Since Energy Efficiency is the Best and Quickest Climate Change Mitigation Action, Why Not Invest in Our EE Professionals?!

"If you can’t measure it, then you can’t manage it." This saying sounds so true about the energy sector. Indeed, installing meters and employing robust measurement and verification methods and protocols is indispensable to building and enhancing the credibility of the entire sustainable-energy sector. Currently, another newer saying may also apply to energy efficiency (EE): “If you can’t tweet about it, then you won’t do it.”

In the world of social media and instant messaging, renewable energy (RE) is often endowed with peaceful images of shiny white wind turbines ensconced among verdant rolling hills or a field of solar PV systems. To drive home the serious effects of climate change, several images showing the Earth as a light bulb are being hotly circulated. In pitiful contrast, EE usually conjures up images of dark, dimly lit mechanical rooms, or rusty, bulky boilers, or greasy pumps and valves. Simply put, so far, EE has not looked that sexy image-wise on Twitter!  

Even a casual survey of speeches, reports, strategies and other energy-issue-related documents released by governments unmistakably shows that governments are giving EE much less spotlight than RE. In fact, it is hard to identify the logical reason to explain why governments around the world prefer to invest in long-term development of new technologies and renewable energies as core elements of their climate-change mitigation policies, though EE is widely recognized as “the cheapest fuel”. Actually, a widely cited and recognized report released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) concludes that the cost of saving each kWh through EE is merely 2.8 US￠, far less than any other fuel! Back here in Canada, quite a few organizations such as Nova Scotia’s Efficiency One have set encouraging and inspiring examples of how EE can play a significant role in our quest towards powering our country with sustainable and cleaner energy use.

What’s more, EE is also by far the quickest action to reduce energy consumption and mitigate climate change. It may take years to achieve the impacts expected from the investments in new technologies. RE only makes us feel better, while we still consume as much as before, even though now we’re consuming cleaner energy. Although RE makes us feel great, it’s still much more expensive than not consuming energy! EE is not bad for the economy; it's rather a great way of saving money to invest in other sectors!

While Canada is not short on capable EE professionals, including energy managers, energy auditors, building operators and many other professionals, to enable Canada to reap the full benefits from pursuing EE, two missions must be fulfilled through EE training, namely: (1) strengthening these professionals’ EE knowledge and capacity; and (2) quickly increasing the number of qualified EE professionals. To fulfill these missions, it will be necessary to develop and offer more and better EE education programs and to provide stronger support and better recognition to energy-related continuing education programs. Those EE professionals capable of serving as actors of change in energy use must be empowered with the right methods, tools and opportunities to lead the necessary actions aimed at making our buildings, homes, transportation, and industrial facilities and operations more energy-efficient.

In Canada, some organizations are already providing such strong support to EE training, e.g., the incentives offered by Ontario’s IESO under its saveONenergy program. It is high time that the Federal Government (1) starts making major investments in EE through the Office of Energy Efficiency; and (2) takes concrete actions to ensure there are enough qualified EE professionals in our various economic sectors. Accomplishing these two goals is expected to help implement our EE projects effectively with good results. These results will in turn build and strengthen the credibility of the EE sector, which has yet to earn everyone’s trust for investing in intangible, hard-to-grasp energy-saving projects. Hopefully, with a collective effort backed by government support, EE’s stronger credibility will breed a prettier image in the Twitter realm and EE will settle more comfortably in everyone’s hearts and minds!