The revolutionary shift from candles to light bulbs triggered the start of the modern way of life, in which electricity constitutes a capital cost. In the late 19^th Century, Thomas Alva Edison’s electric lamp provided nighttime lighting for American homes, redefining living by taking away limitations hitherto imposed by the day/night cycle. The success of Edison’s invention led to the development of a direct-current electrical supply system catering to households in New York. From then on, modern cities began to develop along the new power grid, leading to the building of skyscrapers, department stores, amusement parks and cinemas to fulfill the lifestyle needs of people around the world.

During World War I (1914 – 1918), wartime resource constraints led to the first wave of energy-saving concepts, which continued through World War II (1939 – 1945). The war efforts consumed vast amounts of energy, prompting many European countries and the United States to adopt Daylight Saving as an energy-saving measure. First adopted by Germany in 1916, the Daylight Saving policy involved adjusting the clock backward or forward by 1 hour to account for seasonal sunrise and sunset variances. This has the effect of making people reduce their electricity use and take better advantage of sunlight. As wartime shortages began to affect the daily life of the general public, new goods and services catering to the highly rationed lifestyles began to appear. Beginning in 1941, American women could use ‘Liquid Stockings’ leg makeup to replace nylon stockings, which became very hard to obtain because the bulk of the country’s nylon supply went toward making military clothing and weapons packs.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, the return to energy abundance led to a boom for the electrical appliances industry. Single-purpose appliances were invented to cater to every facet of people’s daily routine: hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, record player, refrigerator, oven, etc. The pro-consumption mentality that became the norm in modern living is epitomized in the Live Better Electrically campaign, launched by General Electric (GE) in 1956 to promote the use of household appliances. GE also worked with 180 electrical industry players and 300 utilities providers throughout the U.S. to instill an “Electrical Consciousness” in the American public and promote it as a quality of life index

Energy shortages returned in the 1970s. In October 1973, the Arab-Israeli War broke out. This led to an Arab oil embargo, which triggered the world’s first oil crisis. Many countries re-imposed electricity- and oil-conservation measures. In the U.K., the government limited industry and business access to electricity to just 3 days a week. In the U.S., highway lighting was cut back and warning signs for motorists driving at night began to spring up. The soaring oil prices also led to the decline of the American muscle cars and opened the way for Japanese and European compact models to break into the American market. The oil crisis also led to chaos at the pumps, as some gas stations would serve only regular customers or those with appointments.

In the early 1990s, energy became a global issue. Burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas generates the so-called greenhouse gases, which destroy ozone layers in the atmosphere and constitute the major cause of global warming. In 1992, the world community joined together for the first time to find solutions to the global energy and environmental crises. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, produced the conclusion that “nothing less than a transformation of our attitude and behavior would bring about the necessary changes”. A few years into the new millennium, energy and climate change became hot issues after former U.S. Vice President Al Gore made the disastrous effects of man-made climate change one of his central themes in the 110-minute-long 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth.

The world consumes energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Consumers have become addicted to their smartphones and tablets thanks to developments in networks and software applications which make it possible to connect to the Internet anytime, anywhere – at home, at work or in public places.  According to “Thailand Internet User Profile 2015,” a survey of 10,434 Internet users by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), the majority of those surveyed use the Internet at work (43.2%) and during their commutes (26%). They engage in a wide variety of online activities including spending time on social networks (82.7% ), listening to the radio or playing games (42.3%), shopping (25.8%) and carrying out financial transactions (21.6%).

Today, much of the world’s energy resources is being wasted as demand continues to rise. Oil demand for global transport could reach 23.4 billion barrels per year by 2030, compared to 15.4 billion barrels in 20014, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). IEA’s estimate is in accordance with the global increase in the number of personal cars to 1.2 billion in 2015 from 850 million in 2010. As energy consumption continues to grow unchecked, the world’s fuel supplies look likely to be outstripped by demand even if additional reserves are discovered in the future.

