Consumers will have to pay hundreds of pounds more on their electricity bills in future because the Government has failed to invest enough in cheap alternative sources like wind and solar power, the Royal Society has warned.
The UK Government has committed to cutting greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050 to tackle climate change. Most of the cuts will have to come from switching from fossil fuels such as oil and coal to renewable energy sources like the wind or waves.
However a new report by the Royal Society has found a “disappointing rate of progress” on new technology such as offshore wind turbines, solar panels and biofuels.
The document by the country’s leading scientists said the UK will have to invest billions more in developing new technologies as well as building a new generation of nuclear power stations and investing in “clean coal”. The bill is most likely to be paid by energy companies through a system of incentives and taxes.
Professor John Shepherd, lead author of the report, said ultimately consumers will end up paying.
“We have to be prepared to pay more for energy as a whole than we have been used to in order to avoid the side effects on the environment and have cleaner sources of energy in the future,” he said.
Lord Turner, the Government’s adviser on climate change, has already warned that electricity bills may have to rise by around £500 per annum over the next decade.
Prof Shepherd said it was likely to cost the consumer hundreds of pounds every year. However he said the cost could be even greater if the UK continues to rely on fossil fuels as the cost of oil and coal continues to rise.
“Would a few per cent on your electricity bills really be too much to pay for a sustainable energy future?” he asked. “I do not think it would.”
Prof Shepherd also said the UK will have to invest in nuclear despite safety concerns. Britain’s nuclear watchdog recently admitted there were more than 1,750 leaks, breakdowns or other “events” over the past seven years.
Again Prof Shepherd said the Government has failed to invest in the technology but the industry could be developed by employing more engineers and experts from abroad.
Coal will also have to be used in the future despite concerns about the carbon emissions through investing in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The Royal Society are calling for any new power stations to capture 90 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 – much tougher than the Government’s “disappointing” current policy.
However in the long run Prof Shepherd, a climate scientist at Southampton University, said the UK must rely on renewables like solar and wind.
“For the sake of future generations we cannot afford to wait until our climate is changed dramatically or the oil runs out before we end our dependency on fossil fuels,” he warned.
Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change minister, said the UK will be setting out a vision for renewables in a white paper due to be revealed next month.
“We have identified ways to tackle the challenges – we will need a mix of renewables, clean fossil fuels and nuclear and we’re already making world leading progress in those areas,” he said.
Source - The Telegraph
Showing posts with label greenhouse gases. Show all posts
Showing posts with label greenhouse gases. Show all posts
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Thursday, 7 May 2009
China ready for post-Kyoto deal on climate change
China is ready to abandon its resistance to limits on its carbon emissions and wants to reach an international deal to fight global warming, the Guardian has learned.
According to Britain's climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, who met senior officials in Beijing this week, China is ready to "do business" with developed countries to reach an agreement to replace the Kyoto treaty.
Miliband said he was encouraged by the change in tone since late last year in the country that emits more greenhouse gases than any other. "I think they're up for a deal. I get the strong impression that they want an agreement," he told the Guardian.
"They see the impact of climate change on China and they know the world is moving towards a low-carbon economy and see the business opportunities that will come with that."
The shift in the Chinese position significantly improves the chances of an agreement being reached when world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a deal that scientists say is critical if dangerous warming is to be avoided.
While Britain and the European Union – which have a large historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions – are pushing for ambitious reduction targets at home, no global climate deal will be possible in Copenhagen without the agreement of China and the US, which together are responsible for more than 40% of the world's annual carbon emissions.
China's official negotiating position is unchanged, but the government is understood to be preparing a set of targets up to and beyond 2020 to lower the country's "carbon intensity". This translates to cutting the emissions needed to produce each unit of economic growth.
Miliband said Barack Obama's pledge to reduce US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 has unblocked the international negotiating process.
"China used to think the developed world is not serious. That's what they were saying [at UN talks] in December," he said. "But now they know the US is on the pitch and ready to engage with them. It has made a real difference to what China is saying."
His comments echoed the message from Chinese officials. Su Wei, a senior negotiator, told the Guardian last month that the US had made a "substantive change" under the Obama administration.
"The message we have got is that the current US administration takes climate change seriously, that it recognises its historical responsibility and that it has the capacity to help developing countries address climate change," Su said.
