Go Green- Why?

Millions of people across the globe are realizing the need to turn to renewable and green sources of energy wherever possible. Guna, the director of Solar Energy UK Ltd, provides the thinking behind this.

Conventional Fuels lead to Global Warming

“Electricity generators emit the most greenhouse gases followed by industry and transport whether by sea, air or road. We cannot just decide to switch off worldwide electricity supplies, factories and means of transport.“ These greenhouse gases cause global warming and climate changes due to the higher concentrations of water vapour, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), methane and ozone in the atmosphere.”

Hence, if we continue to rely fully on fossil fuels for electricity generation, the negative effect on our climate through global warming is likely to continue.

Conventional Fuels are limited and Non-Renewable.

According to estimates published by the United States Census Bureau, the world population hit 6.5 billion on 25th February, 2006. It is estimated that the population will be 7 billion by the year 2012 and more than 10 billion by the year 2030. Change in the publics’ attitudes towards using alternative technologies is needed to sustain the world’s fossil fuel reserves, accommodate the increasing energy needs of the growing population and address the current concerns of environmental pollution, global warming and climate changes. One doesn’t need to imagine the effect a reduction in supply of oil/ petroleum has on world economy. The reason for that is the rate at which we are using up these energy sources is much much quicker than the million of years it takes for them to be generated.

Its not Just the Government Job

Everyone across the world is starting to realize this. The problem is too big for a single government or for a group of governments without the individuals across the world committing themselves to small changes in their lifestyles / need patterns to tackle this. The private sector in Britain realizes this. British billionaire Richard Branson together with the former U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced the “Virgin Earth Challenge” price of US$25 million to anyone who develops technology capable of removing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases at the rate of one billion tons a year.

Many a times, it Saves you Money.

According to Guna's book “Reduction of environmental pollution by eliminating waste, simplifying, or changing processes and products not only reduces pollution, it also improves profits. Denton (an author and professor) draws our attention to the fact that corporations in the US are currently spending about    US$115 billion annually just to comply with federal regulations. He adds that it would be reasonable to believe that it will cost less to prevent pollution rather than to clean up. He cites 3M as one of the first companies to focus on prevention rather than control. With its 3P (Pollution Prevention Pays) policy, 3M’s voluntary waste prevention initiative in 1975 saved the company an estimated US$0.5 billion.
In an EPA (US Environmental agency)  study, it was noted that if the typical car fuel efficiency were doubled to 50 miles per gallon, it would not only reduce the CO2 emissions by half, it would lower the annual gasoline fuel cost by almost US$400 per car.”