Energy
It takes millions of years for the earth to produce the fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal, which are our main source of energy at present.
Unfortunately, our rate of consuming these fuels is far too high, and since the Industrial Revolution we have managed to use up a huge amount of what has taken so long for the Earth to produce. Although we are on the hunt for new reserves, there is a threat that we will run out of these reserves if we don’t change our usage. We need to become far more sustainable with our energy sources. The other thing to think about is the environmental impacts that mining and drilling for these resources has on our planet.
So what can we do about this? ......It’s easy! Reduce how much we use, Re-use what we can, and Recycle!
On the boat, the energy that we use to power the boats electrical systems eg. lights, laptops, water pumps is stored in batteries which we need to recharge. We have options on how to do this:
· We can either turn the engine on and burn diesel (from oil – a fossil fuel)
OR
· We have a wind generator to capture energy from the wind
· We have a water generator that converts the boats movement through the water into usable energy, like an underwater version of a windmill.
· We have a solar panel to capture energy from the sun
These options are all from a renewable source, and have no carbon impacts on the environment!
What we do on the boat, we can do at home!
For more information on sustainability, please visit the following site:
www.energysavingtrust.org
