Question

How can energy efficiency be increased?

Answer 1

Hint: Recall that energy efficiency entails implementation of energy-efficient mechanisms that warrant sustainability. This can be done by minimizing energy losses or redirecting the losses towards carrying out useful processes by energy conversion, or by conserving energy expenditure. Think of ways you could do the same in various domains.

Complete answer:
Let us begin by understanding the need for efficient energy use following which we shall look at how this can be done in general.
The motivations to increase energy efficiency are numerous. Improved energy efficiency can broadly reduce the world’s energy needs and help control global emissions of greenhouse gases. Increased efficiency ensures a reduction in energy usage or losses which helps in attaining policies of sustainable energy. It can also help build economies without necessarily increasing energy consumption. This may also lead to a reduced expenditure on purchasing commercial energy. These multiple benefits also contribute to reducing climate change impact, reducing air pollution, improved health, energy security for the future and reducing the global carbon footprint.
To this end, the energy efficiency can be increased by a few ways, discussed as follows.
Insulating buildings: Buildings can be appropriately insulated on the exterior so as to reduce the usage of heaters and coolers and still achieve thermal comfort.
LEDs: Using LEDs, fluorescent lighting or natural skylight window panels consume less energy to obtain the same amount of illumination as traditional incandescent bulbs.
Clotheslines: Use clotheslines to dry clothes instead of using a dryer which consumes a lot of energy.
Solar Energy: Installing solar panels to power household circuitry or street lights is a sustainable and efficient way in harnessing and utilizing energy.
Alternative fuels: Biodiesel, hydrogen, natural gas, methane and bioalcohol can be used instead of conventional fossil fuels as sustainable fuels.
Efficient vehicles: Electric engines have more than double the efficiency than internal combustion engines that consume a lot of fossil fuel. Some vehicles use regenerative braking, used to recapture braking energy that would normally dissipate as heat in regular cars. Turbochargers increase fuel efficiency by allowing a smaller displacement engine while providing better performance. Turbochargers in jet turbines compress the thinner air at higher altitudes reducing the drag on the aircraft leading to reduced energy usage.
Renewable Energy Sources: Using natural sources of energy like the wind, flowing water and sunlight to harness energy and utilize it for processes that require an energy source.
Thus, energy efficiency can be increased by conserving energy, using sustainable alternatives and by minimizing energy losses.

Note:
Energy efficiency and energy conservation go hand-in-hand despite their differences. Though energy conservation is broader than energy efficiency since it includes active efforts to decrease energy consumption, the goal of energy conservation is to also come up with efficient alternatives to conventional energy usage in both environmental and economic terms.