Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
an effi cient way to save energy and reduce carbon dioxide and puts the user ahead
of the game. Anyone who worries generally about saving energy should fi rst look
at the areas that use the most energy. What will come as a surprise to many is that
private households in Germany use more secondary energy than industry and the
transport sector (see Figure 3.3). This applies to many countries in the world.
traffic
28.7
%
households
28.8
%
Figure 3.3
Percentage of different
sectors in secondary energy
consumption in Germany.
Data:
(Tscheutschler, Nickel and Wernicke, 2007).
trade and
services
15.7
%
industry
26.8
%
This was not always the case. In 1990 industry was still the biggest consumer of
secondary energy. Yet while industry reduced its secondary energy use by over 17%
between 1990 and 2005, private households and the traffi c sector increased their
consumption by at least 10% during the same period.
The main cause of this increase in domestic energy consumption is the boom in
sales of electrical devices and appliances. This increase is particularly noticeable in
the areas of communication and entertainment electronics. Modern widescreen
plasma televisions can easily use twice as much energy as an old cathode ray tube
TV set. But there are also other hidden things that eat up energy. As the possibilities
for saving energy in the household and transportation are particularly easy to imple-
ment, these options head the list of any analysis on energy savings.
3.2 Personal Energy Needs - Easily Saved at Home
3.2.1 Domestic Electricity - Money Wasted
Europeans take the supply of electric energy so much for granted that we fi nd it
hard to imagine doing without electricity even for a short time. Televisions, tele-
phones, computers, lights, refrigerators, washing machines and even heating do not
function without electricity. It is hard to grasp, then, that around two billion people,
one-third of the world's population, have no access to electric power.
