2012 is the year of the low-energy person

2012 is the year of the low-energy person
Tags: Lighting, Water Saving Devices
January 5, 2012 - Lois Vitt Sale

The word for 2012 is incremental. Incremental investments and improvements will demonstrate a continued interest in energy and water conservation in 2012.

While the economy is stable, there remains a sense of insecurity due to a slow jobs recovery and the inability of Congress to make any meaningful decisions to either spur the economy with a jobs bill or to find any consensus at on debt reduction. The optimism that was fueled by Federal investments in 2009 and 2010 for green energy through DOE has petered out with the funds.

And at the same time, early returns on the impacts of green technologies show that the embedded promises for energy savings are not always delivered. 2011 was the year where this really came to light because the focus shifted from design to operations. And the assumptions made to anticipate energy performance came into question. Energy models are built on assumed building performance given climate and building design. The big unknown is occupancy. Anticipated energy use builds in parameters for energy conservation that assumes the people using the building understand how the building systems work and know the impacts their personnel energy use has on the overall picture. But lights left on, computers, space heaters, toasters, refrigerator doors left open, etc., add BTUs and Kwh to the sum of energy used.

In 2012, with the continued focus on economic security and the desire to be good environmental stewards, green investments that reap solid operational savings on energy and water will be made. But people's understanding of their contributions to the bottom line savings will spawn a new green attitude that I have coined, the "low energy person." That is the person who routinely shuts lights off when they leave a room, turns the tap off while brushing her teeth, and continues to sort the recycling from the trash. This person will look at their energy and water bills monthly and check the charts that show how their usage compares for the same time last year. When the "low energy person" can afford new technologies to save more water or energy, he will spend the money, but will watch the returns.

Conservation is still the mode for 2012, but improvements will be incremental as will investments and increasingly, individuals will understand how their habits will reap the environmental rewards they seek.