| Sumario: | The consumption of energy permeates our entire society. The environmental impacts of energy consumption are well recognized by researchers, policymakers, and consumers around the world. Efforts to reduce these impacts often revolve around energy supply--on how to generate/convert energy more sustainably through solar, wind, hydroelectric, or other technologies. Yet, how energy is consumed also deserves attention, and in fact is often the more economic alternative to converting fossil-fuel-based electric power generation or transportation fuels to renewable resources. The ability to limit, or shift, energy consumption as desired in fact enables renewable (but intermittent) energy resources to be economically utilized. The challenge for more efficient energy use is to provide not only cost-effective technologies acceptable to the market, whether residential, commercial, industrial, or transportation, but also to understand how and why people accept and use such technologies, and the government policies and institutions necessary to encourage their adoption.
|
|---|
