How does our use of electricity affect our weather patterns you may wonder? It is only recently that I myself have become more aware of the connection. We take for granted the energy we use for our household needs. We don’t ask where our energy is coming from or how it is being produced. We are just glad that it is there!

Where does the energy you consume (whether it is gas, electricity, fuel) come from? Fossil fuels mainly, which power your cars and motorcycles and generate electricity through power stations.

The burning of fossil fuels to supply our energy needs releases large amounts of gases (known as green house gases, and other pollutants) into the atmosphere. Green house gases (GHGs) include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Everyday household activities such as transport, household energy use and decay of household waste in landfills contribute tones of GHG a year per household. These GHGs trap heat and cause a rise in the earth’s temperature, leading to what is known as the greenhouse effect.

The earth’s temperature is rising at about 0.5 degrees every 100 years. To date, 1998, 2001 and 2002 were the three hottest years ever recorded. A growing number of scientists believe that this warming is largely due to the increasing emissions of CO2 and other GHGs from human activities. It is also widely believed that global warming can cause significant climate changes, which will affect our livelihood, as climate patterns determine the availability of food, freshwater and other resources.

What we do in our everyday lives does affect the planet and like a vicious cycle it’s beginning to affect us. Therefore we need to re-examine our energy consumption and make adjustments in the way we use energy.

“Many Malaysians are unaware that every time they consume 1 unit of electricity, they are discharging 1 kg of GHG into the atmosphere. And for every litre of petrol/diesel, they contribute 2.5 kg of GHGs” says Gurmit Singh, executive director of CETDEM (Center for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia).

We do not have to make major adjustments in our lifestyles to have an impact; even small adjustments can make a big difference. For example, if every home in the UK replaced just three of its light bulbs with energy efficient ones, they would save enough to power all their streetlights. Especially now, when society is changing; no longer do families want to stay together preferring instead to have smaller households. According to UN figures, for 141 countries, the reason for the increase in households was due mainly to families shifting from larger households to smaller ones (New Scientist 18 Jan 2003).

Your actions today have a long lasting effect. You determine the amount of carbon dioxide your household contributes to the atmosphere. “Climate change affects everyone and every ecosystem. And we all contribute towards its worsening by discharging GHGs everyday! Some, of course, are greater culprits,” says Gurmit. Why continue to be inefficient in energy use when by being energy efficient you can stop the waste of energy, save money and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that is causing climate change.

“Human activity has pushed atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to more than 30% above pre-industrial levels. These changes have already brought changes to the earth’s climate. Continued accumulation of GHGs is expected to lead to rising temperatures, more severe weather events, increased ecosystem stresses, shifting precipitation patterns, increased ranges of infectious diseases, coastal flooding and other impacts that we are only beginning to understand. These changes will bring uncertain, but potentially devastating consequences to communities around the globe, both in the industrialized and developing world’s.” –Kevin A Baumert and Nancy Kete - Climate Protection in a Disparate World, 2002

by Shirin Gomez