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Generation Careless
IBM study finds 18-24 year-olds the most wasteful despite being the most environmentally knowledgeable.
di Rose Hackman
An independent study commissioned by IBM has revealed that the youngest, technology-savvy and climate-conscious group of adults aged 18-24 years is also the most wasteful.
Generation Y (aged 18-24 years) is apparently the most informed age group when it comes to environmental issues; it is the worst group of offenders for energy awareness and water wastage. Overall, the study found Great Britain’s consumers spend £1.9 billion a year on unnecessary water and sewage charge.
55 percent of Gen-Y could not tell which household appliance consumed more energy – tumble dryers or incandescent light bulbs – compared to 43 percent of Great Britain’s consumers overall.
When given a list of household electrical appliances and asked which has the capacity to use the most energy, men were generally less aware, with one in four believing that a kettle uses more energy than a tumble dryer.
The study also found the Gen-Y group was the biggest culprit in terms of water wastage. In the first week of June, 72 percent of Gen-Y admitted to some form of water wastage – 56 percent left the tap running while cleaning teeth and 40 percent had the shower running for a few minutes before getting in. A typical two minute teeth-cleaning session wastes approximately 12 litres of water1, amounting to 236.8 million litres of water wasted across the nation for just one cleaning session a day per week.
Generation Y is more clued up than its parents, but instead of taking a stand seems too careless to even take simple, small steps to control their own wasteful use of resources.
Commenting on the need for a wake-up call, Jon Z Bentley, Energy & Environment Partner, IBM Global Business Services, said: “Climate change and the need to be careful in our use of energy, water and other natural resources are not transient issues. They will be with us for the next 40 years and beyond.”
In total, the average GB adult wasted 277 litres of water in just the first week of June 2009, enough to meet the daily fluid intake requirements of 230 adults in the UK to prevent dehydration, or sufficient to fill three and half baths. This equates to 1.8 billion litres of wasted water across the nation per day or 70 litres per household per day and an additional £77 a year on the average water bill.
