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In the fight against climate change, everything is worth a try… starting with savings. The aim of “energy efficiency” is to produce the same goods or services, but using the least energy possible. Before thinking about alternative sources of energy, we must take a hard look at our consumption and try to achieve the maximum savings by consuming “less and better”.
In fact, at the present time, energy consumption is increasing with monotonous regularity, growth in human population and development making the trend seemingly inevitable. For example, look at primary energy, that is to say, energy, such as crude oil, natural gas, solar radiation, hydraulic power…, which must be converted before use, into electricity, or into mechanical force. In Europe, primary energy consumption increased by about 1 % per year between 1970 and 2000, growing in total by 40 % over the period. And worldwide, between 1997 and 2005 alone, primary energy use grew by 14 % !
On a local scale, there is one piece of good news, however : according to figures from INSEE (The French Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies), primary energy consumption in France is decreasing slightly, after correction of the raw figures for climatic conditions. Compared to the trend since 1990 (+ 1.2 % per year on average), the annual average rate of growth of primary energy consumption is now declining. The relative shares of the various types of primary energy in the total consumed are changing very little: 4.5 % for coal, 33 % for oil, 15 % for gas, 43 % for primary electricity and 5 % for thermal sources and for waste.
All countries do not consume to an equal extent: according to the International Energy Agency, consumption in N.America is 8 toe (tonne oil equivalent)/ inhabitant, compared with 0.5 toe/ inhabitant in India. |