A Bleak Look Into Our Climate's Future

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Schemes seem to be futile
Source: Petr Kratochvil / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Browsing the IEA website regarding the projections of coal use and carbon dioxide emissions, will give you an update of the worsening climate conditions that will soon follow. The projections through 2035 states that coal use as well as carbon dioxide emissions will continue to increase. What is alarming about these projections is that they were probably made while taking into consideration many factors such as international policies and advances in technology.

The recently held UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol along with their claimed future legally binding agreements lack the teeth to enforce the terms that will be agreed upon. India and China are still contending that their economic development should not be hampered by greenhouse gas reduction schemes unless other developed countries also abide by them. The United States, on the other hand, refuses to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and lately, Canada withdrew from it.

What all of this will boil down to is that unless we can develop a clean alternative drop-in fuel that is cheaper than coal and oil, we may well be on our way past the 2°C ceiling on global warming. At present, fossil fuels are still the primary fuel for electricity production and transportation around the world. Finding a suitable substitute for it seems to be bleak. Anyone got an idea? You’re most welcome.

Alternative Fuels: If We Cannot Compete With Price, Go For Value

Gas Prices Continue to Increase
Source: Peter Griffin / www.publicdomainpictures.net

As advances in technology, particularly in fracking, make it easier for us to extract oil and natural gas, alongside discoveries of more and more oil and coal deposits, the lure to lavishly use fossil fuels is ever more present. Had it not been for the high prices of fuels at the pump, the issues regarding climate change might have been set aside long ago.

Carbon emissions harm the environment and will bring about catastrophic weather conditions. Unless new technologies are developed to combat these harmful effects the need to improve and develop alternative energy sources is huge. With lesser incentives for alternative energy usage and development being pushed, the sector must work harder to be more competent with fossil fuels.

If we could not yet find a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels, we should at least try to develop a more valuable replacement.

Promoting Alternative Energy Use By Directly Affecting People

Power Meters
Source: public-domain-image.com

The use of alternative energy to be successful will require people from the root level to also use it. Campaigns about climate change and the harmful effects of carbon dioxide emissions is not doing much to convince everybody to use alternative energy. To better foster a transition, the benefits of using alternative energy have to be more direct.

What’s Stopping Us From Turning Waste Into Energy

We all know that garbage is one of our main problems when it comes to environmental pollution. But what if we burn it and use it as fuel for our power plants?

Generating electricity from wastes 

through incineration is 

a good way to dispose garbage

Photo Credits: Kim Newberg / publicdomainpictures.net

Incinerating our wastes and converting it into a source of electricity is a good idea you might say but, as it turns out, it is not that feasible. That is why, as of now, the trend is to look for alternatives other than this to solve pollution and electricity generation.

California Imposes Shark Fin Ban

       



 Bright news for shark conservationists - California recently passed AB 376 which will impose the statewide ban on sale, importation and  possession of shark fins. The law will go into effect in 2013.


photo credit:  commons.wikimedia.org