You have answered my question, but I will try to get more information. I'm intrigued by this because you worked for an energy conservation agency in Paris for three years. When I first travelled to Europe back in the 1970s, I noticed that people were already more energy conscious. Among other things, cars were already much smaller. I was also struck by the fact that in London, people had small refrigerators—you were talking about refrigerators earlier— whereas here in North America, people had very large appliances.
Are we in North America behind in our way of thinking? Have we relied too heavily on our plentiful supply of energy, including hydroelectric power, and as a result, have we become energy hogs? Is that why it is so hard to convince people to cut their energy consumption?