If you’re a buyer of computers, electronics, machinery, automobiles, buildings, or anything else that requires power, the first thing that should still be on your mind these days, with petroleum and oil prices about to go through the roof again, is energy. It now costs more to power an average desktop workstation for its expected life-span than it does to buy it, just as it does to power and cool your average server. Getting 40% off MSRP on a pick-up truck that only gets 15 mpg isn’t a great deal anymore if it’s going to be driven 30,000 miles per year, because, at current fuel costs, you’ll be spending 45,000+ in fuel costs over 5 years … over two times what you’ll be paying for the truck!
That’s why it needs to be said again that energy-efficiency technologies can reduce energy consumption by 25% or more, as per the results of a McKinsey study from 2008 that also found that improved energy efficiency can cut energy requirements by 25% in many developed countries, as I noted in my post on Cutting Carbon Footprints on the Country Level.
And remember the 2008 The Industry Week article on “Growing the Energy Efficiency Market” that focussed on a 2008 ACEEE (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy) report on “The Size of the U.S. Energy Efficiency Market”: Generating a More Complete Picture. The report, which was supported by the Civil Society Institute, the Kendall Foundation, and the North American Insulation Manufacturer’s Association, found that:
- The U.S. has the potential to reduce energy consumption by an additional 25% to 30% through strategic use of energy efficient technologies
- Energy-Efficiency has met about three-fourths of the demand of new energy related services since 1970, proving that it works
- Investments in more energy-efficient technologies could result in an efficiency market worth more than 700 Billion by 2030
So do what you can to drive for energy efficiency. The operating cost reductions to your Supply Management organization that will follow will be well worth it.
Editor’s Note: This is an edited reposting of a 2008 SI blog post on how Energy Efficiency is the First Step in Energy Conservation. It’s a good message to remember at this time of year when many people put up those energy-inefficient holiday lights and displays from ten and twenty years ago without thinking that can, when overdone, create quite a strain on the grid.