A recent column from Thomas Friedman drew a lot of attention, declaring as it did that 1) clean energy is the Sputnik of our era, 2) China is overtaking us in what Friedman calls "E.T." (energy technology) investment, and 3) if we neglect to realize the importance of E.T., we can kiss our global leadership hat goodbye. Friedman's detractors, among them Keith Johnson in the WSJ's Environmental Capital, argue that the top-down policies directing China's Green Revolution will keep that revolution from achieving its full potential. That may or may not be a sound forecast, but it misses the point. Friedman's column is, in fact, less about China and more about us: if we fail to keep pace with our companions on the road to a clean energy future, our grandchildren will be buying solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars from abroad long after we're gone (if they're not huddled over trashcan fires in a true post-American-world-apocalyptic night).
To be sure, we're making strides. Our problem is, as the largest per-capita emitters of carbon in the world, by far, we're accustomed to certain luxuries which amount to an energy handicap. As a recent piece by Elisabeth Rosenthal in Yale's Environment 360 blog pointed out, a small, AC-free, clothesline-bedecked apartment with the heat turned down isn't something people think twice about - in Rome, or in most of the world's cities. "And it's not considered suffering," she writes, "It's living the dolce vita." Americans tend to take a less sanguine view of small spaces and shared laundry. Shoot, we drive cars bigger than some of those apartments.
Our love affairs with gadgets, air conditioners, clothes dryers, big cars, and big houses comes at a cost - and it's not just financial. If we're to stay ahead of the rest of the world in E.T. (which includes energy efficiency), we need to go a step further to make up the difference. That starts with using more efficient gadgets, air conditioners, clothes dryers, big cars, big houses; using them in a smarter, more responsible way; and ultimately powering them with something other than coal and oil. It also begins with an acknowledgment of how much electricity our power hungry gadgets are using, and a concerted effort to curtail it. No, the fact that oil prices periodically drop does not mean that the supply is endless. We are walking a fine line on all fronts.
The thing is, the small but significant shifts needed to both maintain our current lifestyle, and to hang onto our hat, are supremely do-able. You don't have to move into an apartment the size of your minivan in order to feel like you're getting a grip on your energy waste, and you don't have to move to Rome, either (although, that's never a terrible idea.) But the time has come to take stock of the goofy and preventable contributions each of us make to the power drain. Buy a smart strip. Invest in an electricity monitor. Take it on. This is a race none of us can afford to lose.
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