path to zero...

What nature has created in 500,000 years of fossil fuels, mankind today consumes in one year.
This has consequences. Fossil reserves are becoming more scarcer and energy companies are pushing into ever more ecologically sensitive areas to drill for oil and gas: Alaska, the Mississippi Delta, the deep sea. Even the race for the vulnerable Arctic has long since begun. But mankind’s hunger for energy is immense. According to projections by the IEA (International Energy Agency), energy needs will double again by 2050. The downside of this greed are obvious: Environmental destruction, global warming, exploding energy costs and – as a consequence of this development – high social burdens and international tensions.

Indignation about these developments may be justified, but it must not obscure one thing: Each and every one of us shares responsibility for the environmental damage caused by the extraction and transport of fossil fuels. Only one thing can free us from our dependence on fossil fuels: tapping inexhaustible energy sources such as the sun. Inexhaustible energy sources such as sun, wind and – energy efficiency. There is no way around energy efficiency.

Because the climate protection goals of the global community, such as limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees, cannot be achieved with renewable energies alone. Solar cells, biomass, geothermal energy and wind power are wind power are increasingly mature and often already economically superior to fossil fuels. But they cannot meet energy needs on their own for the foreseeable future. Dramatic climate change can ultimately only be averted if we use energy much more efficiently. The potential for energy efficiency is enormous. We can economically avoid at least 1/3 of our current energy consumption. And every kWh of fossil primary energy saved simultaneously increases the share of renewable energies.

Energy efficiency – the economic path to climate neutrality. The potential is huge – we must not wait any longer to tap it.