I was driving around in the afternoon some days ago, got to convenience store and noticed again for the umpteenth time the sign that says "idling stop". This sign is designed to remind drivers to turn of the ignition once in the parking lot for a number or reasons :
(i). reduce carbon emission
(ii). as an effort to step global warming
(iii). reduce wasteful consumption of gasoline (fuel) among others.
However, looking into the convenience store, I noticed that nothing less that twenty (20) fluorescent tubes all lit up (in a hot afternoon). This set me wondering if this store was really worried about global warming or if it was just to create the impression that it was.
I stepped out the convenience store and I almost jumped out of my skin because a lot of shops had lights on. If the lights were inside the shop I probably would not have worried but I was stunned to find a shop with about ten (10) flood lights lit up right in front of the shop's bill board placed strategically on the roof of the shop, this also on a hot afternoon.
If this shop were a new entity, I would have thought well this was done to make to attract attention of pedestrians, drivers or commuters generally but NO!, this shop has be on that corner for no less that eight (8) years.
These and many more set me thinking about the statements that are usually made about conserving energy.
I started asking questions with respect energy conservation.
1). Are we for real?
2). Do we really need all those lights on in and outside the convenience stores and supermarkets?
3). What steps can we put in place to drastically reduce our electricity consumption levels?
4). Why are the schools and other parastatals made to keep the temperature dials at 25 or 27C when the continuous opening and closing of doors ensure that the temperature never gets up to the regulated temperature?
5). Is there any reason why the government cannot take advantage of the space on the roof tops of schools to set up solar panels for generating electricity?
6). Isn't there a way the government to take advantage of the natural course and flow of rivers, using micro-turbines to generate electricity? There certainly is no need to dam every river, destroying natural biospheres in the name of power generation !
7). What is the government and multinational companies doing to encourage research in the field of Magnetism especially for the generation of power? I strongly believe that Nikolai Tesla got it right when he said magnetism was the way to go if we wanted free and sustainable energy.
But of course, we all know that "FREE" is a word the governments and big corporations are afraid of. I wonder why.
I have been thinking and still am ! I hope you are too before our culture of waste damns us all.
The world keeps talking about Energy conservation but all I see is WASTE !!!!