Market Value for Conservation....

Despite the fact that the cheapest energy available at any given time is conservation - in other words, reducing your demand, which after the initial investment means that energy is FREE, energy conservation isn't talked about.

It's not SEXY.

There's hardly a good market for it - because the only thing you can sell is green technologies which, require people to have a budget, and a little bit of initial investment.

How do you create the market for conservation? Get people to start thinking in the right mid-term or long-term framework rather than the immediate.
In the immediate, cents per kilowat hour looks better than $1000 window upgrade - it's the PAYBACK period which people don't understand.

You don't hear people saying "Today I want to go and buy some Conservation of Energy.... so how do we frame it and create the right simple incentives?

1. Perhaps if the investment was over time - a payment plan which was only slightly higher than their normal payment plan. And told them that FOR THE SAME COMFORTS... pay THE SAME COST for 3 years - then the comfort is FREE.

2. Perhaps a very easy to fill-in sheet, which calculates for them based on their situation, what their energy savings will be each year. The first year they will have the initial investment.... The second year they save X.. the third year they save X.. and it can mark when they have saved what they invested...

3. The point needs to be SAVING MONEY - not BEING GREEN. They can feel good about using less energy if they want.... for the environment, their children, national security, their personal security.

4. low-interest loans for energy-saving technology or incentives are most likely the most effective.

So what are the companies who make energy-saving products doing?

we create self-fulfilling phrophecies..

It is my understanding that the process works thus:

1. We predict what our "demand" will be
2. We build power plants, roads, schools, etc to MEET that demand
3. We thus fulfill the demand - by creating the demand

It seems quite backwards...

for example - on Cape Cod - they have a 10-year projected energy demand... so they are talking about what power plants, wind farms and such, will be needed to MEET that demand.

INSTEAD.....

How about decided what demand you WANT there to be?
Then you can figure out a strategy of how to reduce your energy demand over time.... through conservation measures, which will reduce the cost of the energy because new power plants and new development's WON'T be needed.

So decide that in 5 years, you want Cape Cod to be using X amount of energy....
which means you don't need more powerplants...
which means the energy costs will go up -
which will make conservation more affordable
which will spur energy conservation innovation....

If we keep predicting Unsustainable growth and consumption patterns - we will keep creating them... with a FALSE idea that we are REACTING to society.... though in fact, we are CREATING the demands in the first place through the market.

We could instead, realize we are in the decision-making position, and be PROACTIVE!