Investors are a bit like toddlers right now, grabbing for the next planet-saving energy technology. But the enthusiasm for offshore wind, electric batteries and green hydrogen has overlooked one very simple fact.
We can immediately cut carbon emissions and make money simultaneously simply by doing a better job of deploying the energy we already consume.
More than two-thirds of the energy used by the US in 2020 was wasted rather than employed productively, and the picture is similar in Europe and Japan. Capturing or redirecting this dissipation represents a huge opportunity when it comes to fighting climate change, buying time for more far-reaching innovation.