When I took my kids to see Seussical, the musical based on the children’s books of Dr. Seuss, who knew that I would get more out of it than a stale cookie at intermission.

The story centers around little people happily living on a speck of dust, when they realize that they may be threatened because there is something beyond their horizon.  They shout and shout to get the attention of the bigger world, but no one hears them until one boy adds a new word, Yopp!, to the commotion.  Somehow that helps them break through so people in the bigger world get the message, and their little speck of dust is saved.

So many of us who are involved in energy efficiency feel like we’ve been on that speck of dust for way too long.  From Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson to Lawrence Berkeley’s Art Rosenfeld, voices have been clamoring for people to consider the impact of their energy use on the environment, the economy and people’s lives..

The voices now are stronger.  Groups such as the Apollo Alliance add labor’s tone to the discourse, and the Energy Futures Coalition brings a conservative timbre to the conversation.  And then there’s the national Energy Efficiency Action Plan, a DOE/EPA effort to “bring the appropriate stakeholders together -- including utilities, state policy makers, consumers, consumer advocates, energy services companies, and others - to be part of a collaborative effort to take energy efficiency to a new level.”

All of these efforts hopefully will result in a loosening of what R. Neal Elliott recently called “America’s Energy Straightjacket.”  His report published by the American Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy outlines the major problems related to energy markets, reviews the external factors that threaten their stability, and talks about how energy efficiency is “the only policy solution” that could provide near-term relief.

“Energy efficiency can quickly and cost-effectively moderate energy demand growth, stretching available energy resources while providing price relief to consumers and reducing the risk that our energy straitjacket will derail the economic recovery,” the report says.  Elliott’s policy solutions include a national campaign led by the President, expanded funding for federal energy efficiency programs, and energy efficiency standards.  

“We are here! We are here!” the little Seuss people shouted in the play, though no one heard them.  It will be interesting to see what words it will take or what event will be necessary to get the rest of the world to pay attention to the benefits of energy efficiency:  Climate Change!  Economic Progress!  Global Competitiveness!

Yopp!

Comments

The words are various forms of the the word "money." With the Modifier "too much" in front. Clearly, whether it is cost of electricity, cost of gasoline, or just an overall cost of energy from a combined usage standpoint, a very few people have really appended that modifier so far.

Yes, many corporations have seen the need and reduced energy use, replaced capital investments with greener stuff, all while their employees are driving huge SUVs back to their 3500 Sq ft houses. Until this energy conservation makes its way to the individual user, it is not going to be effective. I am not certain how to make that happen outside of the restrictive taxes places like Europe have placed on Energy use.

And that's saying nothing about the many countries where the concept of energy reduction is nearly unheard of.

Bravo Johnson Controls, welcome to the blogosphere. Hope this becomes a great forum!

In response to the comment above. It indeed comes down to money, at least initially, for most people. Most folks are far too stuck in their ways to be jostled by anything other than a poke in the pocketbook.

The tragedy of this is that if that poke comes too swiftly, people's reaction is too often to drill more, burn more, provoke military conflict and anything BUT change their ways.

The hope is that companies with a say in the matter, like JC, can take a leadership position to ease people into a greener, more efficient life, so they hardly notice the change. If it starts with companies, the philosophy can filter to employees, and then the general public.

- Nick Aster

www.triplepundit.com

www.treehugger.com

In book form, it was Seuss's "Horton hears a Who."

Related - Isaac Asimov's Hugo Award-winning novel "The Gods Themselves" (where Earth basically gets handed an apparatus providing abundant free/clean energy, which we become thoroughly accustomed to, and aren't willing to give up even when it's becoming clear that continuing to use it will eventually cause our section of the galaxy to blow up) -

"But why should they want it, if it means death?"
"All they have to do is refuse to believe it means
death. The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny
it exists."
and
"you can't just move backward. You can't push the chicken back into the egg, wine back into the grape, the boy back into the womb. If you want the baby to let go of your watch, you don't just try to explain that he ought to do it - you offer him something he would rather have."

Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe

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