Envisioning an energy efficient society

Interview with Amory Lovins

Wendy Natt, Mar 26, 09.

Worldchanging interviewed Amory Lovins, Cofounder and highly awarded experimental physicist at the Rocky Mountain Institute about elegant solutions to greatly expanding our everyday energy efficiency. Many technologies capable of providing major energy efficiency benefits already exist, notes Lovins, but changing the inventory of technologies and services available to the public to the point where energy efficient options “pervade what business offers in the market” will require a lot of work, “relentless patience, meticulous attention to detail, and fearlessness.” However, the results, says Lovins, with be profitable on multiple levels. After all, in the longer run, “energy efficiency is cheaper than fuel,” he says.

Removing obstacles to proven energy saving practices and technologies that are already in use in other countries is another major obstacle that US industry and public policy must overcome. Lovins describes his three strongest recommendations for public policy changes that we need to implement soon to ensure a clean and stable energy future.