Have you ever noticed how much more energy-efficient Europe is compared to the US? The cars are smaller (and usually manual transmission), the restaurants and stores are rarely air conditioned, the washing machines are tiny and energy-efficient, the clothes dryers are…basically non-existent (let the sun and air dry your clothes). The bathroom lights and stairwell lights in apartment buildings are motion sensored, and the hotel room electricity is controlled by the key (when you leave, you turn off all the lights and A/C). The elevators are tiny. Even the garbage collection infrastructure is more energy-efficient (people carry their trash to centralized depositories, so there are fewer stops for the garbage trucks). Getting back to the states and being greeted by our enormous washer/dryers, our bloated SUV’s, and the fact that every store has its A/C blasting, even with the doors wide open to the street…it makes me realize more than ever that we could easily live like Europeans and it would hardly impact our quality of life. Except that I wouldn’t have to pack a wool sweater in order to sit comfortably in a restaurant or office building, and I would be a terror on the road driving stick…
What other energy efficiencies have you noticed in other parts of the world?
