Australia needs more Negawatts
A Negawatt is the opposite of a Megawatt. It’s a unit of energy we didn’t have to generate due to energy efficiency.
Negawatt power is cheaper and greener then wind, solar or tidal power. It’s been estimated that every kilowatt of savings at the plug actually contributes 3 kilowatts of savings in total due to energy losses from generation, distribution and consumption.
According to modelling from the International Energy Association, energy efficiency offers the biggest scope for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It can contribute more abatement than renewable energy, more than carbon capture and storage and more than nuclear power.
The IEA goes on to say in their report:
Energy-effiency investments in buildings, industry and transport usually have short pay-back periods and negative net abatement costs, as the fuel-cost savings over the lifetime of capital stock often outweigh the additional capital costs of the efficiency measure, even when future savings are discounted.
While the recent name change of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency probably has more to do with the Government’s backflip on the ETS the focus on energy efficiency is welcome.
Greensense View is one way we are supporting energy efficiency. Contact us, if you’d like to find out more.
Tags: energy efficiency, ETS, iea, negawatt
How much funding is there for energy efficiency (more negawatts!) in tonight’s Federal budget?
Well it gets a share of the $652 million allocated to the Renewable Energy Fund. This is a lot of money, but the name gives a real clue to the focus of the fund.
Let’s be generous and say half is energy efficiency. This is okay until you remember that energy efficiency is the cleanest and cheapest energy there is, and it seems to be getting only about 3% of $10 billion dollars the government says its spending on clean energy.
To be fair there are other programs encouraging energy efficiency like fuel standards for vehicles, mandatory disclosure of energy efficiency for commercial buildings, and smart grid trials, but the government could definitely do more..