Why is wasting electricity so bad? Isn't electricity going to be around forever?

Answer 1

You have to generate electricity, somehow. You can burn coal, use nuclear power, use solar power, use wind power....

Burning coal and nuclear power are the main ways we generate electricity. These methods have side effects: polution and waste (radioactive for nuclear). The more electricity we use the more waste we generate.

Answer 2

Reasons.

Most countries import oil. The oil market is a lot of unstable countries and prices that are increasing dramatically. Large sums of money are being drained from your country, so wasting electricity is bad for your country.

Making electricity usually means making CO2 as a byproduct. We have way too much manmade CO2 anyway. Check out this graph. The big trend upward is us using fossil fuels. The little teeth are nature. In the summer the plants use all their strength to reduce CO2 a little. In winter they have to rest and CO2 goes up. Overall, they're being totally defeated by us. So, wasting electricity is bad for the world.

http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gallery/mauna_loa_record/mlo_record.html

We need to do the opposite. Figure out how to use less electricity for the things we need. Like using compact fluorescent lightbulbs instead of incandescent bulbs to make the light we need.

Answer 3

Electricity may be around forever, just like water, but you pay money for it, just like you do for water, so wasting it is a waste of money.

Or think of it this way. You are not paying for the electricity (or the water), you are paying for someone to generate the electricity and deliver it to you (or you are paying someone to find clean water or clean up dirty water and deliver it to you). And that delivery uses up other resources. Generating electricity and pumping water requires energy, which usually comes from burning fuel, usually coal, oil or natural gas. Coal oil and natural gas are not going to be around forever. When the Earth's entire supply is burned, there is no more. It also causes pollution when we burn it.

Answer 4

Making electricity (at the power plant) costs money. There are a lot of raw materials involved, most of them are very expensive - not including salaries. Wasting energy is wasting those materials.

Answer 5

Creating electricity means burning fossil fuels, which there is a limited supply of. This also means emitting CO2 which is increasing our green house, and melting the glaciers. So wasting electricity is bad, because it's destroying our enviroment and our supply of fossil fuels.

Answer 6

There is nothing wrong with wasting electricity. I leave my radio TV computer and lights on 24 hours a day and I haven't seen any smog or pollution.

Answer 7

Because electricity cannot be stored, as its demand rises and falls by season or during the portions of a day, additional generating plants in reserve must be immediately brought on line (“dispatched”) to serve increases in demand. As a result, the costs of electricity production—and thus the marginal cost and competitive price—rise and fall with changes in the demand for power, as generating plants are dispatched or taken off line. Competitive prices that vary with demand may lead to changes in consumer electricity usage patterns. Time-of-use prices give consumers an incentive to reduce usage during high demand ("peak") periods and increase usage during low demand ("off-peak") periods. It is uncertain what effects time-of-use prices will have on demand patterns. Therefore, several estimates of short-term consumer responsiveness to changes in price are used in this analysis to examine the effects of time-of-use prices.

Answer 8

Thanks for reminding me to shut off my light.
Electricity is generated by water and it costs money to run the operation and running the operation creates pollution.
Water may not always be accessible considering the unpredictible weather patterns.
So please help save our planet by doing your part by saving electricity.