Live tweeting from @iea #energyefficiency conference.

Exciting to see people who understand that how energy is used is just as critical as how it is generated

President of Georgia @Zourabichvili_S talks about the critical importance of energy efficiency for economic recovery

minister for Energy in Luxembourg Claude Turmed talks about the need to focus on stimulus, not austerity. First priority is health homes.
Second is industry
Third is electro mobility - EVs are 3-4 times as efficiency as petrol cars, but particular focus on delivery vans

What can we do to encourage videoconferencing and work from home?

Talks about importance of standards for appliances, and that the manufacturers of inefficient appliances are very organized in opposing them.

(Very true in Australia - one manufacturer of poor appliances and the gas lobby are the only opponents of appliance standards)

Now joined by a world-leading manufacturer, the Chairman of Toshiba. Talking about Energy Management Systems.

Now joined by Director General of India Energy and Resources Institute.

“Right now we care about jobs, economic growth and sustainability. That is why we focus on efficiency. It is all of this. It is a job creation machine”

Key issue for india and much of world is adding cooling. Really need to ensure that all new cooling is efficient

“So if energy efficiency is so good, why don’t we do it? 1) There’s a hump to get over as we change directions. 2) higher upfront costs that reduce future costs

Global Green Building Council focuses on importance of building construction standards

@IEABirol closes with a very clear message. “Energy efficiency is a jobs machine. We need jobs, jobs, jobs.”

The US Secretary if Energy just threw a word-salad of meaningless nonsense on the table. Disappointing but not unexpected.

Looking forward to the next session which has excellent speakers.