Synergy

Esther Babson Class 2013

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary synergy is “a mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct elements”. Synergy is clearly a very positive term and used as such in relation to everything from the relationship between humans and computers to fitness programs. This idea of two elements working in sync is very helpful and appealing when looking at how to deal with climate change; especially with all of the negative reports climate change tends to give.

In a World Watch article by Janet Sawin and William Moomaw called Renewable Revoltuion: Low-Carbon Energy by 2030, the authors, say that renewable energy and energy efficiency need to be used together. Their most powerful argument of the paper is explaining how this “synergy” between renewable energy and energy efficiency occurs in four ways. They begin with the suggestion that by improving efficiency, it will be “easier, cheaper and faster for renewable energy to achieve a large share of total energy production”(16). At the same time this will also reduce emissions from energy use and supply funds for even more efficiency technology and renewable energy sources. The second aspect of this synergy is the potential to have more efficient systems since turning “thermal energy to ‘work’ is inherently inefficient.”(18) More renewable energy would mean less of a demand on primary energy. The third part of this synergy is that new renewable technologies would be efficient also due to the likely minimization of transmission losses. Transmission losses are unnecessary loss for the company but also in regards to the impact it has on our climate. The final way synergy occurs comes from the further reduction of primary energy needs through the use of solar energy which “does not require any energy conversion technologies”(18).

These four things were just the beginning of one of the most uplifting climate change articles I’ve read in a long time. The next two sections go into detail the possible 2030 “Green Scenario” for the U.S. and the world. Both may be a bit over optimistic, based on everything we have learned so far, but if what the article suggests could be a reality, our chance of saving our world is a real possibility.

Primary energy-the energy embodied in natural resources prior to undergoing human-made conversions or transformations (http://www.eoearth.org/article/Primary_energy)

Source:

Sawin & Moomaw, Renewable revolution: low-carbon energy by 2030, Worldwatch Institute, 2009.