I think we need to start a dialog on how to introduce energy savings. When this is proposed on a site like dKos we get many comments from individuals about the little things they do to make themselves feel virtuous.

In point of fact many of the largest energy uses are out of our control and will require national or international planning to change. For example, the single biggest user of liquid fuel in the US is the military. Another big use of power is fissile material enrichment. Much of this in the US is from hydro power, but this just means the power has been diverted from commercial uses.

There are many industrial energy uses that are inefficient especially in things like process control where pumps, motors, valves and the like could be redesigned. Walmart has gotten a lot of publicity about their "green" effort. They are going to cut truck fuel consumption, improve lighting in stores and promote compact fluorescents for the home. This will yield about 10% savings for them, they estimate. What they are not changing is their supply and distribution chain which moves their average product over 1500 miles from source to store.

Auto efficiency is another area where consumers have little they can do. Even if we all were to want to buy hybrids tomorrow there aren't enough being made to satisfy demand. The last time efficiency when up so did auto usage. The result was a wash.

So how about a discussion of where the savings could be found, who stands to benefit from the status quo, who would benefit from a change, and how and where to apply pressure so that this change will happen.
 

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape