The Consumption of Energy From Fossil Fuels and The
Standard of living
The standard of living in the present society depends on the
consumption of a wide range of goods; from daily food and water, industrial
products, to also services provided by companies and governments; all of which
need energy to run the production and distribution. In multiple sources of
energy, the most popular and plentiful source is fossil fuel which have
greenhouse effects if they are incinerated. In this article, the author discuss
whether it is possible to avoid the fossil fuel’s negative effects to the
environment while maintaining and developing people’s life standard.
Today’s global economy relies so deeply on fossil fuels for its
energy source that it is difficult to keep or enhance the standard of living
without the stable supply of conventional fuels. A typical economy dependent on
fossil fuels is the U.S. where 83 percent of whole energy use is covered by
fossil fuels (“Fossil Fuels” par. 1). Other
economies also are not able to manage themselves without fossil fuels; for
example, Japan’s dependent rate on oil is remarkable after the nuclear
disaster. Although some countries is trying to shift to renewable energy which
is basically generated by natural resources such as sunlight, and therefore
have minimum effects on the environment, it does
not seem possible to supply the total demand of any country from renewable
sources (Ediger and Kentel, p. 753).
However, replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources still
effective in addressing environmental issues. For example, Kyoto city has
introduced the program of the biodiesel fuel made from disposed cooking oil
corrected by resident’s cooperation, which saved 4 thousand tons of annual CO2 emission and triggered the biodiesel boom in other local governments in
Japan (“Biodiesel Introduction Project” par. 2).
This case suggests that some of fossil fuel uses and its ecological impacts can
be avoided without any special technology and substantial effect to the living
standard.
Changing the way of consumption of fossil fuels is also effective
to reduce its damage to the environment. A worldwide attention to the carbon
tax shows that it is promising in controlling the demand for fossil fuels at a
proper level. The concept of carbon tax is to impose a tax on the emission of
carbon dioxides as a disposal cost of emitted greenhouse gas. This is, in tern,
expected to prevent the overuse and unnecessary use of fossil fuels, and
promote an efficient operation and an effort to decrease the amount of the
emission in the business sector. The carbon tax policy is estimated to be
considerably effective in European region and not to have a direct effect on
the individual’s consumption level (Agostini et al.
p. 279).
In conclusion, it is likely impossible to keep the standard of
living without using fossil fuels, because of existing economy’s structure
which is completely reliant on such fuels. However, replacing fossil fuels with
clean alternative energy sources is able to cut an unnecessary environmental
impact by burning conventional fuels. It is also important to set an
appropriate price for fossil fuels including environmental management cost of
carbon emission.
References
Agostini, P., Botteon, M., & Carraro, C. (1992). A carbon tax to reduce CO2 emissions in Europe. Energy Economics, volume 14, issue 4, October 1992, Pages 279–290
Ediger,
V., & Kentel, E. (1999). Renewable energy potential as an alternative
to fossil fuels in Turkey. Energy Conversion and Management, volume 40, issue 7, May 1999, Pages 743–755
“Fossil Fuels”. Institute of
Energy Research. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
“Biodiesel Introduction Project”. Kyoto City. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
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