The World in 2030

142 The World in 2030
The answer has to be to redesign vehicles to be far more
frugal with energy, to change the nature of the fuels they use
and to develop rapidly renewable and sustainable sources of
energy (I cover this aspect in more detail in the following
section, ‘The Future of Energy’).
‘The right mindset’ means that we each have to become
conscious of the cost of our actions in our daily lives. If,
magically, all of us in the developed world lived our lives
in a way that acknowledged the environmental cost of our
lifestyle, the targets for emissions cuts would be far more
easily met.
Do you ensure that the electrical devices in your home
do not waste energy idling in ‘standby’ mode (7 per cent
of electricity consumed in the UK goes to feed devices on
‘standby’ 279 )? Do you walk, cycle or take public transport as
often as possible and eschew the use of a car unless absolutely
necessary? When you are forced to use a car do you ensure
that it has the lowest carbon emissions possible (or do you
drive a 4X4 in a city)? This is what the May 2007 IPCC
report on what we must do about climate change had to say
on transport:
Unless there is a major shift away from current patterns
of energy use, projections foresee a continued
growth in world transportation energy use by 2 per
cent per year, with energy use and carbon emissions
about 80 per cent above 2002 levels by 2030. 280
Do you take the time to separate your waste and recycle
items which have energy stored within them (like plastic)