Many of us are making the ever so slow and tedious climb out of debt. On a personal level as well as at the national level, a long put-off realization and rebalancing is upon us: our spending has been beyond our means and our financial lifestyle is unsustainable. Much the same can be said about our energy lifestyle: we have been using energy beyond our means and living an unsustainable energy lifestyle. Here we are consuming in just a few hundred years the “ancient sunlight” that over millions of years has been converted and deposited in various forms of energy.

In the simplest terms, there are two ways to control our finances: 1) increase our income 2) reduce our expenses. To achieve the first aim, we can tap our savings, get a second job, inherit a million dollars, or win the lottery. Although some may be more prudent and possible than others, all of these changes allow us to increase our income. Governments can likewise raise taxes and take other measures such as selling assets and land to raise revenue.

To reduce expenses, we can curtail shopping sprees (delaying that long lusted-over flatscreen TV), move to an apartment or house that has cheaper rent or mortgage, make our lunch or eat dinner at home. This list also spans from minor to major changes and differs in ease of implementation. Governments can of course cut services (no Saturday mail delivery), reign in entitlements, reduce waste and redundancy, and otherwise cut expenses.

With energy, it’s much the same. These two tenets of financial management of can be implemented in the energy sector: 1) increase energy production (increase income) 2) decrease wasted energy through efficiency (decrease expenses). We can easily increase our energy production in the short term through expanded oil and coal development. But over the long term, this is akin to turning to Ponzi schemes or other nefarious means undertaken to increase income. Eventually, the unsustainable nature of the plan catches up with you. Oil and coal will be plentiful for a while but not forever. And the effects of using those methods to produce energy harm people through pollution, lost natural habitats, and resource depletion. Ponzi schemes and the financial foolishness on Wall Street obviously caused harm to people far outside the circle of people actually carrying out the madness.

As we reduce those credit card balances and send those monthly student loan payments, even the smallest changes can help us in our quest to be debt free. Saving $8 by packing a lunch multiplied by 20 work days can net $160 that would have otherwise been spent. That’s enough money in some cases to double that monthly student loan payment. We can likewise make small energy lifestyle changes such as installing energy efficient light bulbs and appliances and using smart meters. Done consistently, these simple changes have the ability to drastically reduce the amount of energy expended just as savings $8 a day and putting it towards debt reduction can drastically decrease the amount you’ll pay in interest on a student loan.

Generating more energy must be done in a clean and relatively non-destructive way through using green technology and renewable resources. Energy expenditures must be reduced through conservation, efficiency, and implementing data and management technologies that allow us to better conserve our energy. We already know how to get out of debt and how to create a more sustainable green and clean energy economy. The tough part is actually following through and making the changes necessary to eventually regain independence. Financial independence and freedom from debt as well as energy independence and freedom from foreign oil can be achieved by taking remarkably similar approaches. We’ve already started walking down that path toward a greener and more stable future. It’s time to break into a run.

- Justin Manger