MONERGY

noun (Environment) (Business World) Economical use of energy; fuel conservation leading to greater cost-effectiveness in running one's home. (Originally, money spent on energy costs: see below.) Etymology: Formed by telescoping money and energy to form a blend; the word was apparently invented by the advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi. History and Usage: Monergy was originally part of the slogan 'Get more for your monergy'--the catch-phrase of a Government energy-saving campaign in the UK in 1985. The whole campaign soon came to be known by the one word monergy, which was widely criticized as an ugly and unnecessary formation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is already rarely seen, despite the greater emphasis on energy conservation which has been urged by the green movement in the late eighties and early nineties. Efficiency in use also requires conservation, lower energy appliances and domestic insulation, and the government's soft pedalling on its 'monergy' campaign is to be regretted. Planet 82 Aug./Sept. 1990, p. 60