A Citizens Guide to Reducing Energy Waste

The cleanest, most affordable energy is the energy we don’t use in the first place. So start by focusing on where you can use less.

Report

Illinois PIRG Education Fund

The future is here—but we’re living in the past.

Clean energy from the sun and wind can provide for our energy needs without the global consequences of pollution, yet we’re still producing and consuming virtually all of our energy in ways that do lasting damage to our environment, our health and our climate. To make matters worse, much of the dirty energy we produce goes to waste.

There is a better way. We can have healthier lives right now and a livable future for generations to come—but to get there, we must transform our production and consumption of energy. That means a major effort by all of us to conserve energy and eliminate waste, coupled with a steady transition to clean, renewable sources of energy.

The good news is, America can reduce its energy consumption 40-60% by mid-century, simply by using better technologies and eliminating waste across our economy—and those reductions are the lowest-cost climate solution we’ve got.

There’s plenty we can do as individuals, plus we need our governments and other institutions to lead the effort, providing us with policy tools and continuing to advance technological solutions.