Energy Consumption and Saving

Worldwide energy use almost doubled over the last 30 years, before showing a slight decrease due to the financial crisis in 2009. The following two graphs show the world total final energy consumption by fuel or type and by region from 1971 to 2009.

Since energy transformations and especially electric power generation are identified as main causes for global warming and climate change, action is needed. This may be either in the form of increasing use of energy from renewable energy sources, or simply by consuming less energy! In order to consume less energy we could choose to use more energy efficient appliances or increase the efficiency of our buildings, or reduce energy used for transport, without any further change in our energy related behavior. The overall result in terms of fighting climate change and global warming though, may be a lot better if we focus on a behavioral change on how we consume energy. By improving the way we use energy in our everyday activities we can actually reduce energy consumption without changes in our standards of living.