Introduction
From burning wood for warmth, to solar powered heating systems in houses - humans need energy. We get it from natural resources – usually in the form of gas or electricity and then we use this energy to power homes, transport and industry. However, as technology progresses and the global population increases, the demand for energy is growing in both the UK and at a global level.
As a result of this increasing energy demand, there is now increasing concern about where our supplies of energy will come from in the future as scientists are predicting some serious problems if we continue the policy of using coal, oil and gas at the present rate:
- A bigger global population needs more resources and by 2100 our demand for energy will be five times greater than it is now. Our natural energy resources are currently being used up very fast and renewable energy sources only contribute to 11% to our primary energy use.
- If we continue to burn the fossil fuels that have traditionally supplied most of our energy, scientists are predicting by 2100 the global temperature will have increased by two degrees Celsius. Levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are currently at their highest for 160,000 years and it’s thought that around a quarter of this was added by human actions as fossil fuel burning is one of the biggest sources of CO2 emissions. We do not need reminding of the adverse effects of global warming: the increased risk of flooding in lowland areas, the processes of desertification, and changing climate all over the world.
To understand the issues around the energy debate, it is important to understand how natural resources are used, how they are abused and what the difficulties are of managing them as there are, of course, problems with any kind of energy production and even alternative sources have their environmental impacts.