The United States could save about USD600 billion in energy costs by 2020 if it hiked annual efficiency spending about five-fold, McKinsey and Co said in a report, according to Reuters. Governments, businesses and the general public would have to boost annual spending on existing energy-saving measures from about USD10 billion annually to 50 billion per year or in all 520 billion by 2020. The upfront costs would pay off by saving USD1.2 trillion by 2020, according to the report. The reduction in energy use would also result in the abatement of 1.1 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions annually – the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads. Such savings will be possible, however, only if the U.S. can overcome significant barriers, which require an integrated set of solutions – including information and education, incentives and financing, codes and standards, and deployment resources well beyond current levels.