Throughout the history of our technological development, scientists and engineers have been pushing the limits of energy efficiency, hoping to use the energy we have as wisely as possible. In the past couple of decades, we’ve made incredible leaps forward in terms of how efficient our devices, appliances, and machines can be.
So what are the limits? Just how energy efficient can our society become?
The Basics of Energy Efficiency
It’s easy to see why energy efficiency is so widely demanded. Energy efficiency essentially means using less energy to achieve the same results, making the process not just more sustainable and better for the environment, but also cheaper for the user and more valuable for businesses producing energy efficient machines. Accordingly, environmental agencies, regulators, businesses, and consumers all have motivation to pursue higher energy efficiency.
We can see the development of energy efficiency in everything from consumer electronics to industrial equipment. For example, energy efficiency standards for electrical transformers have evolved considerably over the years, ultimately making these devices much more efficient at transforming voltage in industrial settings.
But how exactly do we make things more energy efficient?
That depends on the specific application, but there are several strategies that are commonly employed:
- New resource use. One option is to substitute a new resource instead of an older, less efficient resource. An easy example here is dishwashers and washing machines that use cold water primarily instead of hot water. This is a relatively small difference that makes very little impact on the finished results, but it can spare a person from unnecessary heating. It’s also possible to derive electricity from more efficient methods, such as through solar and wind energy, rather than fossil fuel-based energy.
- Insulation. A simple upgrade to the insulation of a given appliance can instantly make it more efficient. For example, if you have better insulating material in a conventional oven, the oven will lose less heat over time, ultimately reducing the amount of energy required to keep it at a given temperature. Similarly, upgraded insulation in homes allows them to retain or protect against heat better, keeping the home cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
- Resource recycling. Some forms of energy efficiency require a kind of resource recycling. For example, afterburners and similar devices are designed to reburn leftover components in exhaust and/or other waste products, creating a bit more energy out of materials that would otherwise be wasted.
- Air circulation. The simple addition of better air circulation can maximize the performance of certain types of appliances and devices. Better circulating air can make any heating or cooling effect much more effective.
- Smart controls. Many manufacturers have also turned to the help of smart controls to help consumers maximize efficiency. Smart thermostats, for example, sometimes automatically deploy controlled temperature schedules that allow your home to stay at a comfortable temperature, while simultaneously minimizing unnecessary energy expenditure. Some devices also have built-in features to avoid energy waste, such as TVs that turn off automatically after not being used for a fixed amount of time.
- Novel methods yet to be explored. These are just a handful of energy efficiency methods that are currently being employed. It seems likely that we’ll be using completely novel, currently unforeseeable methods to improve energy efficiency in the future.
The Struggle to Perfect Energy Efficiency
It’s almost impossible to perfect the art of energy efficiency.
These are just some of the reasons why.
- Proportionality. There’s a give and take process associated with introducing new energy efficient components. These components need to be discovered, designed, and manufactured, and sometimes these costs outweigh the marginal benefits of introducing them into different products and environments. Also, as we make our appliances and devices more energy efficient, the potential returns of new energy efficiency standards become smaller and smaller.
- Scientific advancements. We rely on scientific advancements for making our materials better in almost every conceivable way. But in some ways, we’ve reached the “end of modern physics.” There’s still a lot we don’t know about the universe, but we seem to have mastered our understanding of basic physics and chemistry. Accordingly, it’s hard to speculate about what we could possibly discover in the future to dynamically change how we think about our energy needs.
- Adoption. Getting people to adopt and regularly use newer, more energy efficient technologies is also a problem. Just because something is more energy efficient doesn’t mean it’s going to be desired or used by the public.
The Bottom Line
So exactly how energy efficient can we get? It’s likely that scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs will keep pushing the limits in pursuit of greater sustainability and greater profitability alike. However, each new advancement we make is a bit smaller than the last, and there is a finite limit to how energy efficient we can make most things. That’s why, in tandem with pursuing energy efficiency, we also need to pursue finding cheap, sustainable ways to produce greater quantities of energy.
