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1 Some paradoxical and unwanted effects of energy conservation measures 2 3 4P1 The terms energy saving, energy conservation, and energy efficiency are new terms 5increasingly being used by both environmental pressure groups and government energy 6ministries, mainly in the context of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even private 7companies who profit from the sale of energy-consuming appliances are now using these terms 8in their promotional material and in new designs which they hope will increase sales to energy9conscious consumers. This is because it is recognised by many commentators that human 10energy use has important ramifications for the future of the planet. However not all 11commentators agree that there is a clear and automatic link between energy-saving appliances 12and techniques and the achievement of actual reductions in the overall energy consumption of 13whole populations or societies. It is argued by some writers (e.g. Jackson 1998) that in fact 14greater use of energy saving measures may paradoxically lead to increased EC. This essay 15argues that it may be wrong to assume that energy saving measures will be enough, on their 16own, to solve the problem of human energy consumption and its effect on the environment and 17health. It also analyses the feasibility of alternative solutions such as the adoption Green 18Power. 19 20P2 The essay begins by evaluating some of the economic arguments which support the view 21that greater use of energy saving measures may paradoxically lead to increased energy 22consumption; some examples from early in the industrial revolution and from the modern 23period will serve to illustrate this point. The next section examines unexpected problems from 24one oft-promoted energy conservation measure: the heat insulation of homes. Some health 25implications of insulation on a large scale are discussed. Then the cost problems inherent in 26proposals to save traditional fuels by using alternative fuels will be examined. Finally the essay 27briefly recommends greater research into permanent sources of clean and abundant energy, but 28with central generation of supplies rather than at the level of individual homes or industrial 29units. 30 31P3 Some of the arguments promoting energy saving measures as a way of reducing overall 32energy consumption were recently put forward by John MacLeay, in The Australian newspaper 33(March 25/1998). MacLeay gives the example of a Hungry Jack's hamburger takeaway in 34Sydney. In seven months this outlet reduced its energy bill by $9000, giving it a 33 per cent 35return on its investment while reducing 'greenhouse emissions' by 22 per cent. This would seem 36to be an example worth emulating. However, Jackson (1998) argues that energy efficiency 37measures only mean conservation in the sense of eliminating the unnecessary waste of energy
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1in its production process. Conserving energy in this sense is self-evidently a good business 2practice, but it also has the ironic effect of raising the demand for electricity. This is because 3reducing the use of electrical energy per unit of output in production processes is similar to 4reducing its price. I would argue that since the aim of every business must be to increase sales, 5it follows from Jacksons example that firms which reduce the cost of their energy will simply 6use these savings to attempt to expand and gain a bigger market share, thereby increasing 7energy consumption. Economic history has numbers of examples of this process. 8 9P4 The steam engine is an example used by Jackson (1998). Before James Watt's innovations 10the steam engine was extremely wasteful. The introduction of Watt's separate condenser alone 11improved 'energy conservation' by a factor of four. This not only increased the demand for coal 12but also for more steam engines which in turn led to more innovations which in turn, of course, 13increased overall energy consumption. This very early example of 'energy conservation' was 14brought about by market forces and demand. 15 16P5 Inhaber & Saunders (1994) also investigate the effects of 'energy conservation techniques 17on the demand for energy. Aluminium is another example of an efficient use of energy actually 18expanding output and demand. Aluminium was first produced in commercial quantities from 19the 1850s using a complex chemical process. Unfortunately, the cost of the process made sure 20that aluminium was very expensive. The invention of the electrolytic process revolutionised 21aluminium production: it could now be made very cheaply using much less overall energy: 22electrical energy. This made aluminium so abundant that now it is used in huge quantities. 23Abundant ('cheap') electrical energy added vast quantities of a new resource to the range of 24existing resources. This had the effect of raising the demand for more electrical energy, as 25more aluminium could now be produced more cheaply 26 27P6 Cathy Zoi, chief executive of the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Association 28(SEDA) suggests that energy-efficiency measures are to be adopted by other fast food chains. 29She claims that if all of McDonald's and Domino Pizza's NSW's outlets used Hungry Jack's 30energy efficiency methods they would save $8 million dollars in bills (Zoi 1997). According to 31SEDA these 'energy conservation' measures will generate a minimum internal rate of return of 3220 per cent. Using a number of examples, their study provides a forceful case in support of the 33above reasoning. However, applying Jacksons reasoning, these companies will thus become 34more competitive and use their cost savings to build more outlets. Inhaber & Saunders 35(1994:67) provide further evidence of this tendency: in the 1990s the Danish government has

