Energy efficiency efforts losing steam

Abstract

U.S. efforts to improve the efficiency of energy use in industry, buildings, and transportation, spurred by the 1973 Arab oil embargo, being undermined by a period of low energy prices and accompanying spirit of complacency, says a new report by the Worldwatch Institute, a private research group based in Washington, D.C. Government and private energy efficiency programs have been cut back and drastically underfunded, says the report. And it is almost certain that the momentum achieved in the early eighties will soon dissipate. Government and industry focus on boosting supplies of oil, coal, and nuclear power, while neglecting less expensive energy efficiency options. And most nations are still riddled with institutional obstacles to efficiency improvements. The report urges policy reforms and political leadership to give energy efficiency top priority as an essential ingredient of economic and ecological progress. Energy efficiency should be transformed from a watchword of speciali...