Wasteful methods of transportation and production “still squander more than 98% of all of the energy we produce,” according to the 2015 Energy Productivity and Economic Prosperity Index, produced by The Lisbon Council, Ecofys, and Quintel Intelligence with funding from technology giant Philips.
“If we could double world energy productivity—from 1.5% to 3% per year—that would create six million jobs,” EnergyEfficiencyMarkets.com reports.
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“The report focuses on energy productivity, which measures the amount of gross domestic product for every unit of energy consumed,” Wood explains. “It’s related, but not the same as energy efficiency that focuses on using less energy to deliver more services.”
The study found that the world’s six largest economies—the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the EU—“ can achieve the most by raising energy productivity, since they make up 60% of global GDP and 65% of global energy demand,” she writes. But it also points to big opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog the inefficiencies of the industrialized north while they build out their power systems.
“They can do it right the first time, installing microgrids, distributed energy, efficient lighting, and other technology considered disruptive for advanced economies like the U.S.”
