Urban vs Rural : Carbon Emissions

According to a survey in 2020, the world's Rural population was over 3.3 billion people . 43.85 % of the population lives in rural areas that means nearly half of the world population lives in villages. Urban cities, towns and areas have always been to have the biggest carbon footprint than that of the rural areas.

Although the urban cities have a hard time dealing with carbon dioxide, what comes as a surprise is that rural residences emit more carbon emissions than their silk city counterparts. The BBC article agrees. That when carbon emissions per residence when compared between rural and urban areas, it appears that the former has a higher carbon footprint.

Although the difference is slight, these are the factors that contribute to higher numbers :

1. Heating: Homes in Urban towns and cities are denser and are close to each other and hence easier to heat, it requires less fuel to heat up in cold seasons. But whereas in rural areas the houses are widespread and burn firewood to keep themselves warm. The villages lack the infrastructure provided by apartment buildings that are equipped with energy efficient heaters.

2. Slash and Burn agriculture : Slash and Burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants and trees in the Forest or Woodland to create a field called Swidden.A rough estimate states that 200 million to 500 million people around the world use this slash and Burn method of farming. This contributes to deforestation and removes one of our biggest allies in fighting climate change our trees.

3. Industries moving to countryside : Urban cities and towns have become a concrete jungle filled with offices and homes with minimal space. Industries usually need a larger area to function and hence move towards the countryside.Economic activities in bigger towns and cities are more service-oriented, while the manufacturing plants are common in rural areas, which tends to be more carbon intensive.

4. Transportation: Transportation takes the second place in carbon emission.People in cities drive shorter distances to work and have access to public transport , whereas residents in rural areas drive long distances for work or even to get groceries hence contributributing more to the carbon emission in the transportation sector.

Energy efficiency is the need of the hour. FORCE, an energy saving device of Enposs is a revolutionary product which can be installed to urban and rural residences including industries and factories to reduce the loss of electricity by streamlining the flow of electricity which in turn reduces emissions overall. Make Force a part of your saving efforts today!