• Energy

    • Demand for energy will increase dramatically in the years to come. Most energy comes from fossil fuels that releases CO2 and pollute the air. But green alternatives are emerging.

    • Energy

  • Production of electricity

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  • terajoules
  • worldwide, this year

    • Electricity use is in rapid growth

    The world's demand for electricity will grow by 76 percent between 2007 and 2030 - this increase is equivalent to today's total use of electricity in the USA, the European Union, China, Russia, Japan, Australia and India.

    It does not come from windmills

    The burning of coal is the worlds largest source of electricity. If nothing changes, coal’s share of the global electricity use will rise to 44 percent in 2030 (up from 42 percent today).

    Do you put your stereo on standby?

    Here is something that might surprise you: over the next 10 years, the power used by products in “standby” could be as high as 10 percent of total electricity use. Powering these will require 400 medium-sized power plants. It's a good thing that we have a lot of coal to burn…

    Coal plants are ineffective

    Only 35 percent of coal's energy (and some say at the most) is made into electricity in coal-fired power plants. The rest is lost as waste heat.

    Coal burning uses up water too...

    A typical coal-fired power plant uses massive amounts of water to create steam for turning its turbines. Enough water to support a city of approximately 250,000 people.

    ...and pollutes the air

    Burning coal is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxics.

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  • OK, I get it. Bad things are going on
  • Now what?