Efficiency Innovations ~ Energy + Sustainability...

Much of the research and venturing efforts in energy technology have been towards the cleaner or cheaper generation of electricity or production of fuels. All worthy efforts. But as I blogged about earlier -- Ever More Efficient GDP -- there's tremendous room for new efficiency innovations. Towards this end, it's worth noting several compelling (albeit random) items:

• Elisabeth Rosethal writes in the NYTimes about German leadership in clean houses in her article No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty in ‘Passive Houses’
• The NYTimes has a general series on The Energy Challenge
• MIT's Harvey Michaels is teaching 11.946 Energy Efficiency this Spring 2009.
  
• Nice popular work by Susan Meredith of Austin, who has written a book called Beyond Light Bulbs: Lighting the Way to Smarter Energy Management as noted by KVUE's Clara Tuma in Using less energy can be easier, cheaper than you think
• It's not such a positive sign, however, when the US Gov own Department of Energy's (DOE's) Inventions and Innovation (I&I) program promises...

  "...financial and technical support to inventors and businesses for promising energy-saving concepts and technologies. I&I selects technologies to receive grants through a competitive process."

  But alas...

  "At present, I&I has no funding for its activities in fiscal year 2007"
  

Some graphs are instructive here as well. First, a very micro-level illustration of how rapidly consumer appliances can become more efficient. In this case, refrigerators (note how this appears to be in response to 1973 Oil Shock)... Second, a graph of change in Japanese industrial efficiency, also following the 1973 shock... And finally, a macro-graph comparing different country GDP-per-capita to energy consumption per-capita. Note the wide range of possibilities, even holding constant for variables like hot- or cold-climate places...