Fact is, we have all the energy we need. It’s abundant and ubiquitous. We just waste almost all of it. By Saxe Brickenden

Amount of electrical power in North America generated by coal
45%

CO2 emissions from the electricity sector in the U.S. produced by coal-fired plants
83%

Units wasted as heat loss from a power station for every unit of electricity used
2

Quantity of raw material extracted from the Alberta tar sands to generate a single barrel of oil
2 tonnes

Energy in a tankful of gas lost in the powering of a standard internal combustion engine car
84%

Quantity of gasoline wasted yearly in the E.U. due to insufficient tire pressure
8.1 billion litres

Total electricity generated in the U.S. consumed by computers
10%

Power saved by using a laptop versus a desktop computer
50%

Greenhouse gas emissions to be saved in the U.S. annually by adjusting margin defaults on all word-processing documents from 1.25 to 0.75 inches
662,034,106 kilograms

Number of homes in the U.S. that could be lit on the power wasted by “phantom loads” – TVs, cable boxes, cordless phones, power tools, mobile phone chargers, toothbrushes, garage door openers, etc., that are turned “off” but continue to draw current
25,984,000

Amount of standby power consumed in the world annually
480 terawatt hours (more than all the electricity used in France)

 

Toronto-based writer Saxe Brickenden is an expert in the home electronics industry with a longstanding interest in clean energy.
Shake Pole 30.09 -15.10.06., an installation by British artist Richard Box, incorporates 831 fluorescent tubes powered solely by the electromagnetic field surrounding overhead power lines. Photography by Peter Dibin