|
| |
Energy Conservation Resource Center
Go to Fact Sheets
Go to Northern Line Articles and Guest Opinions
Go to Our Energy Survey Results
 The United States is the largest consumer of energy - and particularly fossil fuels - in the world. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in 1999, with less than 5% of the world's population, the US consumed 25% of the world's energy, about 82% of which came from fossil fuels. Unfortunately, while this is definitely a national issue, little is being done on a national level to decrease our fossil fuel consumption or switch to renewable energies. At our current rate, DOE predicts our energy consumption will increase 32% by 2020.
 Our increasing need to find, develop and use fossil fuels as well as our extremely inefficient use of these fuels have significant negative impacts on all of our lives. These impacts include: global warming continues to worsen, threatening coastal regions, food belts and habitats throughout the world; air and water pollution threaten the health of humans, wildlife and the habitats upon which they depend; our few remaining wild areas - such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - and the wildlife and humans that depend on these areas are at risk of being destroyed by development; and the United States grows increasingly more dependent on foreign, sometimes hostile nations for much of our energy.
Although most of these impacts are felt world wide, global warming is having a much larger and earlier impact on Alaska and other northern regions than on any of the lower 48 states. According to the federal government, mean temperatures in Alaska have risen by 5° F in summer and 10° F in winter since the 1970's. This has led to an increasing number and earlier onset of wildfires in Interior Alaska; melting permafrost and the subsequent instability of structures including houses, buildings and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS); sagging roads and sinking villages.
 Recently, groups such as the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Rocky Mountain Institute have become ever more vocal about the need for the U.S. to curb its energy consumption. However, despite these warnings, our Federal government continues to bow under pressure from the powerful fossil fuel-related industries and is poised to pass an energy bill with exactly the opposite focus. It has become all the more clear that any movement to decrease our fossil-fuel consumption won't come from the top down. Instead, it must come from ground up - at the individual and community levels.
 According to a 1995 survey by the Merck Family Fund, 88% of Americans agreed the "protecting the environment will require most of us to make major changes in the way we live" and 67% acknowledged that "Americans cause many of the world's environmental problems because we consume more resources and produce more waste than anyone else in the world." However, these same Americans are bombarded by products and advertising focused on convenience, not efficiency, and our uniformed about what they can do to make a difference. Without a concerted educational effort, most of these Americans will simply continue to consume and waste energy at unnecessarily high rates.
 The Northern Alaska Environmental Center's historical approach toward fossil fuel consumption has been to work toward limiting the expansion of oil and gas development in Alaska's Arctic and ensuring that development which does occur is done as safely and compactly as possible. However, in light of the intensifying pressure to develop Alaska's North Slope and the recent failure of our government to pass a comprehensive, reduction-focused energy bill, the Northern Center intends to expand our approach to include working to decrease the demand for such resources through education.
Below are a series of fact sheets and articles from our quarterly newsletter, The Northern Line and local newspaper, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, to help keep you informed on a variety of energy-related issues.
Northern Line articles:
Fact Sheets:
General
Transportation
Home and Business Energy Use
Alternative/Renewable Energy
Recycling
Links:
Back to Top
Arctic | Boreal Forest | Denali
Watch | Local Issues | Mining | Camp Habitat | Coal Bed Methane | Global Warming | Links
Contact Us | Who We Are | Join
Us | E-Mail Us | Back
to Main
Triangle Rock photo copyright © David van den Berg
Copyright © 2002 - Present, Northern Alaska Environmental Center. All
rights reserved.
830 College Road, Fbks, Alaska 99701
Tel: 907- 452-5021. Fax: 907-452-3100
info@northern.org
Designed by WebWeavers,
LLC
|
|
