▶ Your Answer :
As energy conservation is deeply realated with economic problems and reducing environmental contamination, many goverments persuade people from saving energy. And some governments believe that increasing the prices of gasoline and electricity can result in saving energy. However, in my opinion, simply increasing the prices is not the only way for the governments to encourage energy conservation.
To begin with, gasoline and electricity are not the luxurious commodities anymore. Some people assert that people waste energy by turning on air conditioners or electric heater devices extragavantly. Even if it is true that some people and shops waste energy, increasing the prices could be a burden, especially to the poor. For instance, in winter seasons poor people have to turn on their heater divices all day long. It is not because they are rich enough to do that, but because they have no other divices like those or additional help from communities. But if the governments increase the price, poor people would have difficulties with paying electricity bills.
On top of that, the governments can encourage energy conservation by helping companies make products that consume much less energy than conventional things, and helping people buy those products. This can be conducive because some conventional products consume too much energy when compared to new products. For example, few months ago my father had a very old pickup truck that consumed energy a lot more than newely introduced eco-friendly cars. And my father did not want to buy a new car because there were few trucks that consume less gasoline than the old truck, and new cars were too expensive. But more and more car companies began to present lots of new pickup trucks which do not consume energy excessively anymore. Furthermore, the government started to give some pecuniary supports to who replace old cars from eco-friendly new cars. Therefore, my father changed his car to a new eco-friendly truck and it does not waste gasoline than the previous automobile anymore.
To encapsulate, gasoline and electricity are not the luxurious commodities, and this means that everyone necessarily use them in their everyday lives, so increasing the prices can be a burden. Moreover, the governments can encourage energy convervation by helping companies make products that are energy-friendly and help people buy them. So I believe that increasing the prices is not the only way for the goverments to encourage energy saving. |