In our globalized world, manufacturing, trading and international shipping via land, sea and air are all poised for growth. Today, the transport sector consumes as much as 50% of all fossil fuels, the world’s major source of energy, According to a 2015 report by the International Air Transport Association, air transport is one of the main engines driving the global economy. In 2014, global air shipments totaled 51.3 million tons or USD 6.8 trillion in value, amounting to 35% of the total value of global trade. The growth in air transport is estimated to be 4.1% annually.

The global digital economy relies on information technology to control and connect the flows of information between different parts of the world. The management of everything from traffic and transport to telecommunications, finance and investment involves a wide array of electronic devices  – desktop computers,  smartphones, tablets, electronic cloud-computing networks – all of which consume vast amounts of energy. In The Cloud Begin With Coal: Big Data, Big Network, Big Infrastructure, and Big Power, Mark P. Mills, CEO of Digital Power Group, estimates that IT and communications systems now consume almost 10% of the world’s electricity supply, or all the electricity it took to light the entire world in 1985. According to the same report, cloud computing consumes an average of 1,500 terawatt-hour a year, which is equivalent to the combined electricity generating capacities of Germany and Japan.

According to Thailand Creative & Design Center ’s Survey of Discourse on Energy Sharing in Public Spaces and Media-Assisted Campaigns, an analytical study of energy-awareness campaigns in spaces belonging to businesses, government agencies and educational institutions and in department stores and  public areas around Bangkok, said campaigns tend to focus on saving water, electricity and oil and on achieving the maximum possible reduction in energy use, with the purported goal of helping the organization, the government and the country. These campaigns utilize traditional media such as banners, stickers, posters and billboards to target audiences who are already aware of the campaigns’ messages and conscious of what they aim to achieve. But today, this type of campaigning is no longer enough to cause behavior change regarding energy use. It may be time to put out different information, adopt different forms or methods for energy communication, or even design new energy innovations to ensure a successful shift to an energy-efficient society.

What if our excess body heat was never wasted? At Stockholm Grand Central Station in Sweden, heat exchangers in the ventilation system convert the excess body heat of commuters passing through the station into hot water, which is then pumped into the heating system of a nearby building to keep it warm. The brainchild of Stockholm real estate company Jermhusen, the system lowers the energy costs of the office block by as much a 25% during winter.

Learn more about Stockholm Grand Central Station’s human body heat harvesting system

What if we could capture the energy we produce by doing normal activities and use it to generate electricity? Sustainable Dance Floor^TM already does that by integrating dance and energy generation. The concept and technology originated with a company called Energy Floors (formerly Sustainable Dance Club), and with the work of Studio Roosegaarde, using the floor has become even more fun. Today, the company has installed the energy-generating floor at more than 350 venues and events including nightclubs, concerts, expos and the Olympics. In 2012 alone, Sustainable Dance Floor^TM generated over 2 billion joules of energy with the participation of more than 950,000 people.

Learn more about Sustainable Dance Floor

What if the trees on our streets could also serve as street lights? Project Glowing Nature makes trees glow at night by applying a fine coating of bio materials that mimic the light-emitting properties of mushrooms and jellyfish. Trees that receive the treatment produce light for up to 8 hours. A collaboration between Dr. Alexander Krichevsky, founder of biotech company Bioglow, Dutch innovator Daan Roosegaarde and the State University of New York, Project Glowing Nature opens up new possibilities for a future landscape in which nature provides all the lighting we need.

Learn more about Project Glowing Nature

What if every human movement could be used to generate light? The Shell Football Pitch, an outdoor pitch in the Morro da Mineira neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, converts football players’ footsteps into electricity. Working alongside solar panels, 200 custom-made tiles made from plastic and waterproof, recycled rubber capture vibrations from footballers’ on-pitch movements and converts them into enough electricity to generate electricity up 10 hours of light . A partnership between Piezoelectric technology pioneer Pavegen and Shell, the football pitch successfully channels Brazil’s passion for football into efficient energy use.

Learn more about the Shell Football Pitch

What if we could store solar energy for use at any time? Tesla Powerwall is a smart home-based energy storage device that charges using power from solar panels or from the grid and can be used as a backup electricity supply. A product of U.S. electric car leader Tesla Motors, the Powerwall represents imaginative thinking about energy use in the home.

Learn more about Tesla Powerwall