The Real Environment Matters

There are alternatives to the way we are consuming energy and ways in which we in the UK can improve our lifestyle so we waste less. Cars could be reduced by having just one per driver and using renewable sources of energy. Cars are a leading source of greenhouse gases which lead to global warming. Motor vehicles emit 4,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. That's one quarter of the worlds total carbon dioxide output. Europeans and North Americans (Only 10% of the worlds population) own about 60% of the world's cars. Various bits of cars can be recycled, including the windows and the bodywork. In addition to this car use can be reduced by using a car pool, a smaller car driven more slowly, public transport for shorter journeys, shopping from home and working from home.

Also, other energy sources can be used to fuel cars than petrol and diesal. These include LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) that are more efficent for todays cars. Then there is hydogen fuel (easily produced through electrolysis, simply splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen by using electricity). This is totally clean energy. Other methods include bio-diesal, solar power, alcohol, electricity, fuel cells and hybrid cars. Most of these already exist but are difficult to produce quality driving at an affordable price. So what is wrong with further research into these technologies so that we are not reliant on unstable countries for oil and gas in the future?

Continuing this theme it is apparent that the UK could be self-sufficient in terms of its own energy production in the near future. We are an island country and as such are fortunate to have sun, rain, wind and gravity at our diposal. Ignoring the flights of fantasy of nuclear fusion, higgs and zero point energy for the time being it appears that much can be done to stop our reliance on Russian oil and fuel from more unstable countries. We can have solar panels on our houses and cars - the photovoltaic cells convert and store the energy (so batteries may be re-chargeable), wind power from highland wind farms (not quite cost effective yet), a small number of nuclear stations (just to keep the transition period in check), hydroelectric and wave power from rivers and oceans (as long as it does not adversely affect local ecosystems) and geothermal energy from inside the earth. Of course if everyone drilled to the centre of the planet then we would cool the planet and cause geology to stop!

It would be nice to be able to walk the pavements in my local area without the obstructions of cars parked over the pavement and bins obstructing the rest of the pavement!