The soft energy path is an energy use and development strategy delineated and promoted by some energy experts and activists, such as Amory Lovins and Tom Bender; in Canada, David Suzuki has been a very prominent (if less specialized) proponent. Energy conservation is its cardinal premise. Amory Lovins Amory Bloch Lovins (born November 13, 1947 in Washington, DC) was trained in physics and has worked professionally as an environmentalist. ... Tom Bender began to make his mark in the early 1970s as an architect, author, and strategic planner. ... Dr. David Suzuki Dr. David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, Ph. ... For the physical concepts, see conservation of energy and energy efficiency. ...

As physicist/consultant/lobbyist Amory Lovins describes it, the "hard energy path" (with which the soft path contrasts) involves inefficient liquid-fuel automotive transport, as well as giant, centralized electricity-generating facilities, often burning fossil fuels (e.g., coal or petroleum) or harnessing a nuclear fission reaction. (See nuclear power.) The hard path is not simply a matter of energy sources, though, because it is greatly augmented and complicated by wastage and loss of electricity and other common, directly usable forms of energy. Liquid fuels are those combustible or energy-generating molecules that can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, usually producing kinetic energy; they also must take the shape of their container. ... Coal Coal (IPA: ) is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Ignacy Łukasiewicz - inventor of the refining of kerosene from crude oil. ... For the generation of electrical power by fission, see Nuclear power plant An induced nuclear fission event. ... A nuclear power station. ...

The "soft energy path" involves efficient use of energy, diversity of energy production methods (matched in scale and quality to end uses), and special reliance on co-generation and "soft technologies" (a.k.a., alternative technology) such as solar energy, wind energy, biofuels, geothermal energy, etc. Cogeneration (also combined heat and power or CHP) is the use of a power station to simultaneously generate both heat and electricity. ... Alternative technology is a term sometimes used by environmental advocates to refer to technologies which are more environmentally friendly than the functionally equivalent technologies dominant in current practice. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... For articles on specific fuels used in vehicles, see Biogas, Bioethanol, Biobutanol and Biodiesel Biofuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass — recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. ... Geothermal power is electricity generated by utilizing naturally occurring geological heat sources. ...

There has been a renewed interest in the soft energy path due to the recent popularization of "peak oil" theories. The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion. ...

However, a criticism leveled at decentralized energy production approaches is that, generally, the large, centralized methods produce energy much more efficiently than small, distributed plants. The energy decentralists counter that this is a generalization, that new developments are in the works, and even today there are sometimes exceptions (see the discussion in the renewable energy article). In Lovins' analysis, large-scale electricity production facilities have an important place, but it is a place that they were already filling by the mid-1970s. At that time, Lovins felt that more centralized, large-scale "conventional" energy production facilities would not generally be needed^{[citation needed]}. Renewable energy is defined as energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes can not be depleted. ...

Lovins argued that besides environmental benefits, global political stresses might be reduced by Western nations committing to the soft energy path.

Facts have validated some of Lovins' assertions. While U.S. federal commitments in the energy field have varied and no ongoing, official resolve to adhere to the soft energy path has been made at the national level, in the Winter 1998 edition of the Whole Earth Catalog, Amory Lovins pointed out that choices made by industry and citizens had resulted in a national energy use curve just slightly lower than the levels he had projected for the U.S. 'soft energy path' in 1976. In this sense, the success of the soft energy path for the country exceeded expectation. The Whole Earth Catalog was a sizeable catalog published twice a year from 1968 to 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. ...

At the same time, proponents of renewable energy sources complain that the fraction of energy derived from renewable sources has declined slightly in a number of nations (though grown slightly in others) if, say, the years 1985 and 1994 are compared^{[citation needed]}. Still, some proponents put much hope in the commercial emergence of hydrogen fuel cells, which appear to have possibilities as an efficient energy-storage method. The utilization of both wind and solar power is generally predicted to grow significantly, and is already doing so in many regions^{[citation needed]}. Further, the European Commission of 1997 predicted a significant growth in all of the main sources of renewable electricity generation except hydro-electric by 2010 (see renewable energy development). Renewable energy is defined as energy derived from resources that are regenerative or for all practical purposes can not be depleted. ... A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ... // Renewable energy development covers the advancement, capacity growth, and use of renewable energy sources by humans. ...

See also

• Energy conservation
• National Energy Conservation Policy Act
• Energy demand management
• Negawatt Power
• Green tax shift
• Energy Tax Act
• Green politics
• nuclear power phase-out
• New Urbanism
• Action on climate change
• Cogeneration
• Passive house
• Superinsulation
• Self-sufficient homes
• Earthship
• Straw-bale construction
• Proposed oil phase-out in Sweden

For the physical concepts, see conservation of energy and energy efficiency. ... The National Energy Conservation Policy Act (NECPA) of 1978 (P.L. 95-619) is a U.S. statute which was signed into law as part of the National Energy Act. ... Energy demand management is also known as demand side management (DSM). ... This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. ... A green tax shift is a fiscal policy which lowers the taxes on income including wages and profit, and raises taxes on consumption, particularly the unsustainable consumption of non-renewable resources. ... The Energy Tax Act (Public Law 95-318) was a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1978 as part of the National Energy Act. ... Green politics or Green ideology is the ideology of the Green Parties, mainly informed by environmentalism, ecology and sustainable economics and aimed at developing a sustainable society. ... A nuclear power plant at Grafenrheinfeld, Germany. ... New urbanism is an urban design movement whose popularity increased from the beginning of the 1980s onwards. ... The issue of human-caused, or anthropogenic, climate change (global warming) is becoming a central focus of the Green movement. ... Cogeneration (also combined heat and power or CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat. ... The original Passive Houses at Darmstadt, Germany The original Passive Houses at Darmstadt The term Passive house (Passivhaus in German) refers to the rigorous, voluntary, Passivhaus standard for energy use in buildings. ... Superinsulation is an approach to building design, construction and retrofitting. ... A self-sufficient house is one that operates without need for external electricity, natural gas, sewage, or other utilities. ... Earthships are earth-sheltered autonomous buildings made of tyres rammed with earth, which are usually arranged in a U or horseshoe shape. ... Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. ... Crude oil prices, 2004-2006 (not adjusted for inflation) In 2005 the Swedish government announced their intention to become the first country to break their countrys dependence on oil and other ‘fossil raw materials’ by 2020 [1]. As of 2005, oil supplies provided about 32% of the countrys...

External links

• UK Renewable-Energy Web Sites
• Rocky Mountain Institute