Last weekend’s post “Global Freezing” brought up a couple of important points about why society needs to change its collective behavior. In fact, behavior (along with technology) was posited as the main pathway to achieve energy independence.

One tool currently on the market that encompasses both the technological and behavioral changes needed is the smart meter. Several posts on 2nd Green Revolution have dealt with this topic. Earlier this month on NPR, reporter David Kestenbaum interviewed Dan Reicher, software developer at Google. Host Steve Inskeep provided the following introduction:

“There are some things that many of us do not do, even though they would save us money, like switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs or buy a new energy efficient refrigerator, or just turn off the lights in an empty room. It’s as if we like wasting money. Now, that’s not true, of course, but it is a hard problem to fix.”

Reicher’s family had a smart meter installed in their home. A former assistant secretary at the Energy Department, Reicher believes that “knowledge is power.” The power of information and data is apparent.

Some of the revelations were astounding. Reicher’s family noticed a spike in their electricity consumption each morning. In an attempt to diagnose the problem, Reicher enlisted his six-year old son to help him change the family’s behavior. They noticed that every morning when they turned on the toaster, their usage shot up. The amount of electricity needed to generate heat (an inefficient conversion of one form of energy to another) results in a massive loss of usable energy as predicted by the second law of thermodynamics. In addition, Reicher also learned that the motor on his furnace consumed more energy than newer, more efficient models.

Not everyone feels the same way as Reicher. Kestenbaum interviewed Behavioral Economist George Loewenstein from Carneige Mellon University who believes that “some of the information that a smart meter would give you might actually worsen your behavior because, for example, electricity is really amazingly cheap.” While Loewenstein brings up an important point about the current cost of electricity (vis-a-vis other energy sources), the price of electricity – especially from nonrenewable sources – will only increase. Historically, demand has risen and shown no sign that future drops in prices are imminent. As technology improves – the other factor that may lead to a more sustainable future – generating electricity may become cheaper. However, technology has yet to deliver on many of its energy saving promises. Perhaps Inskeep is right, “It’s as if we like wasting money.” Then again, maybe changing our behavior is not out of the question.

- Eric Wilson

[Image source: Google]