Profitable solutions for oil, climate, and proliferation

The author contends that energy efficiency and decentralized renewables are more profitable and faster to deploy than traditional energy sources. By increasing energy productivity and adopting 'micropower', the U.S. and other nations can eliminate oil dependence and reduce carbon emissions without relying on costly subsidies or mandates. Furthermore, the author suggests that the economic failure of nuclear power will naturally hinder nuclear proliferation by reducing the availability of civilian nuclear materials.

• Climate protection is profitable rather than costly because reducing fuel consumption is cheaper than purchasing fuel, with some companies achieving profits by cutting carbon intensity or emissions by 5–8% per year.
• Stabilizing global carbon emissions requires increasing energy productivity by approximately 3% per year, a rate already achieved or exceeded by the U.S. and China.
• The United States could eliminate its oil use by the 2040s through a combination of doubling oil efficiency and substituting saved natural gas and advanced biofuels, with an average transition cost of approximately $15 per barrel.
• Micropower—consisting of low-carbon combined-heat-and-power and decentralized renewables—is expanding faster and is more economically viable than nuclear power, providing 1/6 of the world's electricity in 2005.
• The market-driven decline of nuclear power can help stem nuclear proliferation by removing the civilian cover for the acquisition of materials used in nuclear weapons.
• Energy efficiency offers significant capital leverage, as saving electricity requires roughly 1,000 times less capital and repays it 10 times faster than generating new electricity.

APA

LOVINS, A. B. (2007). Profitable solutions for oil, climate, and proliferation. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-08_ProfitableSolutions.pdf

Chicago

LOVINS, AMORY B. Profitable solutions for oil, climate, and proliferation. RMI, 2007. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-08_ProfitableSolutions.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=LOVINS |first1=AMORY B. |title=Profitable solutions for oil, climate, and proliferation |publisher=RMI |date=27 August 2007 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-08_ProfitableSolutions.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lovins2007profitable, author = {LOVINS, AMORY B.}, title = {{Profitable solutions for oil, climate, and proliferation}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2007}, month = aug, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_C07-08_ProfitableSolutions.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }