ENERGY
The current level of energy use plays a huge role in global climate change, frequency of extreme weather events, water pollution and regional air pollution (Planet Under Pressure, 2012).
WHY WE NEED TO ACT
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60 - 80% of the worlds population live in towns and cities which amounts to over half of the worlds total energy use, (Planet Under Pressure, 2012).
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Since the industrial revolution there has been an explosive growth in the use of fossil fuels for energy, which are a huge contributor to global pollution levels.
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Carbon dioxide emissions and energy use are inextricable. Nearly all use of energy results in increased CO2 emissions somewhere – even nuclear electricity and renewable power require energy (and emit CO2) to build generating capacity and, for nuclear, in extracting and refining uranium (DECC –Department of Energy and Climate Change, 2013).
'The use of energy is extremely unbalanced, the poorest three quarters of the worlds population use only one tenth of global energy. Around 3 billion of these people do not have access to cooking appliances or fuels.'
(Planet Under Pressure, 2012).
Solar Impulse aircraft powered by solar energy, only. Earth Champion, 2005, Switzerland.