Environmental impact of the energy industry

World consumption of primary energy by energy type.[1]
Energy consumption per capita per country (2001). Red hues indicate increase, green hues decrease of consumption during the 1990s.[2]

The environmental impact of the energy industry is significant, as energy and natural resource consumption are closely related. Producing, transporting, or consuming energy all have an environmental impact.[3] Energy has been harnessed by human beings for millennia. Initially it was with the use of fire for light, heat, cooking and for safety, and its use can be traced back at least 1.9 million years.[4] In recent years there has been a trend towards the increased commercialization of various renewable energy sources. Scientific consensus on some of the main human activities that contribute to global warming are considered to be increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, causing a warming effect, global changes to land surface, such as deforestation, for a warming effect, increasing concentrations of aerosols, mainly for a cooling effect.[5]

Rapidly advancing technologies can potentially achieve a transition of energy generation, water and waste management, and food production towards better environmental and energy usage practices using methods of systems ecology and industrial ecology.[6][7]

  1. ^ BP: Workbook of historical data (xlsx), London, 2012
  2. ^ "Energy Consumption: Total energy consumption per capita". Earth trends Database. World Resources Institute. Archived from the original on 12 December 2004. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  3. ^ "environmental impact of energy". European Environment Agency. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  4. ^ Bowman, D. M. J. S; Balch, J. K; Artaxo, P; Bond, W. J; Carlson, J. M; Cochrane, M. A; d'Antonio, C. M; Defries, R. S; Doyle, J. C; Harrison, S. P; Johnston, F. H; Keeley, J. E; Krawchuk, M. A; Kull, C. A; Marston, J. B; Moritz, M. A; Prentice, I. C; Roos, C. I; Scott, A. C; Swetnam, T. W; Van Der Werf, G. R; Pyne, S. J (2009). "Fire in the Earth System". Science. 324 (5926): 481–4. Bibcode:2009Sci...324..481B. doi:10.1126/science.1163886. PMID 19390038. S2CID 22389421.
  5. ^ "AR4 Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis — IPCC". Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  6. ^ Kay, J. (2002). Kay, J.J. "On Complexity Theory, Exergy and Industrial Ecology: Some Implications for Construction Ecology." Archived 6 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine In: Kibert C., Sendzimir J., Guy, B. (eds.) Construction Ecology: Nature as the Basis for Green Buildings, pp. 72–107. London: Spon Press. Retrieved on: 2009-04-01.
  7. ^ Baksh B., Fiksel J. (2003). "The Quest for Sustainability: Challenges for Process Systems Engineering" (PDF). American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal. 49 (6): 1355. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2009.