Resource efficiency – the only way

Thursday 14 March 2013

I recently attended a meeting of the Chop Sticks Club – a group that has been promoting Anglo-Chinese relations for the last twenty years. Although of course the projected future where the Chinese economy continues to grow dramatically may not be totally assured it’s phenomenal growth over the last twenty years, along with similar rapid transformations in many other countries, coupled with a lack of growth in Western economies, certainly means global growth will be driven by the developing countries.

Here in the West there is only one clear path to growth and job creation – exploiting the huge potential for resource efficiency – especially energy – that we know exists. In buildings alone the UK spent in 2011 £42 billion. We know that we can achieve savings of c.10% by better management (much more in many cases), c.20% by low cost investment in better controls and monitoring technologies, and far more by extensive investment in holistic retrofits. A 20% saving would produce £8 billion saving for consumers. Studies from the USA suggest $1m spent on energy efficiency produces something like 20 jobs. If we assume 20 jobs per £1 million and capex to produce the £8 billion of £40 billion, that would produce 800,000 jobs and free up a lot of cash flow for consumers.

Tags: China, Investors, Management, Technology, USA

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Dr Steven Fawkes

Welcome to my blog on energy efficiency and energy efficiency financing. The first question people ask is why my blog is called 'only eleven percent' - the answer is here. I look forward to engaging with you!

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