"Three years ago, practically no one had a television set in this isolated community tucked between Nepal and Bangladesh. It is an area so remote and roadless that the only access is on foot or by bullock cart, after monsoon rains turn dirt paths into bogs that become impassable even for farm tractors.

Even so, half of the 1,000 households have TV, paying about 40 cents every few days to the owner of a diesel generator to recharge the batteries that power the sets. Ranvir Kumar Mandel, a slender 22-year-old, has built a bamboo hut here just to serve as a television repair shop."

This NYTimes article details the alarming rise of dirty diesel generators as a prime source of energy throughout Asia, often driven by the desire for Western amenities like TVs. To its credit the article does mention alternative programs including biofuel generators and microturbine hydropower plants but the telling number is that the diesel generators outnumber alternatives by a factor of millions. This is carbon dumping of the worst sort, completely unregulated and uncontrollable. Yet we can’t sit here in the greatest power consumer culture on earth and criticize their desire for what we take for granted.

Like many who have an interest in climate change, I have been seduced by the technology and promise of alternative energy. After all, it can relieve our dependence on fossil fuels and provide clean, renewable energy. What’s not to like? Nothing, except it is not the most critical change we need to make right now. Becoming more efficient is the most immediate action we need to address while we build our alternative infrastructure.

As this article in the NY Times describes, the lack of capability to store energy provided by alternative sources like wind and solar is a major technological problem. This factor alone means that the costs of this energy will always be high and the environmental impact must still factor in the need for carbon-based fuel sources (to fill in when the sun isn’t shining) until we solve the storage problem. The market has a lot of headroom pricewise before these technologies become viable.

The Political Will To Change Won’t Embrace Energy Efficiency

Politicians are becoming big advocates of alternative sources, but not because they are wonderful technology. They like them because they allow the politician to embrace the populist energy issues while not having to confront actual change while they are still in office. Announcing that 20% of our energy needs will be provided by alternatives by 2020 is a wonderful sound bite for an elected official- especially since they will not have to account for that promise 23 years from now.

Energy efficiency is a different political animal. The President and Congress could mandate significantly higher gas mileage in a very short timeframe and send a huge message to oil producers and energy companies that they were leveling the playing field. They won’t however, because the entire auto industry would take a short term hit and these are major political influencers. Even a five percent mandatory improvement in three years would take a huge load off of our economy as a whole and the environment. Instead, this obvious step is being sold out for short term gain by industry. The Japanese, particularly Toyota, have a longer strategic view. They understand that, by including efficiency in their strategy, they’ll eventually own the market worldwide. In fact, they will own the US market sometime in 2007. As a capitalist, I have no problem with fighting regulation to protect shareholder profits, however I do have a problem with sticking to an outdated model and using political power to level the playing field for short term gain.

Efficiency Pays both the Consumer and The Environment

What will change this attitude? We will. You see, buying efficient products actually saves us money. A car that is 5% more efficient saves more and more money as fuel prices rise. Likewise with home heating and energy efficiency, electric bills and new low power lighting, etc. The point here is that you are the voter. You mandated change in Iraq last November. You can and should mandate immediate change on energy efficiency. You can tell your elected officials, local and national, that this is critical now. And you can vote with your pocketbook, choosing efficiency over short term savings. The market is still good at listening to that kind of input.