Helping the Environment—Buying a Prius May Not Be One Way

Solar panels are going up soon in my house; years ago I switched to energy saving light bulbs. I use reusable shopping bags, recycle my rubbish and compost my leftovers.

I want to be a responsible consumer, mindful of the connection my impact upon global warming.

But the relationship between lower energy use and climate change isn’t as obvious as it seems. Tom Roser, a physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, pointed out at a meeting of the Ethical Humanist Society of Long Island that "every device designed to save energy itself requires energy to produce it."

"To collect enough energy to power a home it takes many large panels of highly sophisticated solar cells," he said. "This can be compared to about 100 barrels of oil that contain enough energy to power the home for the typically 20-year lifetime of solar panels. Whereas it takes little energy to extract the 100 barrels of oil out of the ground the production, transportation and installation of solar panels can take a substantial fraction, if not all, of the energy that the solar panels collect during their lifetime. Note that the recent price drop of solar panels is partially just the result of using cheap coal for the production of the solar panels in China."

"A similar situation exists for wind energy," Roser continues. "Both wind and solar energy are low-density energy sources and need complex installations and a lot of energy investment to collect this energy. In some ways by relying on only solar and wind we would return to the time before fossil fuels when, always, substantial energy had to be invested to collect energy. It is highly questionable whether our lifestyle or the world population could be sustained using only solar and wind energy."

While the use of renewable energy brings down the cost to the end user, it has been accomplished by moving production to low cost countries that use cheap fossil fuels for the production of solar and wind devices. “None of this actually reduces the energy invested in the production and sometimes might even increase it.”

For example, Roser, estimated that the effect upon the environment is no different between the Prius, which he drives, and the simpler Corolla also made by Toyota.

The net result of the use of energy efficient light bulbs, solar panels and hybrid and electric cars means lower costs to consumers in lower electric bills and gasoline usage but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it has helped the environment.

Alternative energy sources are good for consumers by lowering the price per unit but real help in reduction of green house gases requires something both simpler and more difficult to implement: a reduction in overall consumption.

A real difference comes by turning off lights when not in use; turning down the heat when not at home; driving less; buying products with fewer features; keeping products longer; and using smartphones less often.

Goethe wasn’t writing about climate change but he may as well have when he said, “I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate.”

Changing personal habits is difficult. It is hard to remember to turn off lights, especially when there is the excuse that the bulbs are efficient. It is hard to drive less when the car is so fuel efficient. And it will be hard for me to not use air conditioning on not-so-hot days because with solar panels my electric bill will be near zero no matter what I do.