Why Bother?
Since 1950, world wide economic growth has been considerable. The world’s production of goods and services has multiplied by a factor of seven. During this same period, while the world’s population has only doubled, the volume of fish caught and meat consumed has multiplied by five. So has energy demand. Oil consumption has multiplied by seven and carbon dioxide emissions, now acknowledged as the main cause of the greenhouse effect and global warming, by four.
In our daily business lives we do not have a significant opportunity to affect issues such as population growth or factory fishing practices. However, we can look at the natural resources we use, minimise waste and make more efficient use of energy.
Excessive energy consumption is recognised as one of the major problems of our time.
To put energy consumption into perspective consider that the amount of oil the world now consumes in six weeks, over half of which is used for transportation, would have lasted one year in 1950.
There are two problems looming on the horizon:
- Global Warming. Since 1900 average world temperature has increased by just 0.6º. Although this sounds small the temperature increase is not evenly spread. At the Arctic temperatures have risen by a huge 3º. Put simply, gases released into the atmosphere by human activity are forming an insulating barrier around the Earth, preventing the natural release of heat from our atmosphere. There are a number of gases that are held responsible for this process, which is sometimes referred to as 'the greenhouse effect'. While methane and other gases contribute to the problem, the chief culprit, by virtue of the volume produced, is carbon dioxide.
- Diminishing oil/gas reserves. In April 2008 the International Energy Agency (IEA) calculated that spare oil capacity will fall from 3.5% of global demand in 2008 to just 1.6% in 2012. Other commentators have made similar predictions & it is widely believed that by 2012 the human race will be consuming more fossil fuels than it is able to produce for the first time in history. The IEA comments that this is “not an investment issue, not a political issue, but is more geology”
The message for the property sector and society as a whole is clear. For both climate change and security of energy supply, there has to be a huge drive towards integrating energy conservation and renewable energy into our daily lives.