesses, so getting widespread participation would be a challenge.

Since our overall goal at 1BOG is to reduce energy consuption, we absolutely belive in this sort of large scale investment along with changes in behavior.  It’s clear to us that we need to do everything possible to dramatically shift the rate of energy reducing improvements.  I wish I had more time to pontificate on the matter right now, but I’m too busy trying to launch our next campaign for solar and energy efficiency in the Bay Area.  But, I didn’t want you to miss out on this study because  I have a feeling it’s going to be insumental in shaping public policy and influencing consumer habits – or at least I hope it will be.