Sufficiency

When it comes to saving energy, efficiency is, of course, a key concept. If I can use a device that requires less energy to perform the same function, I can save the difference in energy consumption. However, energy efficiency only addresses part of the problem. Accordingly, my first thought should not necessarily be: ‘Can I buy a monitor that uses less energy?’. The question ‘How can I adjust my behaviour so that I use less energy?’ gets a little closer to the heart of the matter and offers new perspectives. If I take it a step further and ask myself, ‘Do I actually need a second monitor for my work?’, I have internalised the principle of sufficiency.

Studies show that technical efficiency measures and the expansion of renewable energy alone may not be sufficient to reduce greenhouse gas emissions adequately. Behavioural changes towards a more frugal lifestyle can also make an important contribution to significantly reducing energy demand, but are often not yet sufficiently taken into account in energy modelling (Samadi et al., 2017)

Bauer & Sterner (2025) demonstrate that sufficiency is not an abstract theoretical concept, but can make a substantial contribution to reducing energy demand in Germany. In their energy model, a combination of technical measures and appropriate lifestyle adjustments could reduce Germany’s total energy demand by 61 % by 2050 compared with 2019, without fundamentally lowering the standard of living. Wiese et al. (2024) even emphasise that sufficiency measures can play a key role in the transition towards a greenhouse gas-neutral Europe with lower energy demand and greater energy security.