At Brimstone Energy, we are huge advocates of Energy Efficiency.
And in this post we want to draw your attention to the fact that Energy Efficiency is not the same as Energy Conservation.
Our simple definition is this:
“Energy conservation is the practice of using less energy, primarily through behavioural change”
Whereas:
“Energy efficiency is using technology that requires less energy to perform the same function.”
Behavioural change
You may be amongst the 10.5 million people who have watched this speech that the comedian and commentator Konstantin Kisin made at the Oxford Union, in which he implored the smart people of Oxford University to use their skills and talent to invent our way out of Climate Change rather than somehow expect folk in Africa and Asia to settle for poverty.
The relevant section starts from minute 3:52, with a key segment at 6:50 and at 8:00.
Whilst you might find some of his speech controversial, you cannot argue with this underlying premise:
People will not accept a reduction in their living standards in the name of Climate Change.
It is a feature of the Human Race to want to improve things, to leave things better for the next generation, the steady march of progress.
However, behaviour is a really hard thing to change. Human behaviour evolves organically, people tend to adopt behaviour that is in their own immediate interests. People generally don’t respond well to instructions or orders, rather they need to see the benefits themselves and then voluntarily change their behaviour accordingly.
Example 1: Smoking
The anti-smoking campaign ASH estimates that there are still almost 7 million active smokers in the UK. This is despite a concerted effort over decades to wean folk off smoking. Cigarettes are heavily taxed, advertising has been outlawed, displaying them in shops has been banned, the packaging has got horrible pictures of disease on it and smoking in public places has been banned. Nowadays smoking within the grounds of many workplaces is banned, such that smokers now need to leave the site premises to smoke (even more draconian than confining smokers to designated smoking shelters. There are no shelters beyond the boundary of the site premises!).
It is difficult to think where the anti-smoking campaign has left to go in its efforts to change the behaviour of smokers.
And yet, almost 7 million people still smoke.
Example 2: The school run
Everyone knows that the school run is a public policy disaster.
Take Cambridge for example. Cambridge is a city grappling to avoid gridlock. It is a small, ancient city. You cannot build new roads into or through Cambridge, but the outskirts are nowadays bypassed on all sides by the upgraded M11, A14 and A10. But despite these excellent links on the city outskirts, trying to drive into central Cambridge during rush hour is to invite huge amounts of stress into your life.
Everyone agrees that the status quo isn’t sustainable. The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has been set up with the express intent to improve transport in the region – transport is one of the Combined Authority’s principle competencies as the Local Transport Authority.
The reality is that the only solution that would dramatically cut rush hour (and school run) car driving into Cambridge City would be some kind of mass transit system, which critically used dedicated routes (unlike the buses) into the City Centre itself, and even more importantly was easily accessible from the major motorway network. You have to make people’s lives easier, not harder.
To achieve this kind of solution would be hugely challenging – hence it is not even within scope. There is nothing radical in the proposals for Cambridge and therefore it is hard to see the current situation of daily gridlock changing during the next decade.
Positive Vision for the future
At Brimstone Energy, we have a positive vision for the future. We know that the only way to achieve a decarbonised future is to harness human ingenuity and to share best practice and knowledge.
Whilst we see that there is a role for Energy Conservation, we know from our examples above that asking people to accept hardship for the greater good is unlikely to yield the desired results.
But offer folk a better solution, and they will adopt it voluntarily. Remember when traditional filament light bulbs were banned, and the only alternative was those terrible low energy light bulbs that took 30 seconds to warm up? LED technology has replaced both of these because they are cheaper and better in every respect.
Modern TVs use a fraction of the electricity compared models released only 10 years ago. Plus, they are thinner, bigger, have smaller bezzles, weigh less and have sharper picture quality. They are better in every respect.
Energy Efficiency at Home
Aside from the evolution of energy efficient electronic devices at home, the area in which home-owners can make the biggest gains in their consumption of energy is to do with space heating. Space heating accounts for the majority of energy used in the home.
A heat loss survey of your home will identify your bespoke step-by-step guide to improving the energy efficiency of your home.
The benefits to you will be realised in the form of a more comfortable home that is cheaper to run. It is a “no-regrets” investment.
Solar Panels and Home Battery Storage
As part of our positive vision for the future, we believe that many folk can benefit from the installation of Solar Panels and Home Battery Storage.
These technologies will save you money in the long term, with payback periods in the range of 4-5 years. They are set it and forget it technologies. So critically, they do not require you to change your behaviour.
We believe that once people are exposed to the benefits, the business case sells itself.
Contact us for your Heat Loss Survey to start your journey to the future of Home Energy.
Brimstone Energy
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