We learn how a convergence of factors contributed to a stable per capita energy demand over the past 30 years in California, as compared to dramatic increases nationwide.
This 30 year "flat line" in California can be attributed to forward thinking policies, the cost of energy, and the "Camelot effect" (California's mild weather).
Is there hope for the future? The "low hanging fruit" of energy efficiency is just beginning to "mush up around our waders."
Consumer knowledge of consumption combined with real time price may be a new tool for impacting behavior.
Bio
Amory Lovins
Amory Lovins is the Cofounder and CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute.
Lovins is a consultant experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford. He has received an Oxford MA (by virtue of being a don), nine honorary doctorates, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Heinz, Lindbergh, Right Livelihood ("Alternative Nobel"), World Technology, and TIME Hero for the Planet awards, the Happold Medal, and the Nissan, Shingo, Mitchell, and Onassis Prizes.
His work focuses on transforming the hydrocarbon, automobile, real estate, electricity, water, semiconductor, and several other sectors toward advanced resource productivity. He has briefed eighteen heads of state, held several visiting academic chairs, authored or co-authored twenty-nine books and hundreds of papers, and consulted for scores of industries and governments worldwide.
The Wall Street Journal named Mr. Lovins one of thirty-nine people worldwide "most likely to change the course of business in the '90s"; Newsweek has praised him as "one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers"; and Car magazine ranked him the twenty-second most powerful person in the global automotive industry.
John McDonald
John McDonald is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Chevron Corporation, a position he assumed in January 2008. He is the corporate officer responsible for Chevron’s three technology companies: Energy Technology, Information Technology and Technology Ventures. In this role, he manages the research, development and integrated application of technology throughout the company’s worldwide business activities.
Alan Meier
Alan Meier is Associate Director and a Faculty Researcher with the EEC. He teaches core energy efficiency courses for the EEC and supervises graduate student activities.
Dr. Meier is also a Senior Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Art Rosenfeld
Art Rosenfeld is often referred to as the "Godfather" of energy efficiency. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago under Nobel Laureate Enrico Fermi, before joining the University of California at Berkeley.
While there, he helped form the experimental particle physics group of Luis W. Alvarez, led the group after Alvarez received the Nobel Prize, and switched to astrophysics. He also founded the International Particle Data Group.
In 1974, responding to the OPEC oil embargo and the first U.S. energy crisis, he started the internationally renowned Center for Building Science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Rosenfeld has held numerous positions at both the federal and state level, including being appointed twice (by two governors) as Commissioner of the California Energy Commission, a position he currently holds.
He has authored nearly 400 refereed publications and received the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award in 2006.