Energy like bread – why is it worth saving electricity?
How is electricity different from bread? Well... not really – except that while no one needs to be persuaded to save food, saving energy is still problematic for many people.
Most people you meet on the street could tell you the price of their favourite bread without hesitation, but few know exactly how much a kilowatt-hour of electricity costs. And yet electricity is also a commodity, just like a bagel or a candy bar, except that it comes from a power outlet. And what is important: it is becoming more and more expensive, and yet more and more widely used.
Unlike bread or chocolate bars, energy accompanies modern people almost non-stop. Every click on a laptop, every cup of hot tea from an electric kettle, every TV series watched – all this consumes a lot of energy. And like any commodity, it is subject to market forces. The average consumer’s electricity bill shows that the price of energy is not just “power,” but also a range of charges—from transmission to subscription fees—and taxes
What is more, in Poland, electricity is still largely produced from coal, which means that every kilowatt-hour consumed in Poland generates approximately 0.6 kg of CO₂. Annually, a Polish household emits an average of 1.2 tons of this gas into the atmosphere – just from electricity consumption… Therefore, every kilowatt hour saved means not only a lower bill, but also 60 kg less CO₂ in the atmosphere.
Saving energy is therefore not only logical, but also ethical. All you need to do is boil only as much water as you need, place your refrigerator away from the oven, and turn off the lights when you leave the room. It’s not a revolution. It’s common sense.
And the energy we do not use – the so-called “negawatt” – is the cleanest and cheapest energy available to humanity.
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