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THE CYCLE – REDUCE
KICK THE HABIT
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energy-efficient
light bulbs
and turning appliances off (and unplugging
Fifty per cent of emissions related to lighting in a house can be reduced by replacing
old incandescent lights with the lowest energy versions available. Optimized design
to make the best use of daylight cuts the remaining 50 per cent in half again.
Those who have no access to any form of modern energy, about a third of the
world’s people, burn fossil fuels directly, representing about 1 per cent of the world’s
lighting and about 20 per cent of lighting-related GHG emissions. This is just one
example of how money and knowledge could very well be invested to improve
people’s living situations and create a positive impact for the whole world.
them) when you do not need them. There is a lot you can do in your house
without having to rebuild it or invest a lot of money, and most activities
that cut your energy consumption will also reduce your energy bill.
SMALL AND LARGE ORGANIZATIONS
Energy efficient lighting (lighting can account for up to 40 per cent of a
company’s total electricity bill) makes sense. Simpler still, make use where
you can of sunlight and natural shade. Make sure heating and cooling are
provided where they are needed and nowhere else. Save water – mend that
dripping tap. Save it out of doors as well, by mulching a garden, using
timed irrigation or irrigating at night. Reuse water, collect the rain that
pours off the roof – it is free and requires not much effort to use it for sim-
ple purposes. Guidelines and organizations that provide businesses with
useful information on how reduction can be achieved and how it works
for business exist. One of them is the is the study by the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD),
Energy Efficiency in Build-
ings: Business Realities and Opportunities
, which promotes the idea of zero
net energy buildings.
Computers and other IT installations are remarkable energy consumers.
The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy calculates
that the production of one PC requires 3 000 kWh (that is about as much
as a family consumes in a year) and 1.5 tonnes of raw materials. Data cen-
tres (also called server farms) are where companies like Google or Amazon
or internet service providers locate the hundreds or thousands of com-
puter servers that provide their online services. Data centres use massive
amounts of electricity; large ones can use megawatts of power, with each