4 - Wednesday. Octcrer 3. 1990 AFTER AUL the bad news Ise been passing along hate- ly about the Greenhouse Effect, the uselessness of nuclear power in terms of avoiding a disastrous global warming trend. and the seemingly unstoppable in- crease in the consumption of fossil fuels, the good news about our ecological future will come as some- thing of a surprise. But the teuth of the matter ap- pears to be that a revolution in energy efficiency — which could solve all of the above-named problems — has already begun to occur on a major scale. The ques- tion of whether or not those of us in the highly industrialized coun- tries can change from being energy pigs to being energy savers has been answered in the affir- mative. t refer to Chapter 10 of Global Warming, The Greenpeace Report, published by Oxford Uni- versity Press, edited by Jeremy Leggett. The chapter is written by Dr. Amory Lovins, whose advice is routinely sought out by 160 dif- ferent energy utilities in 30 dif- ferent countries. According to Dr. Lovins, ‘if we simply pursue the narrowest of economic interests, the energy problem has already been solved by new technologies — primarily for more efficient end-use, sec- ondarily for more efficient con- version and sustainable supply."* Full practical use of the best electricity-saving technologies al- ready on the market would save Fires permitted WEST YVANCOUVERITES | are permitted two outdoor burnings of garden refuse per vear per resi- dential property, West Vancouver District Council confirmed at last Monday’s meeting. ES WEST VANCOUVER DISTRICT COUNCIL Council gave first and second reading to a bylaw restricting homeowners to two burnings an- nually, as opposed to 1wo permits, each entitling the holder to two burnings. “We hope that this is the last interim measure on the road to a total ban on burning,’’ explained Ald. Andre Danyliu. Following a report from a task force studying the controversial debate between residents for and against’ the outdoor burning of garden refuse, council decided to hatd off on a total ban to allow for the development of other methods of dealing with the district’s garden waste. But Mayor Don Lanskuail ques- tioned Ald. Danyliu’s reference to a ‘total ban.” “Let's wait and see how our composting program goes and not prejudge the issue,” he said. Qne resident’ asked whether burning would be permitted dur- ing rainy weather, when excessive amounts of smoke results from outdoor fires. “People are restricted to burn- ing during the proper conditions," Lanskail said. ‘*We shall also be sending out a brochure explaining how to keep che burning material dry." West Vancouver js currently the only North Shore municipality that permits outdoor burning. DON’T FORGET THE BEARS TOY STORE OPENING DAY SALE October 3-4-5 and 6 15% off everything 926-BEAR 1459 Bellevue Ave., West Van ~ North Shore News Now the good news about fuel consumption about three-quarters of all elee- Uicity now used, he states, Dr. Lovirs paints to the long- term effect of a sinule PS-watt compact Huorescent lamp, which lasts roughly 17 times as fang asa conventional 75-watt incandescent. Over its 10,000-hour lifetime, such a lamp avoids the emission of one tonne of carben dioxide ‘rom a typical coal-fired power plant. Moreover, full practical use of the best demonstrated oil- and Bas-saving technologies now avail- able would save roughly an equal portion of all the oil now being used. The difference between the energy picture today and even as short a time as a year avo is that an overnight technological revolu- tion has occurred. Most of the state-of-the-art electrivity-saving devices and systems on the market today were simply not available until this year. It is now possible to save twice as much energy as it was a half decade ago, and at one third of the real cost. On the demand side, between 1979 and 1984, the United States acquired more than seven times as much new energy from savings as from net increases in energy supp- NORTH VAN coat Ix. Between fY984 and 1986, energy savings expanded nearly thirteen- fald. This has meant that the annual U.S. enerey bil is around $430 billion a sear. instead of the S880 billion if would have been other- wise — for a net saving of about $180 billion. Atthe same cine, Americans have cut total off imports in half simply by using caulk euns, duct tape, insulation and by plugging steand leaks. On the supply side, by exten- ding the life of conventional power plants, retrofitting combus- tion turbines to combined-cycle operations, and replacing central steam plants with steam-injected gas turbines, the Americans have made astonishing — if litthe-noted — progress in energy efficiency. The reason, according to Dr. Lovins, is that the U.S, happens 10 have an immensely diverse util- ity system. There are 3,500 enter- prises in some SO major and hun- dreds of minor regulatory jurisdictions. The result is that a great many experiments in energy saving are being competitively conducted. Among the innovations: com- petitive bidding for ways to save sett Cooking” thE Fabriclar id! _ Sewing Club Members God "heel 51™ from every sole UIT AM. e Bob Hunter ECOLOGIC electricity; making electrical sav- ings tradeable within and between utilities” service territories; making spot, futures, and options markets in **negawalts’* (meaning saved electricity); and sliding-scale rebates for energy-efficient build- ings. This contrasts sharply with most other countries, including Canada, where electricity and energy in- dustries are more monolithic, cen- “es $4 19% * Now : ae m Dat Tones N i ~ a, Reg Sager: Now $999 m Cats pinned, and devon an poe Atical or mathket A Count bali. he Canadian system of Crown coTpurahons BOC. Hisdro being a perfect example -— means that there ts lithe inclination to in- hosate and virtually no incentive, Dr. Lovins insists on ap- prodeliaye the issue of enerey ef fi- clency using only the methods and criteria of orthodox neoclassical tconomics. Even using this con- servalive approach, he concludes that “it is generally cheaper today To save fuel than to burn it. Avoiding pollution by not burning the fuel can, therefore, be achiev- ed, not at a cost, but at a profit — so this result can and should be widely implemented in the mar- ketplace.”” Describing himself as a **born- again technological optimist,”* Dr. Lovins argues it is the mundane new technologies that are making the difference, items such as loft insulation, microelectronic motor controls, solar photovoltaic tech- nology, wind power, and the gen- eration of electricity from biomass. “These relatively small, accessi- bic, and cheap technologies seem powerful enough to solve the energy problem,”' he writes. Obstacles remain — mainly bu- reaucratic and political. But the solution to global warming is within our grasp. It is a matter of everybody becoming personally energy-efficient in every little way possible, so that it all adds up. 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