It's cool to save energy
We all use energy every single day, for cooking, heating, travelling, lighting, and even entertainment. The energy we use has an effect on our environment, especially to global warming and climate change.
There are lots of things we can all do to use less energy or use our energy in a cool way! This would cut costs, help the environment and reduce our carbon footprint (this shows how much damaging carbon pollution you cause. The bigger your footprint, the worse the damage).
Two main ways to save energy are energy conservation and energy efficiency. Let's see what the difference is...
Energy conservation
This is anything we do that results in the use of less energy. Turning the lights off when you leave the room and switching off appliances at the socket are both ways of conserving energy.
Energy efficiency
This is using technology and equipment that needs less energy to perform its job. An energy saving light bulb is a great example, they use less energy than a standard bulb but produces the same amount of light.
Global warming is the rising temperature of the Earth's atmosphere.
The earth is heated by the sun's rays which pass through the atmosphere and are then reflected and bounced back up to space.
The atmosphere's made up of layers of gases, you may have heard of some called greenhouse gases, these layers act as a 'blanket' protecting the earth. However, this 'blanket' is damaged and causing us problems such as changes in the climate.
Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge facing us today, causing changes in weather patterns, rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
The effects will be felt here in the UK, and internationally, causing problems for people in areas that are vulnerable to change.
So, what will happen if our climate changes? Well, if the Earth gets hotter, these are some of the things that could happen:
Water expands when it's heated so sea levels could rise. Sea levels are also rising due to the melting of the glaciers
Animals like polar bears are endangered - the ice on which they live is melting away
There could be more floods, especially near the coast and rivers
Lakes and rivers could dry out
There would be more droughts, making it harder to grow crops
Less water would be available - effecting every one!
Some plants and animals could become extinct because they wont be able to cope with the high temperatures