INK Environmental Sustainability Booklet [19 MB] - Durban

eing environmentally friendly in ink
The reason that the paraffin cooker is the most expensive is that paraffin is an inefficient
fuel to use for cooking – it is much more efficient for heating (i.e. you use less for
greater benefit). Electricity is the next most expensive, because electric cookers are
also not very energy efficient. To cook your food on a gas cooker (using LPG) and to
cook on a wood fire costs almost the same. However, gas cookers are more healthy
for you as they don’t produce lots of smoke that can pollute your house.
You can save money and the environment by choosing more efficient and
cleaner fuels to cook your food, and to light and heat your home.
SAVING ENERGY TO SAVE MONEY AND THE EARTH
Electricity is a very expensive kind of energy. Not only does it cost you – the person
who uses it – much money, but there are also a lot of very serious environmental
costs associated with it. The electricity that you use is generated in Gauteng by
coal-powered electricity generator plants. Coal is burnt to create the electricity
which is distributed all over the country by powerlines. Burning coal for power
generation causes large amounts of carbon dioxide and other harmful gases to
be released into the atmosphere, which is contributing to a phenomenon called
“global warming”. Petrol and diesel are also very expensive forms of energy, and
are also major contributors of greenhouses gases when burnt as a fuel.
Global warming is caused when the chemical composition of the earth’s
atmosphere is altered by our releases of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into
it. These gases stop the heat that radiates off the earth from leaving the atmosphere,
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