Energy efficiency is when one piece of technology uses less energy to perform the same function as another piece of technology. For example, a washing machine built now would work better on less energy than a washing machine made in, say, the 1960’s. The newer washing machine is more energy efficient.
When things are efficient, life runs smoother. Think about it- when everything is operating as it should, your everyday tasks go by so much quicker, and when things aren’t operating efficiently you have to fix the problem. Usually you have to fix it in your valuable (and sometimes rare) spare time. When things aren’t energy efficient you may not realize there’s a problem until you get the utilities bill. At that point it’s hard to ignore it. There’s even energy efficiency policies now to help you make your home more sustainable and reduce your energy usage. The pros of becoming more energy efficient vastly outway any cons.
Currently, the majority of electricity produced is created by using fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the product of organic materials that were compressed over many, many years. Think millenia. The compressed organic material turned into the fossil fuels we have today- coal, oil, and gas.
The problem with these fossil fuels is that they create pollution, heavily contribute to global warming, and there’s only so much of it. It took a very, very long time for fossil fuels to be created, and the whole world is currently using fossil fuels. This means that when the supply inevitably starts to run low, the price of electricity and gas is going to increase exponentially. You’ll have a much harder time saving for the hypothetical boat mentioned earlier because you’ll be too busy paying off that massive energy bill. It’s critical that people start looking at renewable, efficient energy now, before we start getting to that point.