The Multiple Effects of Energy Efficiency on Green Economy

Abstract

Often today there is so much talk about green economy, not only in political and economic contexts but also among entrepreneurs as a deep change in the ways of designing and producing. Green economy is considered as increasingly as the main way to go out of the global economic crisis of recent years. Talking about the green economy means, in other words, to speak of a process where the growth should be driven by private or public investments that reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and pollution, improve energy and resources use efficiency and prevent the lost of biodiversity. The concept of “green economy” not replaces the concept of sustainable development, but has a greater awareness that the achievement of sustainability should be based both on the obtainment of a compatibility (e.g., social or environmental) but also on obtaining an economic advantage. The green economy therefore proposes eco-innovation of production in each sector, new consumption patterns and new styles of life for all. It has an economic value because is a means to exit the crisis of recent years, has a social value because it would create new jobs and improves the quality of the well-being of all and also has an environmental value because it protects and enhances the value of the natural capital.