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ENERGY SAVINGS OR A RETURN TO ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CANDLES?

Bogusław Podhalański

Abstract

Can civilisation at its current level of development afford the further wasting of all forms of energy? This is the question that forms the foundation of the entire philosophy of energy saving, and - to be more precise - of the work towards its efficient use. The greatest consumers of energy are mega-metropolises, as the amount of energy required to build them, produce all the necessary construction materials and their transport to the construction site, followed by the occupancy of the structures that have thus been built - in the form of heating, cooling, the maintenance of all the mechanical systems, the transport of passengers and goods, is gigantic. Science tells us that, according to our current knowledge, energy sources are not infinite. Even nuclear energy, which appears to be "clean", produces waste, the treatment of which is sort of "shifted to the future", as when it is stockpiled it does not degrade by itself, the stockpiling being performed under the assumption that, in the future, technological progress is going to enable us to safely process it, which can turn out to be impossible. However, employing current technologies, we are not able to build cities for communities of several million people relying solely on natural, biodegradable, environmentally-friendly materials. The question whether we are left with the choice of further increasing the consumption of energy resources or a return to life in complete harmony with the requirements of ecosystems, a return to using only the simplest forms of renewable energy and abandoning energy consuming technologies in favour of adopting torches and candles - remains open

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2018/6.3/s27.070

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