Why Conserve Energy?
The production and consumption of energy from conventional sources impacts and damages our world in many ways. We can reduce those impacts by using less energy. Energy conservation mitigates:
Global Warming
- Fossil fuel burning produces greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides (25% increase in atmospheric CO2 in the past 150 years).
- Also, it leads to atmospheric warming and global climate change - heat waves, droughts, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels and coastal inundation, damaged ecosystems, species extinction, changes in agricultural productivity, migration of tropic diseases northward, etc.
Air Pollution
- Examples are: carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbons, ozone (smog).
- These pollutants can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, irritate the lungs, and cause childhood asthma.
- Nitrogen oxides cause the brown haze seen over many cities.
- Ozone can cause permanent lung damage and reduce crop yields.
- Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain, which causes the death of lakes the world over, including the Adirondacks, even remote parts of Alaska.
Water Pollution Examples
- Oil spills
- Coal mining - acids run off into waterways
- Thermal water pollution - cooling water from thermal power plants kills aquatic life when returned to rivers
Land Destruction Examples
- Hydropower dams flood and destroy forestland, native lands, and destroys salmon runs and wildlife migratory routes.
- Strip mining (coal)
- Oil drilling
Reliance on Nuclear Power
- Problem of nuclear waste disposal -- nuclear wastes must be sequestered from the natural environment for 250,000 years.
- There are safety issues associated with operation of older nuclear plants which have embrittled piping, pumps, etc., increasing the possibility of ruptures and leaks and release of radioactive emissions into the air and water.
- Possibility exists of catastrophic meltdown.
- There is a vulnerability to terrorist attack and massive radioactivity release.
- Costs and impacts associated with nuclear power plant decommissioning.
Foreign Dependence
- Few nations have the ability to completely satisfy their energy consumption needs internally.
- Overreliance on foreign sources of energy can detrimentally impact national and regional economies.
- When demand is high and resources are scarce, prices increase for all energy consumers.
