Running on empty

With a global crisis looming, what are we doing to ease our addiction to fossil fuels and imported energy? Not much. Claire O’Sullivan reports.

YOU woke up this morning to the sound of your electrically-powered radio alarm clock. You used the electric shower before throwing on some clothes and racing downstairs to grab a coffee and slice of toast before flopping into your car to join the early morning gridlock that chokes our towns and cities.

From the moment you open your eyes in the morning until you wrap the duvet around you tonight, your lifestyle is made possible by energy.