Energy – The Final Frontier

Arguably the biggest single issue facing the human race as it begins the 21st Century is that of energy.

This is not simply an issue affecting oil & gas industry jobs; our economies depend upon energy, our comfortable lives and well being depend directly on energy and indirectly through the economic success we have come to take for granted.

The climate of the planet has been affected by our choice of fuel to provide energy and we don’t really know when or how the consequences will play out.

And to cap it all, that very fuel which sustains our modern world is itself becoming depleted and no-one who you might have thought would be in a position to suggest what exactly we do about that seems to have any plausible answers to the question: oil“>what happens when the oil runs out?

Yet even though leadership among our politicians may be conspicuous by it’s absence, there’s nothing stopping us as individuals (that’s me, you and anyone else who feels like joining in the fun) from taking action to at least protect ourselves and even take advantage of what tomorrow is pretty damn likely to bring us; a world of stringent carbon regulations and sky-high conventional energy costs.

There is no magic elixir that can replace oil and save the day; it simply won’t happen. But there are many different ways to address the myriad areas that presently depend on oil – it’s just that the old days of “one size fits all” are fast vanishing.

Its energy Jim, but not as we know it.

We need to think smaller scale, personal responsibility, variety. As with money, whereby spending less to achieve an equivalent outcome amounts to exactly the same as earning more, so it is with energy.

Look carefully at specific areas, for example energy saving lighting and consider installing some solar lighting (or its simpler cousin, solar garden lighting) both of which will enable you to simultaneously tick the “save a lot of money” and “reduce carbon footprint” boxes.

If you are in a position to do so, think about maybe upgrading your heating system to use a log burner which not only adds aesthetic value to your home but is very significantly cheaper to run than any of the conventional alternatives plus environmentally sound as wood based biofuels are strictly carbon neutral – no excess carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere.

Reduce your energy usage by installing low power consumption appliances, eliminating waste (waste heat from lighting and due to inadequate insulation are prime culprits) and seeking out alternative ways to substitute individual energy requirements with cheaper and environmentally better equivalents.

You might well discover that your remaining domestic energy needs can be easily supplied through, say, installing domestic solar panels with sufficient surplus to power an electric hybrid car. Free domestic power and free motoring; what’s there to argue about?

Suddenly the world won’t seem like its bleeding every last cent from you and if others elect to go the same route then who knows, maybe it might stop looking like we’re bleeding the very life out of our planet.

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