Energy efficiency initiatives have saved hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs while preventing sharp increases in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the recently released Energy Efficiency Impact Report by a consortium of three energy efficiency organizations.
Efficiency investments since 1980 prevented a 60% increase in energy consumption and carbon emissions and are responsible for half of the carbon dioxide emissions reductions in the U.S. power sector since 2005, the report says.
Energy-efficient lighting has been a notable success, with a market for LEDs that went from an emerging technology to dominant deployment in less than a decade. The U.S. has decreased its lighting energy consumption by 16% from 2001 to 2015, despite a 25% increase in lamp inventory by 25% over that period.
Residential energy use per household has fallen by roughly 16% from 2001 to 2018. Model building energy codes are expected to save $126 billion in energy costs and 13 quads of primary energy from 2010 to 2040.
Policymaking, including federal, state, and local standards and codes, has been a critical enabler of energy efficiency deployment, but progress is now at risk of stalling, the report says.
Related Stories
| Aug 2, 2013
Design of world’s tallest wood skyscraper would be more sustainable than steel alternative
Architecture firm C. F. Møller has proposed building the tallest wooden building in the world in Stockholm, Sweden.
| Aug 2, 2013
Texas law expected to help reduce construction payroll fraud
Texas lawmakers want to get tough on construction companies that commit a certain form of payroll fraud, passing a new law recently signed by Gov. Rick Perry.
| Aug 2, 2013
Surveys show parking space requirements far in excess of what is necessary
Officials in the Northwest’s large metropolitan areas have sent survey takers out at night through apartment and condominium lots and garages, recording empty and full spaces, and comparing their tallies with the number of apartments.
| Aug 2, 2013
Netherlands Institute of Ecology built to zero waste principles
The Netherlands Institute of Ecology was designed and built to be the most sustainable building in Holland and incorporate the zero waste principles of Cradle-to-Cradle design.
| Aug 2, 2013
Threat of more powerful coastal storms could curtail development
Led by Stanford University’s Natural Capital Project, researchers mapped the intensity of hazards posed to communities living along America’s coastlines from rising seas and ferocious storms now and in the decades to come.
| Jul 26, 2013
AGC launches new coalition to help bring tax relief to construction sector
Associated General Contractor of America (AGC) has launched the Coalition for Fair Effective Tax Rates to bring tax relief to the construction sector.
| Jul 26, 2013
Legislation would revamp federal contracting policy impacting small design and construction firms
Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representative this month to ban reverse auctions when an agency determines small businesses are qualified to bid on the solicitation.
| Jul 26, 2013
Detroit’s problems may make blue infrastructure codes more likely
The City of Detroit’s financial problems may make it more likely to adopt blue infrastructure standards.
| Jul 26, 2013
Cities should reconsider rooming houses to build affordable housing stock, says expert
Building codes have effectively outlawed the bottom end of the private housing market, driving up rents on everything above it, argues the Sightline Institute's Alan Durning.
| Jul 17, 2013
WorldGBC, IFC pledge to rapidly scale up green construction in emerging markets
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) are collaborating to rapidly scale up the construction of green buildings in emerging markets.