Efficiency Has Come

The point that must be taken from energy efficiency, it must, is that energy efficiency has only ever led to more energy use, not less.

Efficiency has come, and demand has risen apace.

The more efficient a car grew, the more of them we built, and the more we used them, the more energy they consumed overall. We equate this with 'standard of living.' Two cars per human rather than one. A fridge in the house, and the spare in the garage...with a chest freezer to boot. Two computers in the home...which has become a much bigger home, with 45 CFL light bulbs instead of a smaller home with 15 incandescents.

Efficiency has come, and demand has risen apace.

Take a look at the corridor between my office area and the entrance to my building:


There are seventeen flourescent fixtures providing corridor light 24 hours a day, every day of the year, as this building is occupied every minute of the day by power system dispatchers. And this corridor is used by humans perhaps no more than 4% per day.

Doing the math: 17 fixtures * 2 bulbs * 40W each + 17 ballasts * ~5W each is a total demand of 1445W * 8760 hours = ~12,600kWh * $.10/kWh = $1,265 per year.

A few months ago, facilities was trying to troubleshoot an electrical problem in the building. They turned off these lights and temporarily strung a set of those yellow plastic lightbulb cage things with CFLs, 15 in total, and there was more than enough light to move about, and the numbers:

15 CFLs * 13W each * 8760 hours * $.10/kWh = $170 per year.

I pointed this out to facilities. But as soon as the lighting problem was corrected, we returned to the lighting in the photo. These lights are on right now, at 5:00 PM on Sunday...with no one in the hallway.

And because refrigerators are so damn efficient, there is one in my area that supports the off and on again lunch habits of 6 people. We aren't required to share any of the other 4 fridges in the building...too far to walk, apparently. At ~600kWh a year, this is another $60.

These convienences are 'quality of life' issues, and so are not to be discussed further. If we changed things, we'd be forced to walk down a slightly darker hallway to a fridge we'd have to share with 'others.' So we don't.