Speaking at the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico last month, Amory Lovins shows in this program highlight explains how looking at energy efficiency as a resource, in essence “buying efficiency,” is a one of the clearest and least expensive paths toward energy security and climate change mitigation.
Educated at Harvard and Oxford as an experimental physicist, Lovins is also the cofounder and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute. His work at RMI, as expressed in their mission statement, seeks to “drive efficient and restorative use of resources” in hopes of creating a “world thriving, verdant, and secure, for all, for ever.” And many seek his advice on how to do just that, including governments and industry leaders from around the globe. For instance, the Winning the Oil Endgame project, co-funded by the Pentagon, is a blueprint for entirely weening the U.S. from oil by the 2030’s, and doing it more cheaply than it costs to buy oil.
Also speaking at the Santa Fe Institute economist is Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta, the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge. Dasgupta helps bring the cost of climate protection into perspective.
The full program Will It Cost the Earth to Save the Planet provides a thoughtful presentation with Lovins and Dasgrupta, and is well worth the time. Thanks to Whole Earth Films and FORA.tv for making such material readily available.
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