Efficiency through Education



Energy efficiency has not been emphasized enough in homes and schools. People today are been bombarded with “green wash” instead of true efficiency which is using less for more. Planting trees is great but no when the rainforest is removed 10 times faster with the loss of ecological balance. System interaction is usually not prioritized and actions are usually specific to the situation – for example Tree Planting ……
By gathering say, a thousand people to plant trees in a designated spot, the actual carbon emission due to travel, food production (to feed the participants!), for organizing (carbon emission while attending meetings etc) could be more than the 1000 trees absorption levels in a span 20 years!
While the act was a noble effort, the actual emission level reduction was probably negative!

So what should be the best way? Educate that using less is always the best – driving less, car pooling, using the fan instead of air-conditioning, using less water, paper and everything else means true sustainability. The future generation must be made to understand that at this point of time alternative energy is still not viable (hence the various incentives) but energy efficiency is very viable.
Savings in efficiency means higher profits – A Factor of Four where savings in energy means higher profit!

For example, say sales volume is USD 100,000 and the margin is 30% which means USD 30,000 is the profit target. Energy Efficiency in the plant stands to save USD 10,000 a year for an investment of USD 30,000. A narrow view will be to say that savings of USD 10,000 is small if compared to the turnover and the profit margin…. but a smart eye (and brain!) will look at it this way:

To generate USD 10,000 income, the company will need to spend USD 33,000 per annum - year after year.
By spending USD 30,000, the savings generated is USD 10,000 per annum , year after year, A one time investment generates the same income generated by sales BUT there is no need to generated sales to save the USD 10,000 in energy savings!


This is the missing ingredient in Education Systems around the world - efficiency is not taught in real world examples. Efficiency is mistaken to be renewable engineering instead of using it as the first step towards sustainability - efficiency first and then renewable!
The Indians used banana leafs as a plate - ecology balance at its finest and simplest…..
Renewable source - banana trees grow easily and cutting leaves correctly means more can be generated. The banana tree itself greens the earth and absorbs CO2…the used leaf is disposed, if properly