Potentials and Policy Implications of Energy and Material Efficiency Improvement

There is growing awareness of the serious problems associated with the provision of sufficient energy to meet human needs to fuel economic growth worlwide. This volume explores the issue of energy and materials efficiency improvement and looks at policy implementation barriers and instruments.

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There is growing awareness of the serious problems associated with the provision of sufficient energy to meet human needs to fuel economic growth worlwide. Current energy production and usage patterns rely heavily on combustion of fossil fuels, a key factor in the increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the earth's atmosphere that contribute to global warming. The improvement of energy efficiency is generally regarded as the most important means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the negative impacts of the use of energy and/or fossil fuels. This volume examines these issues.