Make it sexy, make it enticing

In the battle against climate change there are two options: all-out attack or siege mentality. Let's combine the two, argues Damian Carrington

Damian Carrington
The Guardian,
Thursday September 18 2008

When an army confronts a heavily defended enemy, it has two options: a full-frontal attack or a siege. In the ­battle against climate change and its cause - the deeply entrenched ­profligacy with which the world uses its fossil-fuel derived energy - there is a similar choice.
The all-out attacks are mega-schemes to convert the Sahara into a giant solar energy farm, or supergrids ­connecting renewable energy plants across ­continents. These are ­dazzling, flashy proposals and gain much ­attention. ­Global geo-engineering plans are even more pulse-quickening, aimed as they are at changing the reflectivity of the entire planet. A ­million space mirrors? Glitzy.
Yet such spectacular attacks are high risk, easily turning into crashing, ­expensive failures. Sieges, dull and monotonous, are the wise general's choice. And in the context of carbon dioxide emissions, the siege strategy equates to energy efficiency. That means switching stuff off, or building it to use less energy in the first place.
I know, that is not dazzling; it's dreary. And yet this death-by-a-­million-cuts approach is one of our greatest hopes of preventing ­catastrophic ­climate change. A 2007 McKinsey report found that even implementing only those energy efficiency measures that pay for themselves at sensible rates of return could reduce the energy needed in 2020 by about a quarter.
That would be halfway towards the emissions cuts that give a decent chance of limiting global warming to under 2C. A more homely example: if everyone in the UK bought the most efficient fridges, ­freezers and washing machines, the ­carbon saving would equal taking around 1.4 million cars off the road.
From a policy perspective, the ­remedy is clear: minimum energy efficiency standards. But witness the intense lobbying from the car industry in the face of modest European fuel efficiency standards, and how the idea of charging a lower rate of VAT on more fuel-efficient white goods got rapidly bogged down.
You can see the problem. ­Protesters are not going to take to the streets to demand more efficient fridges, but ­corporates will lob large sums at ­protecting a profitable status quo. Even last week's £1bn home energy efficiency programme from the ­government was driven by political fear, not global ­warming. The ­official press release - from Defra - made not a single mention of carbon dioxide or climate change.
There are glimmers of hope. ­Flagrantly wasteful incandescent bulbs are to become outlawed in some countries, with Australia leading the way. Japan's lack of domestic energy resources has forced it to tackle energy efficiency via impressive cultural change. Making it OK for salarymen to take off their jackets in the office means the air con can nudge up a couple of degrees.
And there are a decent number of ­efficiency ­standards in place from the US to Europe to China. But overall they are simply far too undemanding.So how can energy efficiency come, as it must, to dominate every ­domestic and industrial setting? To put it ­simply, it's got to be sexy. Frugality must give a frisson.
The CleanTech 100, with its ­electrochromic windows, magnetic fridges and plastic electronics, is a start. But what could be a more enticing ­challenge to the designers, ­technologists and other creatives out there? If you need any further ­inspiration, just think of that little red standby light as a tiny, burning planet. Over to you, to begin the world's first sexy siege.
· Damian Carrington is the Guardian's environment web editor