But while the tone may have changed, there is still a long way to go before agreement can be reached on specifics.
China wants developed nations to commit to more ambitious reduction targets, to share low-carbon technology and to set up a UN fund that would buy related intellectual property rights for use across the world. Beijing's position is complicated by the fact that it already owns a large share of the patents for wind and solar energy in developed nations.
Europe and the US accept the Chinese economy should be allowed to grow further, improving the living standards of its millions of poor, before it makes overall emissions reductions. Instead, the western nations are pushing for strong measures to improve efficiency and establish caps for certain industries. One possibility being considered by Chinese officials is to set a carbon intensity goal up to 2040 that would include energy efficiency, renewable energy, transport and afforestation.
"It would be very welcome for China to set a commitment for carbon intensity," said Miliband. "It would send a signal around the world."
He was visiting Minqin county, a remote area in north-western China threatened by desertification and drought. Along with the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, the spread of deserts and the shortage of water have highlighted the destructive impact of unsustainable development and climate change.
"We're very concerned about climate change," said Xu Wenshan, the deputy mayor of Wuwei, at a welcome banquet. "Living in such an ecologically fragile area, we will feel the impact directly if there is a further rise in the temperature."
Jim Watson, of the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said it had become the mainstream view in China that global warming was caused by human activity, which was not the view five years ago.
"We see significant policy shifts and encouraging developments in technology, for example phenomenal development of wind power and plug-in cars. That could be a sign of things to come," he said. "My impression is that although the negotiators haven't moved ground officially, there are a hell of a lot of new ideas. They are very interested in low-carbon economy."
Last month, the Tyndale centre published research showing that it was possible for China to begin reducing its total emissions from 2020.
Government officials say that is unrealistic and China has so far resisted announcing a target for when emissions might peak. But the authorities tend towards the later end of the various academic forecasts of between 2020 and 2040.
Watson noted that if emissions are measured on a historical per-capita basis, China is 78th in the world rather than first.
Source - The Guardian
According to Britain's climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, who met senior officials in Beijing this week, China is ready to "do business" with developed countries to reach an agreement to replace the Kyoto treaty.
Miliband said he was encouraged by the change in tone since late last year in the country that emits more greenhouse gases than any other. "I think they're up for a deal. I get the strong impression that they want an agreement," he told the Guardian.
"They see the impact of climate change on China and they know the world is moving towards a low-carbon economy and see the business opportunities that will come with that."
The shift in the Chinese position significantly improves the chances of an agreement being reached when world leaders meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a deal that scientists say is critical if dangerous warming is to be avoided.
While Britain and the European Union – which have a large historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions – are pushing for ambitious reduction targets at home, no global climate deal will be possible in Copenhagen without the agreement of China and the US, which together are responsible for more than 40% of the world's annual carbon emissions.
China's official negotiating position is unchanged, but the government is understood to be preparing a set of targets up to and beyond 2020 to lower the country's "carbon intensity". This translates to cutting the emissions needed to produce each unit of economic growth.
Miliband said Barack Obama's pledge to reduce US emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 has unblocked the international negotiating process.
"China used to think the developed world is not serious. That's what they were saying [at UN talks] in December," he said. "But now they know the US is on the pitch and ready to engage with them. It has made a real difference to what China is saying."
His comments echoed the message from Chinese officials. Su Wei, a senior negotiator, told the Guardian last month that the US had made a "substantive change" under the Obama administration.
"The message we have got is that the current US administration takes climate change seriously, that it recognises its historical responsibility and that it has the capacity to help developing countries address climate change," Su said.
But while the tone may have changed, there is still a long way to go before agreement can be reached on specifics.
China wants developed nations to commit to more ambitious reduction targets, to share low-carbon technology and to set up a UN fund that would buy related intellectual property rights for use across the world. Beijing's position is complicated by the fact that it already owns a large share of the patents for wind and solar energy in developed nations.
Europe and the US accept the Chinese economy should be allowed to grow further, improving the living standards of its millions of poor, before it makes overall emissions reductions. Instead, the western nations are pushing for strong measures to improve efficiency and establish caps for certain industries. One possibility being considered by Chinese officials is to set a carbon intensity goal up to 2040 that would include energy efficiency, renewable energy, transport and afforestation.
"It would be very welcome for China to set a commitment for carbon intensity," said Miliband. "It would send a signal around the world."
He was visiting Minqin county, a remote area in north-western China threatened by desertification and drought. Along with the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, the spread of deserts and the shortage of water have highlighted the destructive impact of unsustainable development and climate change.
"We're very concerned about climate change," said Xu Wenshan, the deputy mayor of Wuwei, at a welcome banquet. "Living in such an ecologically fragile area, we will feel the impact directly if there is a further rise in the temperature."
Jim Watson, of the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said it had become the mainstream view in China that global warming was caused by human activity, which was not the view five years ago.
"We see significant policy shifts and encouraging developments in technology, for example phenomenal development of wind power and plug-in cars. That could be a sign of things to come," he said. "My impression is that although the negotiators haven't moved ground officially, there are a hell of a lot of new ideas. They are very interested in low-carbon economy."
Last month, the Tyndale centre published research showing that it was possible for China to begin reducing its total emissions from 2020.
Government officials say that is unrealistic and China has so far resisted announcing a target for when emissions might peak. But the authorities tend towards the later end of the various academic forecasts of between 2020 and 2040.
Watson noted that if emissions are measured on a historical per-capita basis, China is 78th in the world rather than first.
Source - The Guardian
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Bright Future With Solar Lanterns For India's Poor
Solar energy has the potential to improve the living conditions of poor rural households in India as well as contribute to the country’s future energy security, according to Professor Govindasamy Agoramoorthy from Tajen University, who is Tata-Sadguru Visiting Chair, and Dr. Minna Hsu from the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan.
Their study, looking at the benefits of solar lanterns on the livelihoods of village communities in Western India, as well as sustainable use of the environment, has just been published online in Springer’s journal Human Ecology.
In India, approximately 70 percent of rural areas lack electricity and over 60 percent of rural households use kerosene lamps for lighting. Kerosene lamps are not only expensive, they are also inefficient, potentially dangerous and a major source of greenhouse gases. Interestingly, the average number of sunny days in India ranges from 250 to 300 days a year, with a solar energy equivalent greater than the country’s total energy consumption. Energy efficiency is critical to nations such as India with large and growing populations. Solar lanterns, which make the most of the country’s natural and abundant sunshine, could be a practical and clean energy alternative to kerosene lamps in village communities.
Sadguru Foundation, a non-profit agency specializing in natural resources management in India, supplied 100 solar lanterns to socially and economically disadvantaged households in 25 villages in the Dahod District of the Gujarat State between January 2004 and December 2007. Agoramoorthy and Hsu studied the effects of using solar lanterns on energy usage, household savings in terms of kerosene and electricity costs, as well as the family’s quality of life. The women in the households were interviewed a month before and again a month after the introduction of the solar lanterns.
Overall, expenditure on kerosene and electricity dropped significantly in all households, after the solar lanterns were introduced. On average each household made important savings ranging from 150 to 250 US dollars annually. Whereas both households above and below the poverty level used a similar amount of electricity before the lanterns were introduced, after their introduction households below the poverty level used significantly less electricity than those above the poverty level.
The researchers also found that the solar lanterns particularly benefited school-aged children and women. Although 70 percent of the villages are connected to the power grid, they do not receive power early in the morning or in the evening because the state power company redirects electricity to major towns and cities. However, with the six hours of light supplied daily by the solar lanterns, study hours increased which had a positive influence on the children’s performance at school. Women were also able to perform their routine household work both indoors and outdoors during power outages.
The authors conclude that “the use of solar energy will contribute to India’s future energy security, particularly in rural areas where the technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity offers a decentralized alternative to uncertain electricity supplies. If implemented efficiently, renewable energy projects could not only improve the quality of life for India’s rural poor but also enhance sustainable use of the environment.”
Source - Sciencedaily
Their study, looking at the benefits of solar lanterns on the livelihoods of village communities in Western India, as well as sustainable use of the environment, has just been published online in Springer’s journal Human Ecology.
In India, approximately 70 percent of rural areas lack electricity and over 60 percent of rural households use kerosene lamps for lighting. Kerosene lamps are not only expensive, they are also inefficient, potentially dangerous and a major source of greenhouse gases. Interestingly, the average number of sunny days in India ranges from 250 to 300 days a year, with a solar energy equivalent greater than the country’s total energy consumption. Energy efficiency is critical to nations such as India with large and growing populations. Solar lanterns, which make the most of the country’s natural and abundant sunshine, could be a practical and clean energy alternative to kerosene lamps in village communities.