1imposed severe efficiency standards on electrical appliances in the cause of conservation with 2the result that the national consumption of electrical energy rose. 3 4P7 We may conclude therefore that it is not energy efficiency in itself that matters to any 5business but the ratio of the value of the output (e.g. goods to sell) to the value of the inputs 6(costs). If it were not so, householders and businesspeople would insist on replacing all copper 7wiring and contacts in their homes and outlets with platinum, because it is a more efficient 8electrical conductor. Of course they would not do so because of the high costs. 9 10P8 The issue of heat insulation in buildings will serve as another illustration of how attempts to 11save energy may have unwanted consequences. Radon is an inert radioactive gas which decays 12into a solid which can cause cancer when particles lodge in the lung. The gas is produced by 13the natural decay of uranium; not from man-made nuclear waste but from ordinary building 14materials, but the dangers of radon can be easily eliminated by adequate ventilation. 15Unfortunately energy conservation by heat insulation has the reverse effect by trapping the 16radon. Professor Bernard Cohen (cited in Brundage, 1988) has calculated that heat insulation 17will cause an additional 10,000 lung cancers a year. Brundage also found that the risk of 18bronchial disease in modern energy-efficient military buildings was 45 per cent higher than in 19the older buildings and exceeded 100 per cent during epidemics. These findings were based on 202,663 cases of illnesses over a 47 month period. Thus the health implications of apparently 21simple energy saving measures must be considered before they are applied. 22 23P9 Alternative energy sources are another new development in fossil energy conservation. One 24example is the use of alcohol (e.g. produced from sugar cane) as a fuel. It is sometimes 25asserted that a comparatively small chemical industry could produce enough fuel in the form of 26alcohol (gasohol is the name of the fuel) to replace a good proportion of a countrys petrol 27consumption. This approach has been tried in Brazil among other countries (Reilly 1995). 28However energy has to be used in order to produce gasohol. These figures were produced by 29Reilly (p346): one bushel of corn produces 2.6 gallons of ethanol costing about 375,000 BTUs 30(thermal units) in the energy used by machines to grow and process it; when burnt, however, 31these 2.6 gallons only yield 218,000 BTUs of which only about 43,000 would be used to drive 32the car (the rest would be wasted as heat). For this reason the use of gasohol has not been 33adopted on a large scale by other countries than Brazil, and would in any case require huge 34amounts of land to produce the quantities of fuel required. Thus for the foreseeable future 35energy sources may well continue to be of the fossil fuel variety for certain functions such as 36the driving of large machinery or in high-yield agriculture.

1 2P10 It is apparent, therefore, from the analysis and discussion of the evidence presented above, 3that the claimed benefits made for energy saving measures can be and often are offset by 4paradoxical or undesirable effects. It seems that it is by no means simple to find acceptable 5cost-effective substitutes for fossil fuels. To do this on a scale that will produce a permanent 6source of clean, cheap and abundant energy may require investment in new technology and 7massive amounts of capital through which to apply it. One new measure which may provide 8some of this capital is the development of so-called Green Power offered by power companies 9in Australia (SEDA Website 1999). In this system the consumer chooses to have a certain 10percentage of their power (e.g. 25%, 50% or even 100%) supplied from accredited renewable 11sources such as windfarms, biomass plants or solar generators. They pay at least 10% more for 12this proportion of their power supply, but have the sense of moral worth which comes from 13knowing they receive at least some of their energy needs from a clean source, in which they are 14investing by paying more for it. Companies using Green Power can use this fact in their 15promotional material. This approach, with its appeal to the moral sense of the consumer, may 16be just what is needed to provide the funding for greater developments in the centralised, large 17scale generation of renewable energy. I believe that governments should do all they can to 18advertise and promote this approach and not expect too much from energy saving measures. 19 201633 words

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REFERENCES

3 4Brundage, J. F. (1988). Epidemiology of bronchio-related diseases in insulated modern 5buildings. Journal of the American Medical Association 8.4.1988, 67 78. 6 7Inhaber, H. & Saunders H. (1994) Road to Nowhere Energy conservation often backfires. 8The Sciences November-December 1994: 96-127. 9 10Jackson, G. (1997). Energy conservation, green lies, cancer and journalists. The New 11Australian On-line No. 44, 7-13 July 1997. Available from 12<'http://www.newaus.com.au/econ34a.html > Accessed on 12/6/99 13 14Lovins, A. , Lovins H. & von Weizscker E. (1997) Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use. 15Los Angeles: Earthscan 16 17MacLeay, J. (1997). Hungry for energy? Try a fast-food approach. The Australian, 25/3/98. 18 19Reilly, G. (1995) The economics of gasohol as an automobile fuel. Energy Conservation 20Journal, Vol 4, 1995, 345-349. 21 22Sustainable Energy Development Authority (New South Wales). Official website: Available 23from < http://www.seda.nsw.gov.au/business/greenpower.htm > Accessed on 10/6/99. 24 25Zoi, C. (1997). Energy Efficiency gains in the fast-food industry. SEDA website : available 26from < Http://www.seda.nsw.gov.au/ business/esmart_business.htm > Accessed on 8/5/99 27