Low-carb Energy Diet, Using 33 Percent Less Hydrocarbons, Would Trim U.S. Consumer Fuel Costs By $438 Billion, Cornell Ecologists Claim

Source: Cornell University

Low-carb Energy Diet, Using 33 Percent Less Hydrocarbons, Would
Trim U.S.
Consumer Fuel Costs By $438 Billion, Cornell Ecologists Claim

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Just as low-carbohydrate diets are trimming the American
waistline, more judicious use of hydrocarbon-based fossil fuels would reduce
U.S. energy consumption by 33 percent and save consumers $438 billion a year
by 2014, according to an analysis by Cornell University ecologists.

David Pimentel, Cornell professor of ecology, and 11 student ecologists
found the most fat for trimming -- with the best potential for major energy
savings -- in the transportation, residential heating and cooling,
industrial and food-production sectors. Energy conservation and
implementation of energy-efficient technologies also would allow significant
savings in the production and use of chemicals, paper and lumber, household
appliances, lighting and metals, the analysis showed. Their report on "U.S.
Energy Conservation and Efficiency: Benefits and Costs" is in the latest
issue of the journal Environment, Development, and Sustainability (Vol. #6,
Issue 3-4).

American taxpayers could save an estimated $39 billion a year by insisting
that the government end subsidies to the energy industries, according to
Pimentel. He adds: "The next time you're pumping gas or paying the heating
bill, ponder this: As high as fuel prices are in this country, they would be
even higher without government subsidies to prop up the industry. Instead of
paying at the pump, every American family is paying about $410 in taxes each
year for subsidies that keep gasoline prices and other energy product prices
artificially low. This policy encourages greater consumption and importation
of more oil and natural gas. Ending subsidies and pricing energy at its true
cost would stimulate the use of conservation and energy-efficient
technologies, and result in net savings."

The analysis was performed in a yearlong, graduate-level class called
Environmental Policy in which students, under Pimentel's direction,
investigate complex environmental issues by compiling previously published
studies and drawing conclusions. Cornell students in the energy-efficiency
project were Andrew Pleasant, Jason Barron, Jen Gaudioso, Noah Pollock,
Elisa Chae, Yoonji Kim, Allison Lassiter, Christina Shiavoni, Alex Jackson,
Melinda Lee and Andrea Eaton. When the analysis was conducted, during the
2001-02 school year, gasoline averaged $1.50 a gallon and natural gas prices
were just beginning to rise. Elevated energy prices in 2004 make the case
for conservation even more compelling, the students say, and further boost
the potential payback for implementation of energy-efficient technologies.

Concluding their analysis, Pimentel and his students write: "We are
confident that the president and the U.S. Congress, working with the people,
could reduce our energy consumption in approximately a decade by 32 quads
(32,000,000,000,000,000 BTUs) per year, about 33 percent of present energy
use. Saving fossil energy is fully justified because it would help reduce
American dependence on foreign sources of energy and improve national
security, improve the environment, reduce the threat of global climate
change and save approximately $438 billion per year, which would help
support the U.S. economy."

--
Bubba Do Wah Ditty

"One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end."

-Bushisms, 2003