Moving the Needle in Energy Efficiency

One of the most neglected areas of investment/startups in cleantech, in my view, has been in energy efficiency. That now seems to be changing. The New York Times is reporting on an energy efficiency study by the McKinsey Global Institute that examined projected energy savings Americans could achieve with focused energy efficiency standards.

This graphic shows total power used in typical American households (in Quadrillion BTUs), and shows what kinds of savings are achieveable with present advanced techniques.

Below is some additional analysis that helps clarify where the biggest gains are achieveable. In summary, we can cut out total U.S. household energy bill by 35% by implementing existing technology.

If I were investing in the space, I'd look at the Appliance category, as it gets you the most bang for the buck, and a decent improvement ratio from what's out there today.