Blog 3- More Profit with Less Carbon

In this selection Amory B. Lovins speaks of the advantages to business and the environment of energy efficient and renewable energy sources. The environmentalists say costs will be worth it and government officials say extra expense will be prohibitive. In fact both are wrong, the costs will actually be lowered.
Enhancing efficiency and switching to less carbon emitting fuels is as important, the world economy has been decarbonizing. In the past two centuries carbon rich fuels (coal_, have given way to fuels with less carbon (oil and natural gas) or none (solar and wind power). By combining the production of heat and electricity it can extract twice as much useful work from each ton of carbon emitted, which would dramatically reduce total carbon by 2050 even as the economy expands.
Improving the whole building engineering can be applied to any building and factorie.
Transportation uses 70% of the total US oil, and 1/3 of the nation's carbon emissions. There is opportunity for enormous efficiency by using light weight material and aerodynamics without compromising comfort, safety, and affordability. With new metal allows - advanced polymer composites- cars can be big, comfy, protective without being heavy, inefficient: this would save oil and lives.
By 2050 US oil consumption could be phased out completely since there are two other fuels coming to the market. The first is ethanol made of woody, weedy plants, and corn is now the main source for ethanol blended with gasoline. The second fuel is replacing oil with lower carbon natural gas, becomes cheaper and more abundant.
By phasing out oil there could be a $70 billion saving per year and also it would lower US carbon emissions by 20%. This would eliminate social and political costs. If the country would become oil free then petroleum will no longer be worth fighting for.
Switching to an oil free economy would happen even faster if politicians would stop encouraging development that makes people drive so much.
Efficiency improvements are occuring with wind power being the greatest success story. In Denmark wind power accounts for 1/5 of all energy, and in Germany wind power accounts for 1/10 of all the energy consumed.
Energy efficiency can outpace economic growth if we payed attention to solar and wind power.
The good news about Global Warming is that it is cheaper to fix than ignore because saving energy is profitable.
Climatic problems are created by millions of bad decisions over time, but climate stability can be restored by millions of sensible choices.
Markets will naturally favor choices that generate wealth, protect climate, and build real security by replacing fossil fuels with cheaper alternatives.
This technology-driven convergence of business, environmental and security interests- holds out the promise of a fairer, richer, and safer world.