14 Dec
World Energy Conservation Day is celebrated on 14th December globally to highlight the importance of energy consumption and its use in our day-to-day life, its scarcity and its impact on sustainability of global eco systems. It focuses our concentration on significant issues facing the future of mankind with respect to energy. This Day serves to spell a sense of urgency on the issues involved.
It is a day for building up awareness regarding
- Need for energy conservation,
- Energy efficiency
- Frugality in energy use.
Energy use is a major source of global warming, which has the potential of making the earth uninhabitable. As we all aware of the threatening fact that reserves of all conventional forms of energy are fast depleting. Every day the human population across the world uses energy for leading a civilized life. These resources are critical input of human development which comprises providing adequate food, shelter, clothing, water, sanitation, medication, schooling, transportation, industrial applications, access to information, etc. In short, energy affects all facets of activities related to everyday and modern life. Per capita energy consumption is often considered an important indicator of development. As people and nation’s progress, consumption of energy will increase.
Conventional sources of energy:
The most important and popularly known sources of energy are
- Coal,
- Petroleum
- Products
- Nuclear energy
These resources of commercial energy are available only in limited quantities. At current reserve to production ratio, oil is expected to last around 45 years, gas around 65 years, coal around 200 years. (Source: BP Statistical Review of world Energy, 2010). The above timelines demonstrate the need for urgent world action for funding research and development of alternate energy sources, which are affordable, available in adequate quantity and perennial in nature. The need for energy conservation and economical use of energy arises basically because of its features of universal usage, fast depleting resource and impact on climate change.
Need of Energy management:
'It means saving energy in businesses, public-sector/government organizations, and homes. Much of the importance of energy saving stems from the global need to saveenergy but, if you’re a homeowner looking to save energy, don’t be put off by the fact that this article focuses more on non-residential buildings. Most of the principles that apply to businesses and other organizations are also applicable to homes. We must serve us by energy saving at homes.
- Save Energy in the Home by Air Drying Your Laundry
- Run your heating for just one hour less every day
- Keep the air flow vents on your electric heaters clear of obstructions
- Turn down your thermostat by one degree and you could save up to L65 a year
- When buying new appliances, be sure to purchase energy-efficient ENERGYSTAR labeled models.
- Use compact fluorescent lamps. You can lower your lighting bill by converting to energy-efficient low-wattage compact fluorescent lighting and fixtures.
As exhaustion of fossil fuels, which supply three quarters of this energy, is not far off, and no other energy source is abundant and cheap enough to take their place. Human beings like to believe they are in control of their destiny, but when the history of life on Earth is seen in perspective, the evolution of Homo sapiens is merely a transient episode that acts to redress the planet’s energy balance.
Some false hopes about alternate energy resources:
Today’s second-most-important source of energy, after fossil fuels, is biomass conversion. But all the world’s wood fires, all the grain alcohol added to gasoline, and all the agricultural wastes burned as fuel only provide 15% of the world’s energy. And biomass conversion has little growth potential, since it competes for fertile land with food crops and timber.
Hydropower furnishes about 5.5% of the energy currently consumed. Its potential may be as much as five times greater but this is not sufficient to take over from fossil fuels, and huge dams would submerge rich agricultural soils.
The production of electricity from nuclear fission has been increasing, but nuclear sources still supply only about 5.2% of the world’s total energy needs. Public confidence in all types of reactors is low, and the cost of their construction is high. These social constraints make it unlikely that fission’s contribution to the world’s energy needs will grow fifteen-fold in the next few years.
While no single energy source is ready to take the place of fossil fuels, their diminishing availability may be offset by a regimen of conservation and a combination of alternativeenergy sources. This will not solve the problem, however. As long as population continues to grow, conservation is futile; at the present rate of growth (1.6% per year), even a 25% reduction in resource use would be obliterated in just over eighteen years. And the use of any combination of resources that permits continued population growth can only postpone the day of reckoning.
