Two new reports this week highlight the essential role that energy efficiency will play in reducing energy use and carbon emissions.  The new analyses on the immense benefits of efficiency and what it will take to achieve them underscore the need to actively engage and involve the public in energy and climate policy.

A new report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy finds that energy efficiency will substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut consumers’ energy bills in half by 2050.

Likewise, a study from McKinsey and Company finds that an aggressive national energy efficiency strategy will save 17% of U.S. 2005 CO2 emissions in ten years at a net savings of $700 billion to U.S. consumers and businesses.  The savings would exceed the upfront investment needed to realize these measures.

The “central conclusion” of the study is “Energy efficiency offers a vast, low-cost energy resource for the U.S. economy – but only if the nation can craft a comprehensive and innovative approach to unlock it.  Significant and persistent barriers will need to be addressed at multiple levels to stimulate demand for energy efficiency and manage its delivery across more than 100 million buildings and literally billions of devices.  If executed at scale, a holistic approach would yield gross energy savings worth more than $1.2 trillion, well above the $520 billion needed through 2020 for upfront investment in efficiency measures (not including program costs).  Such a program is estimated to reduce end-use energy consumption in 2020 by 9.1 quadrillion BTUs, roughly 23 percent of projected demand, potentially abating up to 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gases annually.”

Fostering innovative technologies and undertaking ambitious initiatives will be vital to enhancing efficiency on the scale called for in the reports.  However it must be recognized that at the heart of making this work will be encouraging businesses and consumers to change their habits significantly.  Among the observations of the report is the need to “Forge greater alignment between utilities, regulators, government agencies, manufacturers, and energy consumers.”  Collaboration among all stakeholders and education to the public will be vital to realizing the full potential of efficiency.

The new reports accentuate the need for policymakers to connect with the nation’s greatest resource – its people – in confronting its energy challenges.  All of us, as energy consumers, must be brought into the national effort to reduce greenhouse emissions and reliance on carbon-based energy.