Things Sprawl Apart

Jonathan Hoekstra’s lecture on Wednesday was both highly informative and empowering. He presented quite a bit of data that proved energy sprawl to be a formidable challenge, accompanied by a number of reasonable actions that we can take right now to prevent it.

As stated in a previous post, I noticed a lack of individual accountability in the first two lectures of the series. Jeff Muhs and Fred Krupp described some great progress in the effort to reinvent energy, but they didn’t spend too much time on encouraging people to conserve energy in the first place. In contrast, Hoekstra stressed energy conservation as the main strategy in preventing energy sprawl and other issues. In what he dubbed the “one percent challenge,” Hoekstra discussed simple actions that we can take, such as thermostat adjustments, turning out lights, and walking instead of driving. Cutting energy consumption by just 1% could save 500,000 acres of land.

However, as much as I like to champion sustainable lifestyle changes, actions need to be taken on all levels, from personal behavior to federal legislation. Hoekstra spent a lot of time discussing the need for a coherent national energy policy. One issue with renewable energy systems, especially wind power, is that they are often established in places where demand is highest, and not necessarily the most efficient locations. This lack of central organization results in a “willy nilly” distribution of power sites, and contributes to energy sprawl.

The race to reinvent energy is an ongoing process with many hurdles along the way, but we are making progress. To go further, it's going to take effort on the part of everyone. When asked whether the public or private sector has more responsibility to fix our nation's energy problems, Hoekstra said that they have different roles to play. We need cohesive policies from the government, while local businesses and citizens seize the entrepreneurial opportunities provided by the need for change. For this local perspective on things, I am looking forward to the final event of the series, which will be a panel discussion of local energy leaders. I think they will provide insight into what we can do in our own city, and help bridge the gap between large-scale ideas and personal action.