Energy efficiency, does it worth it?
We have been creating standards and laws for energy efficiency for decades. Appliances, for example, have an energy rating according to their consumption and even households have an energy rating. There are also some products with low energy rating that have been banned, such as incandescent bulbs.
The question is, does such energy efficiency make any difference? The logical thing would be to think so. Over the years, we use increasingly energy-efficient products and consume less. But it may not be like that. And a study has shown that it can happen.
In California there are energy efficiency regulations in homes since the 70s, they were pioneers. Its regulations make savings of up to 80% in energy consumption. However, a study prepared by Arik Levinson (in the National Bureau of Economic Research) shows that the consumption has not had any noticeable effect compared to other States that did not approve said regulations or in front of previously built homes, keeping the rest of fixed factors .
What happened? It's hard to know but there are clues. The safest thing is that if you have something more energy efficient you can use it more time. For example, if you have light bulbs that consume less, maybe you leave them on longer. If your car consumes much less, maybe you do many more kilometers or use less public transport. People react to incentives in a way that we may not expect.
Is energy efficiency therefore bad? No, but there must be other measures to reduce consumption. For example, taxes on pollution or surcharges that encourage us to take advantage of this energy efficiency to reduce our consumption.
Efficiency is troublesome when it comes to measuring..
As an example:
Last Feburary, i bought a 1999 Chevy S10 with 70,000 miles on it. I get about 25 MPG.
While not as efficient as a newer vehicle, the energy and pollution costs of manufacturing it has already been expended.
The energy and pollution expense of producing a new car is only slightly less than it was for my older vehicle, but you would also need to account for the energy and pollution expense of recycling my older vehicle.
By keeping my older, less efficient vehicle, I can spend less money, be less polluting and use less energy.
A similar problem can be said for energy efficient light bulbs.
High consumpton incandescent bulbs may be "less efficient" when it comes to producing light, but during the winter the heat they release reduces the energy required to heat a home conventionally.
A more practical, long term view of efficiency would be beneficial in reduction of consumption.
If it's behavior usage, then that's a completely different topic. A lot of the energy efficiency measures integrate an automatic shut-off feature when it is not being used.
Where is the study that you mentioned?
California's energy usage per capita is much lower than the US national average.
Source: http://www.energy.ca.gov/2009publications/CEC-200-2009-015/CEC-200-2009-015.PDF