Ellie_Ogilvie 18/6/09 08:47 Page 18
Ellie Ogilvie
St Paul’s Girls’ School
Ellie Ogilvie
Brook Green, Hammersmith, London, W6 7BS
Just by reading the newspapers and scientific journals every day, it is acidic rain, while emitted nitrous oxides pose a potential public
evident that the life we live today is not sustainable. The energy that health risk. Until March 2001, car manufacture was all about
we use is well above the quota of energy that we can obtain from producing the biggest, fastest and most expensive cars, regardless of
fossil fuels, and such resources are being exploited to satisfy high environmental concerns; however, since Vehicle Exercise Duty came
demand at the expense of the environment. Our coal, oil and natural into effect, cars are taxed according to the carbon dioxide emissions
gas reserves are set to be exhausted within the next century, so of the vehicle in grams per kilometre travelled. Consequently, to
science has the massive task of developing sustainable sources of save the consumer large amounts of money later on, the car industry
energy and changing the way we use this energy in order to preserve swerved to produce the cleanest and greenest cars that they could.
life as we know it on Earth. The promising moves of the car industry to produce smaller engines
and more efficient car design should allow further reductions in
The first question to ask is whether or not the amount of energy that emissions without increases in fuel consumption. However, the
Britain and other similar countries use is necessary or whether we are responsibility still falls onto us to reduce our car use and opt for
being indulgent with our use of the world’s resources. According to the non-motorised or public transport where possible.
Energy Consumption Survey, in 1990 total British electricity production
stood at 309.4TWh, and by 2004 this figure had increased considerably In the short term, recycling is the obvious choice to continue living life
to 382.7TWh. Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation using sufficient energy to survive without exploiting the world’s natural
have risen by 15% since 1997. Thus, we see that the country is using resources and damaging the environment. Regular waste, such as
more electricity now than ever before, which in turn means more packaging and newspapers, should be recycled; most councils in Britain
resources are being used to produce this electricity. This increase is already have successful recycling schemes in place for the reuse of
down to a number of factors: natural population increase, household waste. This recycled waste is either used again for the same
technological developments leading to more things requiring electrical function; this is particularly true for tin cans, which are often just
power and, moreover, personal indulgence in electrical components. refilled with the product, saving all energy that would be used to
Simple household goods, such as televisions, are becoming so cheap produce a new can. Otherwise, plastics and paper are melted down
thanks to reduced labour costs that people feel the need to have more and re-moulded into alternative products. Even though fossil fuels are
than one television in their home, for example. In 2007, 28.19% of used to provide the heat to melt down the recycled waste, this is
Britain’s energy consumption was on domestic appliances, compared nowhere near the same level of resource use required to produce the
with 24.70% in 1990, showing a large increase in the proportion of product from scratch. In the future, we should move to promoting the
energy used in the home. I believe that back in 1990, British citizens recycling of larger items, such as household appliances, cars and
must have been able to survive with reduced electricity consumption, computers, in a similar manner. We have also become more aware of
therefore why should it be any different now? Before finding a process called co-generation occurring on the continent. This is
alternative ways to produce energy, we need to reduce the amount of effectively the recycling of waste hot water from industrial plants for
energy we actually use, hence the launch of government advertisement public use; wastewater heated in industrial processing is piped off, and
campaigns. However, the attitude of the British public is ignorant; currently contributes 50% of domestic hot water for homes in
many feel that just ‘switching off that light bulb’ or ‘taking a shower Denmark and Sweden.
instead of a bath’ will not make a difference and thus subconsciously
refuse to change their lifestyle. In the long term, our attention must be drawn to renewable energy
sources to supply us with the energy that we need without emitting
In the 2007 Energy Consumption Survey, 38.83% of the total energy harmful substances that could permanently damage the environment.
consumed in the UK was used on transport, a worrying increase Currently in Britain, 76.09% of electricity production is from non-
compared with 33.00% in 1990. Transport will always be a major renewable fossil fuels; our energy production is predominantly gas-
fuel consumer and it would be impossible to expect everybody to cut based, with 39.93% of electricity produced using this resource. In 1990
down drastically on the amount of travelling they do, because in our we produced most of our energy from coal, at a staggering 67.22%,
modern society transport forms the basis of business and industry. but coal reserves in Britain are almost exhausted, so we now rely on
Cars and aeroplanes emit large amounts of sulphur dioxide and North Sea gas and imported oil. Just 3.55% of electricity production is
carbon dioxide, leading to the enhanced greenhouse effect and from renewable energy, and the government has targeted this to
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