Guardian 10:10, the ease of cutting carbon and why standards matter

The Guardian is signing people up to cut their energy use by 10% in 2010. Sounds like a lot? Its dead easy for most people; we have managed to cut our household energy usage by about 50% in one year and cut our otherwise large travel footprint by taking longer trips and using trains to cut flights. (Checked old bills and we are now using about 1,500 units per month, down from 3,500 units before the changes were made - at an average price of 8.33 per unit, up from about 4.20 in 2004).

Our cost of cutting household energy use was high - with paybacks in the many years if one looks at the full cost of each item. However, all this was done as part of a renovation and the marginal costs of double versus single glazing, direct drive versus standard a/c's are paid back very fast. There is virtually no wait for payback on roof insulation and cfl's.

Even so, the main items we changed were a/c's and bulbs. We changed all the a/c's though many are used only a few times a year. Had we changed only the ones used every day, and the bulbs, and double glazed the windows only in those rooms the TOTAL cost of those would be recovered every two years, based on the figures above.

The business I run has chopped energy usage per unit by around 50% as well in the last few years; we will make another big cut later this year when we replace an inefficient a/c system.

The point is that for established countries to make swingeing cuts is not hard and does not take much money at all; our problem in India and China is that we are adding people.

Not all the cuts above cost money. The per unit reduction in the business was a consequence of more modern machines that produce more while they save, and the energy efficiency aspect is a free ride.

In the business, though, it is about lack of money - should I put money into growth or into energy efficiency. For years the answer was growth; now that the system is old enough to cost production downtime when it fails the answer changes. I could replace the old system with a similar one and it would cost less than an energy efficient system, and that is what a lot of people will do.

The quickest way to meet all our goals is to implement really high energy standards for everything in every country. Why phase in the end of the incandescent bulb? Do it now. Why allow inefficient compressors to be sold? Why allow single glazed windows to be installed?

All this inefficiency is defended in the name of choice. It is a false choice that forces consumers to buy what is against their long term interests to safeguard the short term profits of business.