Energy efficiency is often assumed to be a dwindling, rising-cost resource. But integrative design — optimizing buildings, vehicles, equipment and industrial processes or factories as whole systems for multiple benefits — can make efficiency an expanding, declining-cost resource. Thought leader Amory Lovins shares examples of integrative design from diverse sectors and applications to reach several-fold larger and cheaper savings than previously supposed, often with increasing returns, so that (as with modern renewables) the more you buy, the cheaper it gets. He explains why this has revolutionary implications for climate and many other challenges, is much more fun for the designers — and needs to become common practice.
