The production and consumption of energy from conventional sources impacts and damages our world in many ways. We can reduce those impacts by using less energy. Energy Conservation mitigates:
Global Warming
- Fossil fuel burning produces greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides (25% increase in atmospheric CO2 in the past 150 years).
- Leads to atmospheric warming and global climate change – heat waves, droughts, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, rising sea levels and coastal inundation, damaged ecosystems, species extinction, changes in agricultural productivity, migration of tropic diseases northward, etc.
Air Pollution
- Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrocarbons, ozone (smog)
- These pollutants can cause bronchitis and pneumonia, irritate the lungs, and cause childhood asthma.
- Nitrogen oxides cause the brown haze seen over many cities.
- Ozone can cause permanent lung damage and reduce crop yields.
- Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain, which causes the death of lakes the world over, including the Adirondacks, even remote parts of Alaska.
Water Pollution
- Oil spills
- Coal mining – acids run off into waterways.
- Thermal water pollution – cooling water from thermal power plants kills aquatic life when returned to rivers.
Land Destruction
- Hydropower dams – flood and destroy forestland, native lands, and destroys salmon runs and wildlife migratory routes.
- Strip mining (coal)
- Oil drilling
Reliance on Nuclear Power
- Problem of nuclear waste disposal — nuclear wastes must be sequestered from the natural environment for 250,000 years.
- Safety issues associated with operation of older nuclear plants which have embrittled piping, pumps, etc. – increasing the possibility ofruptures and leaks and releases radioactive emissions into the air and water.
- Possibility of catastrophic meltdown.
- Vulnerability to terrorist attack and massive radioactivity release.
- Costs and impacts associated with nuclear power plant decommissioning.
Foreign Dependence
- Few nations have the ability to completely satisfy their energy
consumption needs internally. - Overreliance on foreign sources of energy can detrimentally impact
national and regional economies. - When demand is high and resources are scarce, prices increase for