Conservation and Efficiency - Energy Policy Analysis: A Conceptual Framework - page 178

expenditures on health impacts associated with use of other fuels and technologies (e.g., emphy-
sema, asthma). Energy conservation and efficiency policies to reduce domestic demand can also
reduce the world oil price, thereby benefiting the nation through lower prices on the remaining
oil it imports (NRC 2010, 20).
National Security Costs of Conservation and Efficiency
Anywhere energy is used, there are opportunities to increase efficiency. Energy conservation and
improvements in energy efficiency can be implemented without dependence on politically un-
stable areas such as the Middle East. No country or group of countries is able to control supplies
or determine price for fuel or materials to implement energy conservation or efficiency measures.
Energy conservation and efficiency measures produce almost no carbon emissions or greenhouse
gases, and what little they do produce is generated during the manufacture of equipment, not dur-
ing ongoing operations. Consequently, utilizing energy conservation and efficiency technologies
will not produce climate change or a rise in sea level. Energy conservation and efficiency tech-
nologies do not produce substantial amounts of toxic waste that must be isolated from the human
environment for millennia. Utilization of energy conservation and efficiency measures does not
produce materials useful to terrorists. Consequently, the national security costs of utilizing energy
conservation and efficiency technologies are nil. As compared to other energy technologies, uti-
lization of energy conservation and efficiency improvement technologies can be conceptualized
as having net national security benefits.
SUMMARY OF COSTS
The costs of utilizing energy conservation and efficiency technologies are summarized in Figure
10.4. Overall, the environmental costs of producing and using these technologies are incurred
mostly during production of materials and equipment and are “low” compared to most conventional
fuel technologies in use today. Dollar costs for application of energy conservation and efficiency
improvements for heating residential, commercial, and industrial hot water, for some space heating
applications, and for lighting are “low” and competitive today with conventional fuels in most
situations. Dollar costs for fuel efficiency improvements to vehicles are being phased in slowly
and appear to be affordable. National security costs for all energy conservation and efficiency
improvements are very “low” or negligible because the materials for producing them are available
in the United States or from friendly nations. This is a distinct advantage energy conservation and
efficiency technologies hold over other energy technologies that may be acquired from foreign
sources, contribute to global climate change, or leave a legacy of long-term waste products that
are attractive to terrorists.
Energy conservation and efficiency improvements do not produce much hazardous waste,
and the probability of an environmentally devastating accident from using them is nil. Energy
conservation and efficiency improvements are also environmentally advantageous because they
will probably never be exhausted and cannot be controlled by any combination of foreign govern-
ments. For the foreseeable future, anywhere energy is used, there will be opportunities to increase
efficiency of its use. Creating the components of energy conservation and efficiency technologies
is often extremely easy, does not require mining or drilling in a dangerous locale, and can be ac-
complished without involvement of unreliable political allies. As a largely decentralized group of
technologies, energy conservation and efficiency improvement measures can usually be retrofitted
by home improvement enthusiasts or included in original building construction by local contrac-