Just a few years ago, there used to be one electric supply line from any pole. But now, with multi-storied buildings mushrooming everywhere, there are multiple connections from the same electric pole. Instead of one transformer per street, there are many now. This has necessitated huge increase in the generation of thermal power. You know that thermal power is generated from coal, which causes released of immense amounts of smoke ad ash. Thus, degradation of the environment happens at two levels. Firstly, due to heavy use, our coal reserves are disappearing very fast and secondly, the smoke and ash are polluting our air. In such situation, it is imperative that we cut down our consumption of electricity.

`Green’ buildings and the consumption of electricity

Wile construction new buildings these days, some people are giving due thought and using as few natural resources as possible. One such `Green’ buildings is the Godrej green Business Center in Hyderabad. Analyze to what extent our houses, offices, and industries are environment-friendly. To do this, we need to estimate the extent to which these buildings are using naturally occurring air, water and light and saving electricity.

Fuel-free vehicles

We have seen that people of different class raise their use of natural resources with a rise in their earnings. But these resources do not increase proportionate to their use. That is why taxes are imposed on them. In big cities, if people use the public transport system available in the form of buses and trains, it will be cheaper and easier on the environment. We should increase taxes on private vehicles and not only reduce taxes on public transport, but also them subsides. Public transport should be made easier, cheaper, faster and more convention. In countries such as Singapore, such efforts have shown good results. Find out how much it costs per kilometers in your town or city to move from one by different vehicles.

A bicycle is the only vehicle that uses no fuel. Organize a cycle rally with banners saying, `use a cycle,’ `Reduce pollution,’ `Protect the environment.’ `This will further popularize the cycle. Hold cycle races as part of the sports competitions in the collage.

Rising fuel prices

Fuel prices are continuously rising, affecting the transport system. The over dependence of fossil fuels, which are abundantly available only in some countries of the world, has led to a difficult situation. There have been wars involving petroleum exporting nations and those that are known to be fuel- guzzlers. The politics of these countries leaves a great impact on the world in general. Most petroleum exporting nations are ruled by theocracies or religion-oriented governments and their internal politics can have a great impact on international oil prices. This is way rich and powerful nations, such as the united sates and Britain, seize the opportunity and try to dominate over these countries. If petroleum –producing countries were to have democratic governments, it would perhaps have facilitated better fuel situation on this topic with particular reference to the oil demand and supply situation.