by Navendu Yajnik

Created on: November 06, 2008

Life on this planet itself is created out of energy. In order to sustain life, more energy is needed. This much is plain truth that every animal instinctively understands. Human beings have made themselves supreme species on this planet by their ingenious use of energy to improve the quality of life. This is at once a blessing and a curse: blessing because humans have made themselves an elite species in spite of lack of physical dominance, and a curse because this extraordinary power is in the hands of people who do not understand it enough.

Every activity of our lives that is aimed at giving us that one bit better of anything involves use of energy. It tells the difference in how people live. Take for instance, the squalor and filth of some undeveloped regions compared to the relatively cleaner lives led by citizens of developed regions. You will notice the huge difference in the amount of energy usage. Following table shows comparative energy usage by some nations.

Energy Consumption Per Capita

(kg of oil equivalent per capita)

Year

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2001

Rank

Country

(2001)

India

142

176

225

272

318

309

144

China

389

485

541

679

556

599

123

Brazil

531

499

552

634

717

711

118

Russia

4,061

4,107

4,194

27

US A

7,321

6,915

7,402

7,671

7,725

7,798

10

Source: Globalis: Global Virtual University

Look at the dusty environs of all cities and towns of India. Why is there so much of suspended particulate matter pollution in the air? There is considerably large amount of dust kicked up in the air through winds and sheer human activity. It is due to so much open soil everywhere. Compare this to places in Europe and North America. There is practically no open soil. All roads and sidewalks are paved and all other soil has grass or other vegetation growing on it. It takes so much amount of water and far more energy is cutting, sprucing and weeding of vegetation through heavy equipment rolling through large swathes of countryside to maintain this status. As for Indian coastal regions, leave aside the hinterlands, in spite of proximity to so much water of the oceans surrounding it, practically no water is available to spare for covering exposed soil by vegetation. In this respect, some regions are lucky in that they get so much of water precipitation, either directly by rain or by snow that melts and provides plentiful water. But that is no excuse for regions that get less water precipitation. One could use energy to clean the ocean water for human use. Gulf nations have been profligate in their use of energy to obtain

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