The Pros And Cons Of Energy Consumption

Energy consumption is an essential element in development and while the increase in energy use has many benefits, we are becoming also aware of the negative impacts of energy use. These negative impacts are both global and local in the form of climate change or environmental degradation ( for example poor air quality, desertification, resource depletion, and noise pollution) etc. As a matter of urgency, we need to cultivate an alternative and efficient use of energy at all stages of supply and demand chain in order to reduce the negative impacts of energy consumption and at the same time accommodate same and flourishing economic development. Generally, the 21st century has been so far overshadowed by changes in the way we understand and use energy compared to the

Several industrial restructuring programmes across industries were also initiated to further improve performance and they have had significant effects in the energy sector for several decades. However from a global perspective, the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 was suppose to usher in an era for the planet to tackle climate change, and we had high expectations to see the world transition from dirty, polluting fossils fuels to their low carbon alternatives but instead we witnessed a reverse scenario where global coal consumption continued to grow in the last decade than it did in the previous forty years. After decades of global energy consumption growth being driven by oil and natural gas, coal has grown in the last decade than oil did in the last 25 years and more than gas did in the last 22 years. Comparing this growth with low-carbon energy sources is more overwhelming as the growth in primary energy consumption from coal was eight times larger than for wind, solar, and nuclear energy