ENERGY: Emissions and Balance
The fuels (Natural gas, fuel oil, coal), fossils fuel as they are usually referred to contain a huge amount of energy. To use this energy, the fuel must be combusted or burned in oxygen or air. The resulting flue gas consist of mostly CO2 and Nitogren with small amount of Nitric oxide or Nitrogen oxygen which can be damaging to the environment too.
We do have other sources of energy like solar energy and wind energy. These do not directly release emission at the point of use but they are not favourable by manufacturers.
Due to the required investment cost and their reliability, fossil fuel continues to be the preferred source of energy for many factories. Using these alternative sources will lead to increased operating cost making goods expensive for us to buy. It may also lead to low output from these factories which is not necessary a bad thing
If all factories were to shut down today, emissions from there will be zero but so will all the products. If production from these factories is reduced by half; we could say emissions may also be halved
As important as these factories are, the environment is also important. It is true our emission is very high and must be reduced. Whilst there is continued call for the promotion of other 'cleaner' source, it is important people are still able to afford the basic items required for survival.
For instance we cannot ask people to not use their boilers or other heating sources during winter. We cannot ask people to pay over the odds to feed. We cannot ask people to take one shower a week or only have a minute or two shower to save the environment. There need to be a balance.
So it may be obvious now that the more we consume the more the manufacturers produce and the more emission is released. By reducing our consumption, we effectively reduce our emission
We can start with little things, like turning off the lights when not required (you may say this will make no dent), if everyone does, it definitely adds up. There are other things too like if doable buy less items, try sticking to the essentials. You could practise minimalism. There are different levels of minimalism so you don't have to stop enjoying life to be a minimalist. The underlying idea of minimalism to keep things simple and only own the things you need. Of course you can have some nice-to-haves. Again Balance
