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KICK THE HABIT
THE PROBLEM
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…Production and consumption
Since 1987 the Earth’s population has grown by almost 30 per cent, and
global economic output has risen by 76 per cent. Average per capita gross
national income has almost doubled, from about US$3 300 to US$6 400.
And just about everything needs energy to be produced. The global primary
energy supply (80 per cent of it supplied by fossil fuels) increased by 4 per
cent annually from 1987 to 2004. Demand for energy is predicted to contin-
ue to grow by at least 50 per cent by 2030, as the fast-developing countries
like Brazil, Russia, India and China continue their rapid economic growth.
For China, a recent analysis by economists at the University of California,
Berkeley, and University of California, San Diego, showed that the annual
emissions growth rate for China will be at least 11 per cent for the period
between 2004 and 2010. However it should be borne in mind that with
about 4 tonnes of CO
2
per capita, China still emits half as much as Spain,
and only a fifth as much as an average US citizen.
Almost everything we produce and consume means GHG emissions to-
day, because we do not use much renewable energy or live very sustain-
ably. Much of what we use may arrive with superfluous
packaging
, itself
a problem to dispose of, a waste of energy and a source of emissions. And
much of what is bought ends up being thrown away sooner or later. Waste
rots away, emitting methane if it is organic, or emitting CO
2
if it is burned.
Waste and waste water accounts for about 3 per cent of human-induced
GHG emissions.
... Transport
But not only consuming ever more goods demands a lot of energy. Get-
ting from one place to another does, too. Most of us value transport – or
perhaps we do not value it as highly as we should, assuming instead that
Aluminium for example is a highly energy-intensive product. The production of
one kilo of aluminium requires about 14 kWh of electricity. In practical terms that
means that with the energy needed to produce 1 metre of standard aluminium foil,
you could light your kitchen with a regular light bulb (60 W) for more than two
hours or with an energy-saving bulb (11 W) for about 13 hours. Recycled aluminium
requires only about 5 per cent of the energy needed to produce new aluminium.