It’s time for the world community to “put the shoulder to the wheel” to push forward with using renewable energy and improving the efficiency of energy appliances.

That’s according to the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the Clean Energy Ministerial in London this morning, who said governments need to work together.

Dr Steven Chu said: “Our energy challenges are urgent, the opportunities are ripe and the time to act is now. It will take substantial shouldering to the wheel, it will take some time to turn a great ship.”

The Secretary spoke about the amount of energy that can be saved by introducing efficiency standards for everyday appliances such as ceiling fans or fridges.

Dr Chu added: “What happened in the United States and around the world is that the cost of running a refrigerator dropped four to five-fold. That’s four to five times less electricity used to cool your food. Even though the size has gone up… the costs came down considerably.”

At the summit, countries signed up to the Super Efficient Appliances Deployment, which will set up around 60 efficiency standards for different appliances.

Dr Chu said the SEAD is estimated to cut electricty demand by around 600 TWh, the equivalent of roughly 250 mid-sized power stations.