The energy crisis that we are currently experiencing as a result of the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis has become one of the most worrying aspects of this year and even more so now that we are starting to have demand for heating and it is not only affecting the pocket of consumers, but it has also made many people decide to use other devices to heat their home, as may be the case of pellet stoves.
In turn, this has led to an increase in the use of some biomass fuels such as pellets and others that were in disuse, such as coal. We tell you everything that is happening in detail below.
The reason why countries have returned to coal
Some fuels are more beneficial to nature than others. In recent years, we have advocated using renewable energy sources precisely to maintain our planet in better condition. However, the current energy situation has led many countries to abandon their plans in this regard and to revert to fuels whose use is not the most advisable.
We are talking about coal, a fossil fuel that, despite having clear advantages, also has many disadvantages, such as the fact that it requires cutting down entire forests to obtain this energy source, thus causing serious damage to the ecosystem, in addition to contributing to the greenhouse effect that ends up causing damage to the ozone layer and, as a consequence, an even greater advance of the climate change that our planet is already suffering.
But despite knowing the disastrous consequences of the use of this fuel, the International Energy Agency has made an estimate of coal consumption over the year, all based on current purchasing trends, and the figure is frightening because we are talking about as much as 8 billion tons. A figure that would equal the amount recorded in 2013 and that, during the following years, had managed to decrease considerably.
Unfortunately, many countries have been pushed to use this type of energy source instead of opting for other more environmentally friendly alternatives such as renewable energies (photovoltaic, aerothermal, etc.). All this is under the erroneous premise that wood is renewable because forests grow back, knowing that it takes hundreds of years to get a forest back to its original state before logging.
In any case, the situation is becoming extremely complicated and may end up becoming a real problem for future generations tomorrow. So, for our part, we encourage you to take energy-saving measures that allow you to reduce your consumption to the maximum to contribute to better use of these resources and, on the other hand, also help you to achieve much more consistent and affordable electricity bill amounts.