Since the early 1990’s the world’s scientific community has been advising us of Climate Change and how the effects of this change are becoming more apparent to us all as each year passes.
The Stern Report of 2007 has focused attention on the urgent need for action to reduce our carbon footprint to slow down the rate of climate change, which is now unavoidable.
So what are we going to do about it? Nothing, Change our lifestyle, make do with less? Or get smart and react positively.
The first three options are particularly painful:
Nothing.... the most expensive and painful option for the future
Changing our lifestyle (going green in the traditional sense) has great value but it’s not everyone’s choice
Making do with less is again possible but few people will welcome this prospect, a prospect which will eventually be forced upon us if we adopt option 1
Get Smart and act positively
If we take the latter course of action we can carry on just as we are with virtually no loss to our comfort and financial wellbeing. This means taking positive steps to become energy self sufficient: By investing our savings in self financing solar technologies.
OUR COMFORT REQUIREMENTS
Our standards of living are such that we expect the creature comforts of:
Centrally heated homes - Daily heating requirement 125kW/hrs for six months of the year
Adequate Hot Water available on demand – Hot water 20kW/hrs/Day
Adequate Electrical power available on demand – Electricity 12kW/hrs/Day
Independence to live our own lives without political or economic threat to our creature comforts.
At present we all fulfil these requirements by the use of Fossil Fuel.
As climate change accelerates our creature comforts will certainly become less affordable, and possibly threatened by political interference due to rationing of available resources.
In addition we will require the addition of Air Conditioning in our homes during the summer months.
Well the Good News is we can become free of these threats by investing in Renewable Technologies on a small scale in our homes and workplaces. There is more good news too in that as we become more energy self sufficient, we will be drastically reducing our requirement on fossil fuels to the point of being almost carbon neutral. Which most people feel is the answer to climate change.
The sun radiates enough energy to fulfil all our domestic needs if we just invest in the technologies that allow us to capture it. Technology which is not new, is tried and tested, and is readily available.
Technology which is not new, is tried and tested, and is readily available!
