Duelling Headlines

Oh media. Sometimes you make it too easy.

"Energy saving potential massive; Demand growth could be halved"

"Energy efficiency won't curb soaring electricity demand, study suggests"

The funny thing is both headlines are arguably correct: This particular study argues that - even with aggressive conservation - growth in demand will only slow, not reverse course.

What's less funny is that the authors of the report include MK Jaccard Associates, the firm of Marc "Sustainable Fossil Fuels" Jaccard. I don't know if Jaccard himself had any part in this study, but I shouldn't have to point out the obvious: The study is written by the Canadian Gas Association, the Canadian Electricity Association, and Natural Resources Canada. Neither these bodies or Jaccard has a particular interest in reducing energy consumption.

I don't understand these studies, really: We know - know - the plenty of juridictions have reduced their absolute energy demand when there was a genuine demand for conservation. In Canada, we have yet to subsidize conservation to the same rate we subsidize new generation. Let's put efficiency and nuclear on the same ground, funding-wise, and then see what the potential is.