World Energy Conservation Day is a big opportunity to help in taking following initiatives: Being a civilized nation, we should focus on attention of decision makers (Government and Private sector) in directing resources towards energy generation through non-conventional sources on a larger scale.
It is a day for building up awareness regarding
- Need for energy conservation,
- Energy efficiency
- Frugality in energy use.
Energy use is a major source of global warming, which has the potential of making the earth uninhabitable. As we all aware of the threatening fact that reserves of all conventional forms of energy are fast depleting. Every day the human population across the world uses energy for leading a civilized life. These resources are critical input of human development which comprises providing adequate food, shelter, clothing, water, sanitation, medication, schooling, transportation, industrial applications, access to information, etc. In short, energy affects all facets of activities related to everyday and modern life. Per capita energy consumption is often considered an important indicator of development. As people and nation’s progress, consumption of energy will increase.
Conventional sources of energy:
The most important and popularly known sources of energy are
- Coal,
- Petroleum
- Products
- Nuclear energy
These resources of commercial energy are available only in limited quantities. At current reserve to production ratio, oil is expected to last around 45 years, gas around 65 years, coal around 200 years. (Source: BP Statistical Review of world Energy, 2010). The above timelines demonstrate the need for urgent world action for funding research and development of alternate energy sources, which are affordable, available in adequate quantity and perennial in nature. The need for energy conservation and economical use of energy arises basically because of its features of universal usage, fast depleting resource and impact on climate change.
Need of Energy management:
'It means saving energy in businesses, public-sector/government organizations, and homes. Much of the importance of energy saving stems from the global need to saveenergy but, if you’re a homeowner looking to save energy, don’t be put off by the fact that this article focuses more on non-residential buildings. Most of the principles that apply to businesses and other organizations are also applicable to homes. We must serve us by energy saving at homes.
- Save Energy in the Home by Air Drying Your Laundry
- Run your heating for just one hour less every day
- Keep the air flow vents on your electric heaters clear of obstructions
- Turn down your thermostat by one degree and you could save up to L65 a year
- When buying new appliances, be sure to purchase energy-efficient ENERGYSTAR labeled models.
- Use compact fluorescent lamps. You can lower your lighting bill by converting to energy-efficient low-wattage compact fluorescent lighting and fixtures.
As exhaustion of fossil fuels, which supply three quarters of this energy, is not far off, and no other energy source is abundant and cheap enough to take their place. Human beings like to believe they are in control of their destiny, but when the history of life on Earth is seen in perspective, the evolution of Homo sapiens is merely a transient episode that acts to redress the planet’s energy balance.
Some false hopes about alternate energy resources:
Today’s second-most-important source of energy, after fossil fuels, is biomass conversion. But all the world’s wood fires, all the grain alcohol added to gasoline, and all the agricultural wastes burned as fuel only provide 15% of the world’s energy. And biomass conversion has little growth potential, since it competes for fertile land with food crops and timber.
Hydropower furnishes about 5.5% of the energy currently consumed. Its potential may be as much as five times greater but this is not sufficient to take over from fossil fuels, and huge dams would submerge rich agricultural soils.
The production of electricity from nuclear fission has been increasing, but nuclear sources still supply only about 5.2% of the world’s total energy needs. Public confidence in all types of reactors is low, and the cost of their construction is high. These social constraints make it unlikely that fission’s contribution to the world’s energy needs will grow fifteen-fold in the next few years.
While no single energy source is ready to take the place of fossil fuels, their diminishing availability may be offset by a regimen of conservation and a combination of alternativeenergy sources. This will not solve the problem, however. As long as population continues to grow, conservation is futile; at the present rate of growth (1.6% per year), even a 25% reduction in resource use would be obliterated in just over eighteen years. And the use of any combination of resources that permits continued population growth can only postpone the day of reckoning.
World Energy Conservation Day is a big opportunity to help in taking following initiatives: Being a civilized nation, we should focus on attention of decision makers (Government and Private sector) in directing resources towards energy generation through non-conventional sources on a larger scale.