MISSING CULTURE - ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND LOST CAUSES

Largely to the credit of Brookes, this journal has, over the past few years, carried a discussion that challenges the complacency of environ mentalists and others over the role that improvements in energy effici ency can play as policy tools designed to mitigate the eco-social cost s of energy production, transmission and consumption. In this communic ation I will briefly review the main arguments in this debate with the intention of highlighting their reliance upon a 'self-limiting set of assumptions' that make any informed analysis of the relationship betw een people and energy technologies highly questionable. This is partic ularly the case in the domestic and transport sectors. Here, only a mo re culturally sensitive investigation of the possibilities and problem s afforded by various technologies and of the public's growing awarene ss of socio-environmental problems can support or counter the argument s raised by Brookes and his adversaries.