What is the difference between energy conservation and energy efficiency?

We use energy every day for cooking, transport, entertainment, heating and cooling.

The choices we make about using a machine and turning it off can make a huge difference to our environment and our lives.

There are many things we can do to use less energy (conservation) and use it more wisely (efficiency).

• Energy conservation is any behavior that results in the use of less energy.

Walking to school rather than riding in the car or recycling our plastics are both ways of conserving energy.

• Energy efficiency is the use of technology that requires less energy to perform the same function.

An air-conditioner that uses less energy to cool a room compared to a standard air-conditioner is energy efficient.

A light emitting diode (LED) bulb using less energy to produce the same light as an incandescent light bulb is also energy efficient. However, the decision to replace an incandescent light bulb with an LED bulb is an act of energy conservation.