![\"Canadian](\"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/Canada-greenhouse-gas-emissions-per-person.jpg\" "\\"Canadian")
<\/p>\nInstead of waiting for politicians to take action on greenhouse gas emissions, it’s worth considering that any solution is going to involve reducing the amount of energy we use.\u00a0 One of the things that bothers me in political debates around greenhouse gas emissions is the assumption that our energy use is going to continue to increase.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 I think we need to focus on reducing waste, because we waste staggering amounts of energy.<\/p>\n
Look around the typical house in the developed world.\u00a0 As a starter, you’ll typically find a SUV, pick-up truck,\u00a0or mini-van in the driveway and inefficient electrical appliances.\u00a0 There are many other sources of waste (like lighting) but let’s start with those for now.<\/p>\n
No matter how you look at it, a SUV, pick up truck,\u00a0and mini-van\u00a0is an un-necessary luxury.\u00a0 Most people believe they need a larger vehicle to transport their kids, tools, or stuff.\u00a0 But look around you the next time you’re on the street.\u00a0 Guess what?\u00a0 80-90% of those large vehicles on the road at any one time have one person in them and very little stuff.\u00a0 Previous generations of vehicle owners used regular cars; this generation is not special.\u00a0 In Canada, the tendency to buy large vehicles instead of cars is one of the largest reasons why greenhouse gas emissions per person has increased since 1990 (when the Kyoto protocol was signed).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Electrical appliances are another form of wasted energy.\u00a0 Just about every DVD player, TV, computer, etc. in our house, even if it has the “Energy Star” certification, is designed<\/em> to waste energy.\u00a0 Televisions for example when powered off are still in a ready state so that they will power on faster.\u00a0 Ditto DVD players.\u00a0 And computers when left on by default stay in an active idle state so that we can sit down and start typing.\u00a0 Yes, these devices were designed because we’re (presumably) impatient and expect instant response.\u00a0 But are we?\u00a0 Try plugging all your devices into powerbars and turn the powerbar off when you’re done.\u00a0 Yes, the clock will reset but I guarantee you’ll save a noticeable amount of energy.\u00a0 Of course, it’s also a good idea to write a letter to a politician to get them to introduce legislation for more efficient appliances.\u00a0 But that will take time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Instead of waiting for politicians to take action on greenhouse gas emissions, it’s worth considering that any solution is going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevintate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}