Energy 2020: Consumers and Waste Energy

Phillip Sellwood, Energy Saving Trust. Consumers are key – transport and domestic sources are 45% of our current CO2 emissions – but we’re spending 25% of our time looking at them. Without consumer support, real progress will impossible.

Consumer action means modifying day-to-day behaviour: choosing energy efficient products, how and when we travel, the source of energy we use, our use of water and how we deal with waste. It doesn’t mean radically different lifestyles.

Consumers are vital across all the sectors being discussed in this summit. Transport in particular needs tackling urgently. If everyone chooses the most efficient car, individual carbon footprints would go down by 25%.