Energy uses and climate change mitigation: assessing the roles of robust energy efficiency practices

Energy uses, security of supply of energy and tackling climate change risks, have been regarded as the most important issues that occupied the 21st century. This is due to the difficulties of ensuring adequate supply of commercial energy to more than 1billion population of the world that are energy poor and the challenges posed by climate change risks. Consequently, policy makers and researchers have proffered different solutions for addressing these existential issues of our time. Some of the remedies proffered are the benefits of diversifying energy supplies away from the conventional energy forms to renewable energy sources and the employment of energy efficiency practices. From the perspective of a cost effective approach or a tested legal framework, and due to the slow pace of penetration of renewable energy sources to the world’s global energy mix, it has been posited that adopting a robust energy efficiency practice in our homes, industries and institutions, would be the magic wand needed to reduce or stabilise the Greenhouse Gas effect which are responsible for the disturbing growth of climate change risks. The objective of this paper therefore is to examine the benefits of energy efficiency practices in promoting climate change mitigation.