Affordable and Clean Energy
By Mollie Semple
Not to put a downer on things (another downer) but it does appear that our world might be dying. It is also entirely credible that we are the reason for its slow and untimely death. To be quite honest, I am not educated enough on the topic of global warming, the melting of ice-caps and changes in climate to preach too loudly on that area of issues. What I do know, however, is that we treat our planet with such disregard as if it were solely there for the incessant greed of our species. We mine its resources so relentlessly that we start wars with each other over them, we create a wealth of material that cannot be thrown away and causes so much damage to our animals and environment, we poison our precious oceans, and we pump so much CO2 into the air that in some cities we kill off our own race, unable to breathe.
It is not all doom and gloom. Let us look at air quality, for example. London city actually has quite a good air quality for its size, relatively speaking. In the 1950s there was a smog so thick from pollution (known as the Great Smog of London) that it shut the city down for days and many people died because they could not get to hospital or were injured from not being able to see. Since then measures have been put in place to ensure that this does not happen. It is surely requisite that a city’s population should be able to breathe clearly without any threat to their health?
Well, no. And the sad thing is that when it comes to clean energy, energy that would ensure clean air, it is so often not affordable. London has a lot of money and therefore it is able to keep the air clean and invest in new energy sources to help with that.
I mention London and air quality because ultimately that is what is most immediately affected by unclean energy sources. Without clean energy sources being more affordable, however, it is difficult for some cities and countries to promise clean air quality.
What do we mean when we talk about clean energy? Well, at the moment we mainly use fossil fuels for the energy used to generate electricity. The need for electricity is only growing. Around the world there are still 1 in 5 people without access to electricity, which greatly affects their quality of life and their ability to thrive, so we still need to expand the generation of electricity. But, if we continue to do that at the same time as using mostly fossil fuels then we increase the release of greenhouse gases and continue to damage the air that we breathe.
There are, of course, alternatives. There is solar energy, wind power, thermal energy. But the problem is, as I have mentioned before, that there is not enough money invested in these alternatives and so they can be expensive and inefficient. This is easily solvable. By adopting cost-effective standards for a wider range of technologies the universal access to affordable electricity is entirely possible. According to the Sustainable Development Goals Fund this also means that the global consumption of electricity by buildings and industry could reduce by 14% which means significantly less waste and pollution.
Fundamentally, affordable and clean energy not only means taking greater care of our planet but it also leads us on a path to greater global equality. Where London can take steps towards greater air quality and reduced emission, so many cities around the world continue to be actually dangerous for the populations that breathe their air. Clean energy ensures greater air quality. There is surely no human right that is less contentious than… breathing.
On another, final note: I find it so strange that the issue of our planet and environment is made political. The planet is everyone’s home, everyone’s beauty, everyone’s tranquility. It is surely in the interest of every human to protect the planet from irreparable damage. Clean energy is also about that, the protection of our beautiful home. Our greed and consumption will one day destroy our own lives if we do not do something about it. In fact, it already destroys lives.
We cannot turn a blind eye anymore, not when there are legitimate solutions and alternatives. That is the power of affordable and clean energy.