Estimates suggest that savings could reach 30 to 50 percent in Europe, and 30 to 70 percent in the United States. For three years, we ve been working on translating the political commitments made at Kyoto into specific measures, said French Environment Minister Dominique Voynet after The Hague conference, where she led the European delegation. To achieve that goal, consumer patterns in the rich countries will have to change and more efficient power sources will have to be offered to developing countries. But it will be difficult. Co-generation is a new technology being adopted in the United States and Europe, and could show the way.
Individual consumers can also make a difference.
Lighting manufacturers have calculated that the use of low-consumption bulbs each year saves electricity equivalent to the output of several nuclear reactors. In the same vein, household appliance and electronics manufacturers are designing products that guzzle less energy. A few tenths of a kilowatt-hour of savings on a refrigerator represents, on a worldwide scale, the output of several dozen nuclear power plants. Lastly, in addition to energy-saving appliances, research suggests that renewable energy sources such as hydrogen, solar and wind power are bound to acquire a new dimension in the 21st century. Today, Germany s windmills generate as much electricity as four nuclear power plants.