A shift to renewable energy is 'hopeless' without efficiencies, environmentalist says

Explorer and environmentalist Bertrand Piccard has called for a renewed focus on cutting energy waste, saying it's "hopeless" to shift to renewables without improving efficiency.

Around three-quarters of the world's energy is wasted, Piccard told an "IOT: Powering the Digital Economy" panel moderated by CNBC's Silvia Amaro. This estimate is based on waste "due to inappropriate behaviour and inefficient systems or infrastructures," he told CNBC separately via email.

Piccard, who is founder and chairman of the environmental non-profit organization Solar Impulse Foundation, said that "we live in a world of waste."

"So if we try to replace fossil [fuel] energy with renewables without being efficient, without reducing the consumption, it's hopeless," he said.

Another issue Piccard highlighted was that some countries only consider wind and solar as alternative renewable energy sources.

Biogas, produced by the breakdown of organic matter such as food, has been "excluded … from the taxonomy" in Europe, he said, and people also forget about geothermal energy, which uses heat from the earth.

A report published in October by the European Commission showed that while bioenergy continued to be the main source of renewable energy in the EU in 2021 — at around 60% — biogas made up just 10% of this share. Geothermal energy accounted for just 2.7% of renewable energy consumption, while wind power was 13.2% and solar energy was 7.2%. 

"So we focus on producing more, instead of consuming less, and in the production that we want to do, we forget a lot of different types of renewable energies that we don't take into consideration," he said.

As a result of these issues, Piccard said there's a risk that green energy targets could be missed — as well