the truth about efficiency

i just attended a conference recently where robert and brenda vale presented a very interesting idea.

the hypothesis was that our so called "technological improvements" didn't really lead to drastic improvements in performance and technology. they listed many examples - electric cars was one i could think off the cuff. in the early 20th century, electric cars already existed and already had a similar travel range and efficiency as the modern electric cars that we are banding around now as being green. and if we take into account the efficiency of supply of power today to run our electrical appliances or homes, the true efficiency of the appliance / house is far lower due to the limitations due to source supply.

another astounding thing was the comparision between the performance of BEZED, one of the low energy developments in the UK. they found that on average, although BEZED has reduced consumption of energy when compared to a similar scale and size of development, this reduction can be simply achieved by a change in user behavior in a normal house.

just two bites to think about.