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This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.

Most of us know we should rein¹ in our energy use. But to be successful, it'd help if we knew the best way to do it. So scientists asked more than 500 people, "What's the most effective thing you can do to conserve² energy?" The results were illuminating³.

More than half the participants focused on conservation by curtailment⁴: switching off the lights, changing thermostat⁵ settings and driving less. Only 12 percent went for efficiency: using compact fluorescent⁶ bulbs, insulating the house or driving a hybrid⁷ car. But scientists say that it's actually these moves that yield the bigger energy savings⁸. The results appear in the Proceedings⁹ of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study authors think that a big factor is that curtailment is easier to imagine doing—while efforts to improve efficiency would involve, for example, doing research about new appliances or cars, and spending money up front to buy them.

But if people knew more about the actual energy requirements of their activities versus¹⁰ the savings available through efficiency, they might be spurred to act. To quote physicist¹¹ and energy expert Arthur Rosenfeld: "Energy efficiency is like a Saudi Arabia under our cities."

Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.