Seven Paths Toward a More Efficient Use of Energy. (August 14, 2009)|
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News & Views item - August 2009 |
Seven Paths Toward a More Efficient Use of Energy. (August 14, 2009)
The August 14, 2009 issue of the scientific weekly Science has devoted its "News Focus" section to more efficient use of energy.
Below are summaries of the seven articles.
Efficiency is at the heart of the Obama Administration's energy strategy. Tighter appliance standards are on a fast track through the Department of Energy bureaucracy. Billions of dollars from the stimulus package are pouring into programs to weatherize and retrofit homes with energy-saving technology, investments that quickly pay for themselves in lower energy bills. But meeting the more ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require more aggressive measures that cause some economic pain. The biggest challenge is not inventing new technology but persuading more people to adopt technology and practices that already exist. A new generation of researchers and government officials is now examining new strategies for energy efficiency, looking for the key—or a whole ring of keys—that will unlock its full potential.
Filmmaker John Johnson is deploying a technique adapted to the YouTube age to persuade Americans to act against climate change. In collaboration with the creators of popular video programs on the Web, he is developing scripts that show people conserving energy and water and considering how their consumption choices might affect the planet. The first programs will go online later this year.
One watt in every 50 now goes to powering computers, and industry leaders are eager to keep that figure from growing. Big savings can still be made by using more-efficient power supplies and automatically putting idling computers into an energy-saving "sleep" mode. But although computers' energy demand has increased, that expenditure must be weighed against the savings it brings to other machines such as cars and refrigerators.
To create a truly efficient building, don't just buy more insulation, better windows, and efficient lighting. Bigger energy savings, at a lower cost, come from designing a whole building to manage heat and light in an energy-saving way. But current computer-aided design tools are not making it easy for architects to design for efficiency. New software is needed.
White light–emitting diodes have already cracked several niche lighting markets, such as flashlights and bike lights. But they're still not ready to go head to head with cheaper incandescent bulbs and fluorescents that dominate the nearly $100 billion global lighting market. A new spate of advances, however, suggests that the whitecoats are coming.
Commercial aircraft have become steadily more fuel-efficient—simply in order to fly farther and more cheaply. The greatest gains in the past have come from better engines. In addition, computational fluid mechanics has enabled designers to refine the shape to reduce drag—an enemy of efficiency. Manufacturers have also reduced weight with lightweight materials such as plastic. But efficiency increases beyond that may require a radical change in the shape of the aircraft, which carries enormous risks for manufacturers and airlines.
The single biggest opportunity to increase the "energy productivity" of American industry, according to a report issued in July by the consulting group McKinsey & Co., lies untapped in the furnaces of ethanol refineries, paper mills, and other heat-consuming industries. The key is to make use of heat that would otherwise be thrown away. One way to do that is via cogeneration, or "combined heat and power," a technique that is more than a century old but newly fashionable.
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