[leoedin]

Certainly high energy costs, in the absence of any action to reduce energy usage, reduce standards of living. Ultimately almost every aspect of our "comfortable" life comes from expending energy - heating, concrete, entertainment, transport, home appliances, fertiliser, mechanised farming - at the heart of everything is external energy expenditure to make us comfortable.

However, in most cases comfort isn't proportional to energy expended. For a given heat, a well insulated room is as comfortable as a badly insulated one - but with less energy input. A modern computer is as useful (more so) than a Pentium 4, but with less energy input. An LED bulb provides as much light as an incandescent, but with less energy input. When energy becomes expensive, it makes energy saving worthwhile, which makes the return on investment higher, which draws in R&D money.

Honestly - I don't know for sure whether high energy costs will drive innovation, or just lower living standards for everyone. However, it's pretty clear that relying on fossil fuels isn't a good long term strategy, and that at historical energy prices (which don't take into account externalities at all) there's essentially no headroom for new energy saving R&D. High energy prices make efficiency improvements and novel energy production highly lucrative - and then capitalism can do the rest.

[cameronh90]

"For a given heat, a well insulated room is as comfortable as a badly insulated one"

I actually disagree with this. There are factors beyond air temperature, such as air movement and radiation.

Air movement is pretty obvious, if your house is draughty, 20c may still feel chilly.

But radiation is commonly ignored and in my experience contributes more to comfort than air temperature beyond a certain level. If your room is at 20c and your walls are 12c, there's a good chance you will still feel uncomfortable compared to a building with well insulated walls. I've been in old buildings where even at 25c it still felt a little chilly. Worse, if only the exterior walls are cold, you might find one side of you is too hot and the other is too cold!

This is commonly experienced as "why is my house still cold in winter even though the thermostat is at 22c, when in the summer it's too hot even at 18c?".

[3D25157725]

> For a given heat, a well insulated room is as comfortable as a badly insulated one - but with less energy input. A modern computer is as useful (more so) than a Pentium 4, but with less energy input. An LED bulb provides as much light as an incandescent, but with less energy input. When energy becomes expensive, it makes energy saving worthwhile, which makes the return on investment higher, which draws in R&D money.

You're right, and I think these are compelling examples. And climate change need not even be considered for these to support a carbon tax.

Thanks for the response.