Sadguru Foundation, a non-profit agency specializing in natural resources management in India, supplied 100 solar lanterns to socially and economically disadvantaged households in 25 villages in the Dahod District of the Gujarat State between January 2004 and December 2007. Agoramoorthy and Hsu studied the effects of using solar lanterns on energy usage, household savings in terms of kerosene and electricity costs, as well as the family’s quality of life. The women in the households were interviewed a month before and again a month after the introduction of the solar lanterns.
Overall, expenditure on kerosene and electricity dropped significantly in all households, after the solar lanterns were introduced. On average each household made important savings ranging from 150 to 250 US dollars annually. Whereas both households above and below the poverty level used a similar amount of electricity before the lanterns were introduced, after their introduction households below the poverty level used significantly less electricity than those above the poverty level.
The researchers also found that the solar lanterns particularly benefited school-aged children and women. Although 70 percent of the villages are connected to the power grid, they do not receive power early in the morning or in the evening because the state power company redirects electricity to major towns and cities. However, with the six hours of light supplied daily by the solar lanterns, study hours increased which had a positive influence on the children’s performance at school. Women were also able to perform their routine household work both indoors and outdoors during power outages.
The authors conclude that “the use of solar energy will contribute to India’s future energy security, particularly in rural areas where the technology that converts sunlight directly into electricity offers a decentralized alternative to uncertain electricity supplies. If implemented efficiently, renewable energy projects could not only improve the quality of life for India’s rural poor but also enhance sustainable use of the environment.”
Source - Sciencedaily
Monday, 19 May 2008
Five Ways to Reduce Global Warming
1. Methods are emerging for cost-effectively turning waste streams into energy. This addresses both the pollution issue as well as the energy issue. Every municipality should implement one of these myriad of approaches as soon as possible.
2.There are thousands of proven methods for significantly increasing fuel economy and decreasing emissions, which are being implemented on a grassroots level on existing vehicles.The auto industry should implement these from the factory. The shift toward hybrids and all-electric vehicles should also be encouraged and supported, which can be powered from renewable energy sources.
3.Clean energy technologies are arising that can replace fossil-fuel-based energy. Because these are increasingly cost effective, the market is likely to help expedite their emergence, first on the utility scale, then to a distributed level, then to a residential level, and eventually to an individual appliance level.
4.An earth stewardship consciousness is increasing, which helps foster the right awareness and motivation to help these emerging solutions move forward expeditiously.Foremost among the attitude shifts needs to be a dramatic reduction in the consumerism mentality.
5.In as much as a significant degree of global warming is caused by natural mega cycles that we happen to be in, while we might intercede with large scale deflection approaches, an awareness that cycles of death and rejuvenation are natural should be held in perspective. While we should cut back and reverse our contribution to greenhouse gases, and we might even deflect some of the effects of natural greenhouse emissions, we shouldn’t become too fixated on changing what may be a natural phenomenon.
Source - Ways to reduce global warming
2.There are thousands of proven methods for significantly increasing fuel economy and decreasing emissions, which are being implemented on a grassroots level on existing vehicles.The auto industry should implement these from the factory. The shift toward hybrids and all-electric vehicles should also be encouraged and supported, which can be powered from renewable energy sources.
3.Clean energy technologies are arising that can replace fossil-fuel-based energy. Because these are increasingly cost effective, the market is likely to help expedite their emergence, first on the utility scale, then to a distributed level, then to a residential level, and eventually to an individual appliance level.
4.An earth stewardship consciousness is increasing, which helps foster the right awareness and motivation to help these emerging solutions move forward expeditiously.Foremost among the attitude shifts needs to be a dramatic reduction in the consumerism mentality.
5.In as much as a significant degree of global warming is caused by natural mega cycles that we happen to be in, while we might intercede with large scale deflection approaches, an awareness that cycles of death and rejuvenation are natural should be held in perspective. While we should cut back and reverse our contribution to greenhouse gases, and we might even deflect some of the effects of natural greenhouse emissions, we shouldn’t become too fixated on changing what may be a natural phenomenon.
Source - Ways to reduce global warming
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
