Sumario: | Our society is consuming energy figures which are so large that sometimes they become
meaningless when mentioned; electricity alone in 2012 was 20,900 TWH (IEA World
energy statistics), 68% from fossil fuels, 11% nuclear and 21% ‘renewable’; the energy that
comes from resources that are not significantly depleted by their use, such as sunlight,
wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. It is estimated that energy consumed in the
buildings (residential and commercial end users) accounts for 20.1% of this total ([International Energy Outlook 2016). Losses are not considered here, but they are not negligible, either.
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