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 Fair
shares
Some people are very greedy and want more than their fair share of everything.
So they grab it, leaving little or nothing for anyone else. Many people
in rich countries use
much more energy than is sensible or fair. Fossil fuels will run out
completely quite soon How long can fossil fuels last?Coal is -- unfortunately because it is the most polluting fuel -- plentiful. Oil production may have peaked but nobody knows for sure. Natural gas is abundant and 'fracking' technologies allow companies to get at much more gas from shales buried deep underground. Gas is the least polluting fuel because it contains 4 hydrogen atoms for every carbon. This means that when it burns, it produces less CO2 per unit of heat than oil or coal. but before they do, the damage to the Earth’s
climate will have been done.
What
you can do
But
wait a moment. That doesn’t mean you’ve all got to grow fur or feathers.
You, your friends and families could do lots to make things better:
be
 more careful with energy
and save as much as you can by not driving around, flying and having
the heating or air conditioning turned up so high. People can also
save a lot by making clever buildings which can make their own energy
and don't waste the energy they do use.  Insulation isn't very exciting
but it's the quickest, cheapest and best way to save energy in homes,
schools and offices. Most buildings don't have proper insulation but
there are simple waysRetrofit'Retrofitting' means adding insulation to an older building which has none. It's usually easy to add thick loft insulation, but if a house has solid walls, these have to be lined (either inside or outside). The ideal is to build new houses with the very best insulation but there are millions of older houses which can be retrofitted to make them much more energy-efficient. to add it which not only means warmer (or cooler
if you live in a hot place) buildings. Because much less energy is
needed, you save lots of money: energy in getting very expensive to
buy |
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| use
your own energy
to do things - cycling, walking, running, cooking (not fast-food -
junky stuff. Yuk!) If
you’re coldHow to stay warmIf you're cold, instead of turning up the heating, wear warm clothes and do something vigorous like running. Using your muscles generates heat and helps keep you slim and fit too!,
wear more clothes! |
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find
out more about  renewable
energy
and pester parents and friends to get involved in using these or in
trying to get something going where you live. And since energy use
and climate change are connected, take a look at my Twelve
Really Important Things you can do to help stop global warming |
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I've
made a crossword
puzzle about energy. All the answers are in
my guide. Can you get it all correct?
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I'm
off to catch a fish for my dinner. I'll be walking (okay, waddling!) and
then swimming to do that, not jumping in a car. What will you be doing?
I hope that whatever you do, you'll think carefully about it first.
Why?
Because
how you choose to use energy affects all life on Earth so please think
before you use energy and think about what sort of energy you use. Anything which
uses fossil fuel is bad news for the planet.
Want
to find out more? Visit my Energy links
page by clicking here.
What do you think about
energy and how it should be used? Have you any good ideas about what we
can do to make things better? If you do, please write to me. As long as
your message is sensible and friendly, I promise to reply. I will also
put your message on my Friends
page.
Bye!
Love
from   |
 If
you've found my Pollution guide useful, please would you be kind enough
to make a donation to help run my website. I know you kids don't have
credit cards or anything but perhaps you could persuade either your
parents or your school to make a donation. It's so easy and you can
do it here.
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Insulation