Rocky Mountain Institute : Library

For pre-1999 documents, see Energy Library Archives.

Energy Efficiency

E08-XX, Profitable Solutions to the Business, Climate, and Nuclear Proliferation Problems. (PDF-3.9mb): In this presentation delivered to the Berlin Conference on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (by video, Feb 2008), Mr. Lovins provides a thorough overview of the synergistic and profitable benefits of advanced energy efficiency across multiple sectors (March 2008)

E06-08, Getting off Oil, The World in 2007 (PDF-65k): When The Economist invited CEO Amory Lovins to stick his neck out and say what oil trends and surprises he thinks will emerge in 2007, this lapidary page was the result. This article appeared in The World in 2007, a special edition of The Economist (www.economist.com/theworldin); (November 2006).

E05-16, Energy End-Use Efficiency (PDF-340k): This white paper for the InterAcademy Council (Amsterdam), a consortium of 90 national academies of science, summarizes the most important things we've learned in the past three decades about using energy far more efficiently. Among the surprising insights: very large energy savings can often cost less than small or no savings. Copyright ©2005 IAC (19 September 2005).

E05-07, Tilting at Energy Windmills (PDF-175k): Suddenly, lots more people are paying attention to Amory Lovins. Mr. Lovins's basic thesis: Energy efficiency is good business because it cuts costs — and that big moves to boost efficiency are better, and ultimately cheaper, than little ones. His latest grand idea: that the U.S. can drastically slash its oil consumption by shifting its auto fleet to vehicles built with carbon composites. This article appeared in The Wall Street Journal (25 July 2005).

E05-02, Ending Our Oil Dependence (PDF-388k): The United States has the world's mightiest economy and most mobile society. Yet the oil that fueled its strength has become its greatest weakness. The United States can eliminate its oil dependence and revitalize its economy — not by passing federal laws, taxing fuels, biasing markets, subsidizing favorites, mandating technologies, limiting choices, or crimping lifestyles, but by adopting smart business strategies. If government steers, not rows, then competitive enterprise, supported by judicious policy and vibrant civil society, can turn the oil challenge into an unprecedented opportunity for wealth creation and common security. This article appeared in The Ripon Forum; Volume 39, Number II (March/April 2005).

E04-21, How America Can Free Itself of Oil—Profitably (PDF-36k): Amory Lovins's two-page FORTUNE essay summarizes for business leaders how the strategy in RMI's WInning the Oil Endgame (www.oilendgame.org) can get the U.S. completely off oil at a profit and revitalize the nation's industrial and farming sectors. This article appeared in FORTUNE magazine (04 October 2004).

E04-02, Energy Efficiency, Taxonomic Overview (PDF-400k): Efficient use of energy is in all countries the most important, economical, prompt, underused, overlooked, and misunderstood way to provide future energy services. It is rapidly becoming even larger, faster, and cheaper as technologies, delivery methods, and integrative design improve. Whole-system design can indeed make very large energy savings cost less than small ones. But capturing energy efficiency's remarkable potential requires careful terminology, prioritization, attention to engineering details and to market failures, and willingness to accept measured physical realities even if they conflict with economic theories. If well done, such energy efficiency can displace costly and disagreeable energy supplies, enhance security and prosperity, speed global development, and protect Earth's climate — not at cost but at a profit. This article appeared in the Encyclopedia of Energy, Volume 2. pages 383–401 (23 July 2004).

E03-13, Designing a Sustainable Energy Future—Integrating Negawatts with Diverse Supplies at Least Cost (PDF-3.2 MB): Keynoting Australia's first national conference on energy efficiency, Amory Lovins integrates exciting opportunities in advanced electric, heat, and transport efficiency with their ability to accelerate distributed generation and renewable sources (13 November 2003).

E03-11, Natural Capitalism and the New North Carolina Economy (PDF-3.8 MB): In this presentation, given at the Save Our State Awards Dinner, Raleigh, North Carolina, Amory Lovins explains the principles of natural capitalism and the four kinds of capital: money, goods, people and nature (27 October 2003).

For pre-1999 documents, see Energy Library Archives.