Summary - Selection 15

More Profit with Less Carbon by Amory B. Lovins

A common misconception is that protecting our climate will force us to chose the environment or the economy. As Lovins argues, climate protection can reduce costs and save major energy and money in long run. "Saving fuel is a lot cheaper than buying it" says Lovins pg. 65. It is true, and many major companies have demonstrated environmental energy saving tactics that have saved billions of dollars and drastically reduced carbon emissions. Even oil companies are joining up, and Lovins uses the example of BP that met it's carbon emissions reduction goal of 2010 in 2001, saving $650 million over 10 years. Along with cost savings, higher productivity and higher efficiencies in factories.
A lot of energy is being wasted in the U.S., especially for home electronics being left on or left plugged in. Energy gets wasted every day without people realizing the benefits of improving their energy efficiency with upgraded products or simple steps. In doing so, it would be a key part in helping stop climate change. Changes in fuel sources to natural gas or solar and wind power would be major steps as well. Today, energy-efficient products are more easy to come by and a lot more acceptable for people and major corporations. Making big changes and putting out the money ahead of time is cheaper than many small changes in the long run.
Transportation is also a huge contributor to carbon emissions, and simple changes in the vehicles we drive will lower emissions as well. Lovins say that in just combining lightweight materials with innovations in propulsion and aerodynamics could cut oil use in cars, and people will not have to sacrifice size or luxury in vehicle selection, as well as protective of the passengers. Another change to our vehicles would be to replace oil with lower carbon natural gas which is cheaper and efficient as well.
All these changes could mean wonders for the world. Lovins believes that $70 billion/year could be saved by phasing out our dependence on oil not to mention reduced military/political/social conflicty with other countries over oil. In using alternative renewable energies such as wind power, we can easily start to if climate change instead of ignoring it. Simple changes for everyone can help fix "bad decisions" made by people over the past for decades which will benefit every one financially as well as in safety.