Shattering the Myth: Achieving Kyoto Targets will cost us Part I

It was ironic that this past week – during Earth Day week, the federal Conservative Minister of the Environment made statements that achieving our Kyoto targets would throw Canada into a recession. In the following multi-part series of posts, hard business cases will dispel this as pure myth.

The graph which you can download a high res version of below (underneath the word attachment click on file "Art Rosenfeld annual peak savings fridges.jpg" which is 89.28 KB large.

The graph is from Art Rosenfeld, who is one of the world’s leading energy efficiency experts. He is a Commissioner of the California Energy Commission.

Pink Line: In 1947 the average refrigerator was less than 10 cubic feet – and this has consistently risen steadily to the point where today the average cubic volume of a new refrigerator is more than 20 cubic feet.

Blue Line: This marks the average energy use per unit in kWh per year – so beginning in 1947 the average refrigerator used just shy of 400 kWh/year rising to a peak of 1,800 kWh/year – because manufacturers used very little insulation in fridges and very inefficient motors. But California brought in standards that required manufacturers to increase energy efficiency. Manufacturers eventually found that it was cheaper to meet these standards for the units they sold in other states rather than just for California – so California’s standard over time became the de facto national standard. Eventually the US federal government brought in its own standards which further drove manufacturers to increase energy efficiency.

Green Line: Here’s the kicker – the price of refrigerators (in 1983 $US) – during the time these standards came into force, the price of fridges has fallen form $1,270 in the mid 1970s to $462 – a plunge of 63%.

So in other words, while capacity of our fridges has almost tripled, the amount of energy they use has plunged by two thirds at the same time that price has fallen by almost two thirds.

Today the US is saving $US15 billion a year – due to energy efficiency standards for refrigerators alone! And how much did this annual savings cost? Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. In other words, $15 billion of savings a year for FREE.

So when a politician tells you that meeting the Kyoto targets will cost us too much. Tell them to read this blog.

For part II: Vampire power: How to Save Billions for Free see www.greenparty.ca/en/node/1442

Source: www.energy.ca.gov/commission/commissioners/rosenfe...