8/7/2019 Energy Efficiency is not a minor point, Mr. Monbiot

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An open letter:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Feist (Physicist)Unit for Energy Efficient Buildings

University of InnsbruckTechniker Str. 13A-6020 Innsbruck

2011-03-26

Dear George Monbiot,

Nick Grant gave me your mail address and suggested to contact you. I did not, onlynow, after the discussion I read on the Guardian today.

The omission of efficiency is a serious one. And now I see, why you thought to do

that: You are still thinking in 20, 30% reductions by efficiency. Nick grant thought youknow about the state of the art: Passive Houses save 90%, electronic ink 98%, theLoremo-car 75%, ... I can go on.

So: better efficiency is a game-changer. If we only manage to save net-50% in thenext 20 yrs by this (after also taking higher comfort and prosperity into account), theneed for energy production is only half of what it is now: Renewables (now some15%, can double easily in 20 yrs) will be already 60% of the lower demand. The restof non-renewables (40% of the lower demand) is just 20% of what we need now -and we can be very, very picky of what kind of non-renewable source we choose.Given contemporary circumstances it might be natural gas - having just 50% of theglobal warming impact compared to coal. That reduces global warming impacts to50% out of 20% - i.e. 10% of the emissions now. That would not cause any dangerfor the climate on earth. And ... after 20 yrs there is still time for even better efficiencyand much better energy supply concepts.

So, yes, that is a very serious omission, not to look on efficiency.

Kind regards

Wolfgang Feist

PS.: You will find a lot of valuable information here:

http://passipedia.passiv.de/passipedia_en/basics/energy_efficiency_-

_the_key_to_future_energy_supply

Univ. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang FeistEnergieeffizientes Bauen Universitt Innsbruckund Passivhaus Institut Darmstadt und Innsbruck

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