I was thinking this morning about how the word efficiency has replaced economy. 💰

Often prior to the 1970s, products were advertised based on their economy – they didn’t use a lot of energy or at least used less energy – saving the user money. Often old florescent lighting fixtures advertised their economy and certainly compact cars did. Economy, except maybe for the outdated term of fuel economy, has all but gone away for describing conservation minded products.

Economy these days often seems like a synonym for cheap or low quality. Not necessarily efficient or money saving. You buy economy because you are poor or strapped for cash. The problem with focusing on efficiency over economy is sometimes it looks too narrowly at the current energy consumption rather than total energy consumption. A 60 watt incandescent light bulb in your attic that you turn on twice a year may be economic and not use much energy but it might not be efficient.

I am sure the replacement of efficiency over economy was chosen to emphasize the environmental virtues of efficiency. The problem with efficiency is it’s a single unit and doesn’t consider the unit’s total consumption over time. And efficiency is often used as an excuse for wastefulness – many think or act like it’s okay to be uneconomic and wasteful if something is efficient.