Energy Conservation: Human Indifferences and the Consequences

Some people have rental agreements whereby the landlord pays for energy.  This can also be the case with property owners in some condominiums.  All of the electricity flows through one meter.  So, it becomes impossible to determine which unit of a complex uses the energy.  A similar thing happens in traveling where payment for a room does not include energy being metered for the room.

I have witnessed such cases where walking from room to room does not include turning off a light.  Worse is when people leave lights on when going out.  Lights are left on with total disregard to how much electricity is being used.

The thought process is flawed, since the bill for that wasted electricity must be paid by someone.  For renters, it may influence the amount of rent being charged.  For travelers it is included in the room rates.  For others, it is part of the HOA fee, and thus is a cost being reflected back.  If everyone looks at the neighbors and decides the cost is being influenced by others, so why not do the same, the damage to the environment is cumulative. 

Nonrenewable fossil fuels will one day run out.  The day that happens the consequences will be dire.  Some people, especially those with no children, use fossil fuel in a wasteful manner.  This can include wasting electricity, or failure to plan a trip in a fuel-efficient manner.  As long as there will be enough fossil fuel for them, they are not concerned with wastefulness.

Some people buy vehicles that are far from fuel-efficient.  This is often done for status.  There are enough fuel-efficient status vehicles to meet their demand, even though it is not a valid reason for choosing a vehicle.  But some seem to want to show that their positions in this world are such that the environment and fossil fuel conservation is not something they should concern themselves with.  Such thinking is seriously flawed.

All of us have the experience of approaching a store.  Look at the doors, and often some are automatic, others are not.  Doors, although automatic, do not operate without expending energy.  In addition, they allow air that has been cooled or warmed from inside the building to escape, making the energy used to attain a temperature partially wasted.  If we push the adjacent door, we can save energy, and it will close more quickly.  If one is in a wheelchair or otherwise impaired the automatic doors are for them.

Likewise, for those able to do so, walking up stairs saves energy over using an elevator, or even an escalator.  The greater the load on these devices, the more energy used.

Wasting electricity often means wasting fossil fuels.  So, whether it is using fossil fuel in a vehicle, or fuel at a power plant, the fuel used is not renewable.  It is gone once used.  And it can also contribute to global warming, another consequence.

When fossil fuel runs out, we will have problems with transportation, not only for ourselves but for the items we use getting to us, including food.  Our lights will go out.  Plastic will no longer be made.  Our world will cease to exist as we know it.

The research to find alternatives that can be made in sufficient amounts to replace fossil fuel consumption may provide the answer.  But we must buy time for the research.  Perhaps one day solar and wind energy will become feasible for even power plants to convert.  Ethanol may one day replace gasoline, but can we make enough ethanol?  But that still leaves plastic.  Before plastic we used glass.  Glass breaks, and the contents of a broken bottle are lost.  At best it is an expensive alternative to plastic, but if plastic is no longer feasible it will become the reality of the future.  That still leaves the quandary of how will we power vehicles, including those used to transport goods?

So, the people of this planet cannot afford to not conserve.  And there is no place for the indifference because only others are likely to be affected.

It is important to at least have a defensive force, which would require fuel.  As fossil fuels run out no nation can afford to be out of fuel before any other nation desiring to do it harm.  So, as fossil fuels run low, nations will be forced to hoard fuel for their military.  Jet and rocket fuel will probably never be from ethanol.  Military needs will have to take priority.  Thus, the impact on society might come before the last drop of oil is pulled from the ground.  And that poses the danger of unrest.

The examples given are just some of many.  There are so many ways people are indifferent, or arrogant, about the problem.  Feel free to add other examples in the comment section.

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The introduction image in public domain, and derived using a NASA image.  The product is on Zazzle, and is our own.