The 2000 Watt Society is a vision for the future, formulated in 1998 by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, in which the energy use of every First World citizen is limited 2000 Watts. The current world average per capita is 17,520 kWh, which translates to roughly 2000 Watts of continuous energy use – in other words, the goal is to limit everyone’s energy use to the current world average.
Of course that average is not evenly distributed throughout the world – people in the more developed countries, such as the U.S., use significantly more than those in the less developed parts of the world. The current US average is just over 12,000 Watts – six times what would be allowed within this vision. In contrast, the current average in Bangladesh is less than 300 Watts, and only Canada, Scandinavia, and some oil-producing countries in the Middle East use more per person than we do.
Because this vision looks to achieve its goal without lowering our standard of living, it requires that we dramatically improve the energy conservation in our buildings, and the energy efficiency in all aspects of our lives (the 2000 Watt metric is not based only on household use per person, but everything, including our automobile use). Over time, hopefully, this energy will be increasingly produced by renewable sources.
In this way the 2000 Watt Society is very much like the Passive House Standard – it looks to set an energy limit on those who currently use more than they should, a limit that may seem radical to some, but is reasonable and achievable. Clearly, building our buildings to the Passive House Standard would be an effective component in achieving the 2000 Watt Society’s goals. And as with the Passive House Standard, the 2000 Watt Society’s metric is not a requirement everyone has to exactly meet, but is only an upper limit. You can certainly use less energy than 2000 Watts, and more power to you (no pun intended) if you do!
For more information on Passive House, contact Seattle architect Jim Burton at www.blipdesign.com.
