A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check
Notes:
- Today the world’s coal, oil and natural gas industries dig up and pump out about seven billion tons of carbon a year, and society burns nearly all of it, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2).
- Every increase in concentration carries new risks, but avoiding that danger zone would reduce the likelihood of triggering major, irreversible climate changes, such as the disappearance of the Greenland ice cap.
- Humanity can emit only so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere before the climate enters a state unknown in recent geologic history and goes haywire.
- Climate scientists typically see the risks growing rapidly as CO2 levels approach a doubling of their pre-18th century value.
- To make the problem manageable, the required reduction in emissions can be broken down into “wedges”—an incremental reduction of a size that matches available technology.
- The stabilization triangle can be divided into seven “wedges,” each a reduction of 25 billion tons of carbon emissions over 50 years.
- Proved to be a useful unit because its size and time frame match what specific technologies can achieve. Many combinations of technologies can fill the seven wedges.
- Two long-term trends are certain to continue and will help.
- First, as societies get richer, the services sector—education, health, leisure, banking and so on—grows in importance relative to energy-intensive activities, such as steel production. All by itself, this shift lowers the carbon intensity of an economy.
- Second, deeply ingrained in the patterns of technology evolution is the substitution of cleverness for energy.
- The current pace of emissions growth already includes some steady reduction in carbon intensity.
- Ending the era of conventional coal- fired power plants is at the very top of the decarbonization agenda.
- Coal has become more competitive as a source of power and fuel because of energy security concerns and because of an increase in the cost of oil and gas.
- Coal power plant burns twice as much carbon per unit of electricity as a natural gas plant.
- Residential and commercial buildings account for 60 percent of global electricity demand today
- Another wedge would be achieved if industry finds additional ways to use electricity more efficiently.
- Renewable power can be produced from sunlight directly, either to energize photovoltaic cells or, using focusing mirrors, to heat a fluid and drive a turbine.
- Or the route can be indirect, harnessing hydropower and wind power, both of which rely on sun-driven weather patterns.
Summary: The need of renewable energy must be something we should be striving for. Since coal has become more competitive as a source of power and fuel because of energy security concerns and because of an increase in the cost of oil and gas. This is not good, since a coal power plant burns twice as much carbon per unit of electricity as a natural gas plant. We must use renewable energy, like solar power or wind power. We are destroying our environment by polluting our air when burning coal.
Reflection: After reading this article we need to educate others that the more efficient way to het energy is by solar power. Because sunlight will not run out like gasoline or oil. We should strive for better efficient methods to obtain our energy without destroying and polluting our environment. This generation will have the power to create new ways to go green!
Reflection: After reading this article we need to educate others that the more efficient way to het energy is by solar power. Because sunlight will not run out like gasoline or oil. We should strive for better efficient methods to obtain our energy without destroying and polluting our environment. This generation will have the power to create new ways to go green!