Give us a chance: energy conservation still an untried option. (Editorial).(Column)

Last month, EUN published a couple of letters written in support of a position taken by Joel Levin in a letter we published in the April issue. Joel humorously captioned his letter "Green and Purple Dollars." In it, he described the frustration of trying to convince corporate managers that money saved by implementing energy conservation measures is as valuable as any other money on a company's bottom line. Little did I know that Joel's letter would set off such a far-ranging discussion. The two letters published in June and additional ones published this month are just the tip of the iceberg. One reader emailed me that Joel's letter had been forwarded five times to him just weeks after it was published. In another case, a mini-discussion group formed around the letter.

Well done, Joel, for sparking so much discussion. Even my reflections on U.S. energy policy and Iraq didn't cause such a response.

The amount and quality of the discussion caused me to reflect on why Joel's observation should meet such widespread agreement.

Certainly his letter was well written and humorous. But other letters have shared these attributes. I think Joel expressed the frustration and pure exasperation that half the nation's energy professionals share when business managers reject logical, proven solutions to a problem plaguing the nation's businesses individually and presenting a crisis to the nation collectively. Why do business managers reject ideas that could save their companies money? Especially ...