Higher Productivity—Without Fossil or Nuclear—by 2050
$5 trillion net savings, support a 158% bigger U.S. economy by 2050, using no energy from coal, oil or nuclear.
This is the capsule version of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s energy plan. RMI is a green “think-and-do tank” founded by my favorite practical visionary, Amory Lovins. By thinking holistically, Amory and his colleagues achieve “impossible” results like a house in the California desert that doesn’t need air conditioning, and one in the Colorado snowbelt that doesn’t need a furnace.
Here are the last two claims on their blueprint:
9) U.S. industry can produce about 84% more output with 9–13% less energy—without mandates or breakthroughs in innovation.
10) We can capture and integrate the renewable energy needed to meet 80% or more of our electricity needs by 2050.