How to go green: Be energy-efficient

Big carbon emission cuts can come from simple fixes: Experts
Grace Chua, Straits Times 1 Dec 09;

EFFORTS to use new energy technologies are hampered by businesses' reluctance to toss out their expensive and energy-inefficient equipment, said head of the International Energy Agency's (IEA) energy efficiency and environment division Richard Bradley.

That is why boosting energy efficiency is still the best and easiest way to cut carbon emissions before 2030, he said.

This is because equipment, buildings and transport infrastructure all have lengthy lifespans, he explained. For example, 80 per cent of power plants in the United States built since 1890 are still in operation. Some still burn coal, belching carbon dioxide which leads to warming when it accumulates in the atmosphere.

Mr Bradley spoke to reporters yesterday before the start of sustainable energy conference

EnviroAsia, which begins today, a week ahead of the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen.

The IEA is the energy policy and statistics agency of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

'In the near term, the biggest reductions will come from energy efficiency,' Mr Bradley said.

Only after 2030 will major changes such as electric cars or nuclear energy be implemented on a larger scale, even though they are already in the works now. 'Many of the energy decisions for the next decade are being made now or have already been made,' he said.

Meanwhile, seemingly small energy-efficiency improvements - such as reducing the amount of standby power that cable set-top boxes use - can lead to big energy savings. Likewise, refurbishing existing equipment to make them more efficient will save energy.

However, it will take government policies, such as regulating standby power or light bulbs, to bring about those changes, he added.

Commenting on energy efficiency, Dr Michael Quah of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute said fixes could be simple, but such low-hanging fruits were often not plucked because of poor planning. 'Sometimes, we set wrong KPIs (key performance indicators) without thinking,' he said.

He gave an example: If buildings are constructed with the aim of making them as cheap as possible, they would not be as energy-efficient as if they were built to reduce costs over their entire life cycle.

Asked for his opinion on the possible outcome of the Copenhagen climate talks, Mr Bradley said he was encouraged by the US and China's announcements of emission targets.

'What we are now seeing is that the major economies are coming forward and indicating their willingness to put that general framework (for emission cuts) in place,' he said.

At EnviroAsia, he will lecture on energy trends in Asia and speak at a panel on energy-efficient technologies.