An American Physical Society (APS) report released today, called Energy Future: Think Efficiency, concludes that energy efficiency is cheap and can be implemented with current technologies.  It also notes, however, that federal funding will be needed to make our green dreams come true.

The Energy Future report focuses on building and transportation because, says APS, these two sectors account for 68% of U.S. petroleum consumption and about 70% of carbon emissions.

On the transportation side, the researchers contend that 50-mpg cars are well within reach by 2030. However, they also caution that plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles can't be used as a short-term fix because of the barriers still to overcome.

On green buildings, the authors find that zero-energy buildings could be widespread by 2030, but that adoption of stringent green-building standards in commercial buildings will require increased government support for research, development, and demonstration programs.

APS's take-home message is that the United States needs to invest much more in the building and transportation sectors.

Writing about greentech all the time, I sometimes forget that many of the technologies that make the news, like electric vehicles, simply aren't ready for prime time yet. It's nice to see a report that takes the hype down a notch and lays out exactly how we could get to our carbon-free future.

More information is available at APS's (surprisingly attractive!) report site.

See also: Energy Saving Programs Not All Plugged In