Practical solutions to climate change
The Szencorp Building in Melbourne, Australia uses 70% less energy than a building of comparable size. How does it do it? In the search for an effective plan to meet the Kyoto targets, reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) to 7% below 1990 levels, the enormous potential that exists by increasing energy efficiencies is usually overlooked. Yet, the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels is to develop a comprehensive energy efficiency strategy. This not only makes environmental sense, but it can also be very profitable.
Improving the efficiency in how we use energy can be realized all along the energy chain, which is the conversion of primary energy (oil, coal, gas), to an energy carrier (electricity), and then on to useful energy that can do something (for example, power a light bulb). A staggering 2/3 of the energy stored in the primary energy source is lost before it ever hits that light bulb. So using more of the energy locked up in the primary energy source, and making the final product more efficient will dramatically decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce our GGEs.
Some examples; homes are notoriously inefficient at using energy. Most buildings are designed with the intention of minimizing construction costs rather than decreasing the overall life cycle cost of the structure. Homes and buildings built correctly can offer enormous savings in energy and money. Thick cellulose insulation prevents heat loss in winter and heat gain in the summer. Double paned windows can reduce heat flow by 50% or more. Compact fluorescent bulbs use a quarter of the energy of incandescent bulbs. Solar water heaters, convection ovens, and new refrigerators all contribute to dramatic energy savings. In Europe, new, intelligently designed buildings using solar/thermal energy do not need commercial energy sources, and the total building costs are similar to those of new structures of similar size.
But industry also needs to do its part. What about the big emitters of GGEs, coal fired power plants? Beyond not building any more of these plants, and transferring energy production to other sources, existing plants must capture the CO2 they emit and pump it into the ground, and not into the atmosphere.
As transportation accounts for 25% of worldwide GGEs, it is essential that industry be encouraged to adopt more stringent emission standards (eg. California’s), increase the efficiency of engines, improve transmissions, decrease the weight of vehicles, and improve tires to reduce drag. These changes can reduce fuel consumption by one third.
In terms of policy, the federal government should provide incentives through our tax system, such as removing the GST from the purchase of energy efficient technologies for work, home or transportation.
The evidence is extremely conclusive that we are moving into a dangerous phase of global warming. Anecdotally, almost all of the twenty hottest years on record have occurred since the 1980s. It is believed that the boundaries separating the truly dangerous consequences of emissions (the doubling of the concentration of CO2 that was in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution) from the merely worrisome is not far off. Erring on the side of conservation is the prudent course of action, and importantly this can be done without negatively affecting our economies. In fact, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is not only sensible environmentally but also wise from a security perspective. It is hard to imagine why events in the Middle East have not acted as a catalyst to focus the West’s attention on shifting to alternative fuel sources, and more efficient use of the carbon based fuels we do use. A sensible, doable, effective plan is at hand, it is just a matter of leadership and will.
-Keith
Practical solutions to climate change
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