Importance of Energy Conservation

Although energy conservation is not an issue that we think about in our day to day lives, it is unquestionably one of great importance. All of us use energy all day long, everyday of the year.  Almost everything we do uses energy - lighting, cooling, transportation, cooking, even entertainment.  We rely on energy to make our lives comfortable, productive and enjoyable - unfortunately, we have also come to take it for granted. What many of us forget is that energy is not available in limitless supply and that to maintain our quality of life, we must use our energy resources wisely.

The choices we make about how we use energy will impact our environment, our lives as well as the lives of the future generations. There are many things we can do to use less energy and use it more sensibly - this is the basis of energy conservation. Energy conservation is any behaviour that results in the use of less energy - such as switching to Illume Energy Efficient Bulbs which require less energy to perform the same function.  Becoming more efficient in the way we use our energy is the first step in conserving and prolonging our energy resources.

Energy conservation reduces the energy consumption and energy demand per capita, and for that reason, also offsets the increase in energy supply needed to keep up with population growth. The UAE is experiencing rapid population growth which is placing a huge load on our energy resources and environment. The government has announced plans to boost our power generation capacity by 50% by the year 2017.  We can do our part as residents of the UAE simply by embracing an energy efficient lifestyle today and slow down our demand for more electricity. If the rest of the world joined us in becoming more responsible in the way we use energy, we could halve the projected growth in world energy demand by the year 2020. The Make The Switch initiative is the UAE's first step in that direction. 

Energy conservation is also an important part of slowing climate change. Climate change is one of the biggest threats facing our planet today. It is happening and it is happening now. Everyone - governments, businesses and individuals - needs to work together to tackle climate change. By switching out traditional light bulbs, we will all be using less energy so we will need less electricity and consequently reduce the emissions that speed up climate change.