Living on 2,000 Watts of Energy Per Day

When you find out that the average American lives on 11,400 watts of energy per day, it makes living off 2,000 seem near impossible. But then again, Americans are incredibly creative at coming up with ways to waste energy, so maybe it’s not that hard after all. The 2,000 Watt Society is trying to prove that it’s not just possible, it can be done without sacrificing comfort and fun.

The Swiss Council of the Federal Institute of Technology wants Swiss citizens to improve the energy efficiency of all aspects of their lives to get them to the 2,000 watt goal. From the document ‘Smarter Living’, via World Changing:

In the envisioned 2000-watt society, the quality of life will not suffer at all. On the contrary, aspects such as safety and health, comfort and the development of the individual will in fact improve, and income is expected to rise by around 60 percent over the next fifty years. However, ambitious goals call for decisive action in a variety of areas, e.g. improving materials and increasing the level of energy efficiency; substituting fossil fuels with renewable forms of energy and reducing the CO2 intensity of other utilised fossil fuels; adopting a smarter way of life and rethinking current business practices, including increasing the level of professionalism in the areas of planning and investment and the operation of buildings and installations.

As seen in the graphic above, comparing a contemporary Swiss family of 4 with the 2000 Watt Society goal, most areas of life wouldn’t change too much. World Changing rightly points out that the area that would see the most change, ‘Living and Working’, is rather ambiguous. It would be interesting to see what kinds of scenarios the 2000 Watt Society proposes in order to meet these goals. Reductions in energy use without sacrificing ‘modern comforts’ is exactly what we need and there are undoubtedly lots of ways to get there.

Link [World Changing] via [Buzzfeed] + [Novatlantis]

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