Energy Consumption

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Credit: Vertical City.org

Energy is a critical economic and environmental issue globally. Unsustainable energy supply and demand have serious implications for everything from business costs to health living.Cities are the greatest energy consumers and the greatest polluters on Earth.

Cities currently cover only about three percent of the planet yet they devour the lion’s share of its natural resources and emit about eighty percent of global carbon dioxide and significant amounts of other greenhouse gases.

But by the yardstick of the individual, the picture is very different. The per capita energy use of dense cities like New York is significantly lower than elsewhere in the country; it might come as a surprise that the highest per capita consumption is in the wide-open plains of Wyoming. Typical New Yorkers consume far less electricity and gasoline and use far less water than their suburban counterparts. They occupy less land, produce less waste, produce lower noxious emissions, and in general inflict less damage on the environment. Clearly at this point of our imperiled ecology, we need to learn the lessons that such cities can teach.

能源问题是全球性重要的经济与环境问题。非可持续性的能源需求和开采利用已经对各个方面造成严重影响，从经济成本到人类健康及生存。

“城市” 是能源的最大利用者以及环境污染者。城市面积仅占地球的3%但却霸占了其大部分自然资源。全球80%的碳排放及各种主要温室气体来自于城市。

然而当我们以人均土地占有量为衡量标准来看，情况又不一样了。在人口密集的城市和地区如纽约市，人均能源消耗量要远远低于美国其他地区。而在地广人稀的怀俄明州，能源的人均消耗量尽然是全美最高的。相对于郊区居民来说，纽约市民对于电力，汽油以及生活用水的人均消耗量要少得多。他们的土地占有量少，所造成的浪费及对环境所造成的损害也相对较少。从这方面来看，我们需要从类似于纽约这样的城市中吸取经验来“照顾”日益受损的生态环境。