Image Source: Socolow and Pacala, “A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check” (Scientific American, 9/2006)

Global warming is cheaper to fix than to ignore. Because saving energy is profitable, efficient use is gaining traction in the marketplace…. The climate problem was created by millions of bad decisions over decades, but climate stability can be restored by millions of sensible choices. —Amory B. Lovins, Scientific American

In my three earlier Microsoft Hohm Blog pieces on critical thinking and global warming, I asked readers to re-examine how do you know what you think you know, including how humans are driving climate change/global weirding. Now it is time to stop debating the science and take responsibility for our individual actions and our planet’s future.

While solving the climate problem will not be easy or painless, the first of Lovins’ “millions of sensible choices” begins with each of us at Hohm, and it can begin as simply as replacing incandescent lights, which waste 90% of the energy required to run them as heat, with compact fluorescents and, increasingly, LEDs.

In a now-famous 2004 article in Science magazine, Princeton’s Robert H. Socolow and Stephen W. Pacala listed 15 different options for stabilizing carbon at our current global emissions rate of 7 billion tons per year through 2050, with a gradual reduction of emissions beyond that point. Since these reduction options were depicted graphically as wedges on a chart, they have been commonly referred to as “emissions wedges.” The authors’ point is that no single energy/conservation strategy can achieve the necessary carbon reductions. Only a combined effort involving multiple wedges/strategies will work.

In place of a book of the week, I encourage readers to check out an updated version of this famous paper in the following very readable 2006 Scientific American article (PDF). Also, the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) has its own version of the wedges game, where you can try your own hand at sculpting global energy policy.

But, as I stated above, energy conservation begins at Hohm. We should plan future car purchases with an eye toward increasing the fuel efficiency of at least 2 billion cars from 30 to 60 mpg. For those cars still getting “only” 30 mpg, we should reduce our driving by carpooling and other measures from 10,000 miles each year to 5,000. We should cut electricity use in homes, offices and stores by 25 percent. We should even eat lower on the food chain, primarily by reducing our intake of meat, which has an enormous carbon footprint.

In closing, as Socolow and Pacala state, “Humanity faces a choice between two futures: doing nothing to curb emissions (which poses huge climate risks) and bringing them under control (which has costs but also benefits).” But our energy problems are cheaper to fix than to ignore, and thankfully, Microsoft Hohm helps us actually save money while taking a bite out of the energy pie.

Blog post from - Kyle G. Crider He has a B.S. degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Alabama and a Master of Public Administration degree in Urban Planning & Policy Analysis from UAB, where he’s currently in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Ph.D. program.