Strategies for Responding to Climate Change

Modern society has become dependent on oil, gas and coal as the main sources of energy for transportation, home heating, farming and manufacturing. The burning of fossil fuels releases CO₂ into the atmosphere and magnifies the greenhouse effect.

Here is the work required to address climate change:

• Identification of the problem using a greenhouse gas inventory to measure changes in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. (see Impact).
• Setting emissions reduction targets (see Managing Climate Change)
• Developing action plans for addressing the causes of climate change (see below)
• Implementing the action plan.
• Monitoring results.

There are two approaches to addressing climate change:

• Mitigation : dealing with the causes in order to minimize global warming
• Adaptation : dealing with the consequences by taking measures to reduce the impact of warming.

The more promising approach is to try and prevent global warming. The consequences of global warming are too catastrophic to be effectively addressed after they happen.

Mitigation : Dealing with the Cause

Mitigation tackles the causes of climate change, by two methods:

• Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
• Enhancing carbon sinks that trap greenhouse gas emissions

There are four basic ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

• Conservation: reducing the amount of energy we require
• Using alternative energy sources
• Technological development of alternative sources of energy, and
• Carbon capture and storage of carbon emissions in geological formations

Conservation

Cities consume 78% of energy and produce 60% of CO₂ emissions.

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in cities and rural areas can be effected by construction of energy efficient buildings:

• changing construction materials
• placement of windows
• use of colour
• insulation
• reduced construction of single occupancy dwellings

Conservation measures are implemented in city planning by changing zoning to allow for construction of more multi-unit buildings and by changes to building codes to require changes in construction practices.

Supply of Energy : using alternatives for to the production of energy

Coal is used to generate 37% of the world’s electricity Sometimes a different fossil fuel, natural gas, is used. Sources of renewable energy other than fossil fuels are also used to generate electricity such as hydro-electric, geothermal power, wind power and solar power installations.

Hydroelectric provides 16% of energy needs. Flooding causes habitat loss, silting and other issues with stream flow.

Geothermal power is extracted from the Earth. Currently it has a high capital cost. Extraction must be monitored to ensure continual supply.

Nuclear energy meets 4.9% of energy needs. It produces few greenhouse gases and has low operating costs. The downsides are the risks of radiation leaks, disposal of waste water used to cool plants and the difficulty in disposal of radioactive, spent nuclear fuel.

Reliance on Biological Resources

Biofuels are estimated to provide 4%, of global energy demand. The amount of carbon emission generated by bio fuels is offset by the amount of CO₂ removed from the atmosphere while the biofuel is growing.

Use of biological resources as sources of energy, such as forests and corn fields, may not be sustainable. It takes years for forests to mature. Use of plant matter for fuel often uses agricultural and ecologically sensitive lands and water resources and takes away from food production.

Use of biomass as an energy source may lead to ecological damage, creating dangerous levels of particulate matter in the air, with implications for human health.

Energy can be extracted from sewage.

Developing Technology

New technological alternatives to fossil fuels have the potential to meet the planet’s energy needs. New technology has led to the development of alternate sources of energy, less dependent on carbon such as solar cells and wind turbines. Technology is leading to development of energy sources that are actually becoming cheaper than carbon-based energy. Transition and development costs can be expensive.

Wind power is almost clean and virtually inexhaustible, the downside is noise pollution. This form of energy is intermittent, providing energy only when wind is present.

Solar power (photovoltaic cells) are also inexhaustible and intermittent. They are a clean source of electricity once manufacturing is complete. Toxic chemicals and heavy metals are used in production,

Other alternatives are tidal power and wave power.

Consumption of Energy – using alternatives to fossil fuels

A number of steps can be taken to switch from the use of fossil fuels for transportation, home heating and cooking. Reduction in the use of hydrocarbons can be effected by changing patterns of energy consumption, switching away from fossil fuels to use of electrical energy:

• Transportation changes include:
  1. use of buses and other forms of mass transportation in place of cars
  2. use of trolley buses and electric cars and trains in place of gas and diesel-powered vehicles
  3. use of fuel cell technology (which converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions). Fuel cells may never become commercially viable.
• Home heating :  lternatives to home heating by fossil fuels are:
  1. switch from heating by fossil fuels to heating with electrical radiators
  2. use of heat pumps to extract heat from ground water and the air (which is 3 times more efficient than the use of electric radiators). Heat pumps use a reversed refrigeration process.
  3. use of solar thermal and water collectors which use sunlight to heat water or air
• Changes in cooking involve the use of electric rather than use of gas or oil-fired stoves.

Use of Carbon Sinks

Carbon capture and storage allows for the use of fossil fuels without the release of CO₂ into the atmosphere. The technique requires three steps:

1. collection of the gas
2. transportation to suitable storage location, often coal beds and saline aquifers, and
3. sealing of the gas in the storage facility. There is a high cost to setting up these system.

Carbon sequestration involves using plants to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere by simply planting trees where they are not planted and replanting forests. Carbon sequestration also involves the retention of carbon sinks—forests, wetlands, bogs and fossil fuel reserves.

Policy Tools for Implementing Climate Mitigation Measures

Communities can be moved to reduce use of fossil fuels through a number of strategies.

Regulatory Measures

Laws and policies can be used to influence people to reduce carbon consumption. Measures involve:

• regulations to increase vehicle efficiency or regulate the manufacture and propulsion of vehicles
• adoption of green building codes
• urban planning strategies, and
• use of fines and penalties

Providing Economic Incentives and Disincentives

Measures include:

• providing electric vehicle and heat pump subsidies
• carbon taxes: Increasing taxes on fossil fuels to encourage people to move to other energy sources (example: tax at the fuel pump to encourage use of electric vehicles, carbon tax on natural gas.)
• research grants to encourage technological innovation
• cap and trade. Emissions trading is a market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of pollutants
• a carbon offset allows manufacturers to effect emission reduction and sell credits to other industries

Voluntary Strategies

Voluntary strategies involve education programs designed to change behaviour and make people aware of their impact on the natural world. Information and demonstration of strategies, often support behavioural changes.

Education programs in schools suffer from spotty implementation and inadequate resources.

Barriers

Barriers often prevent effective action to mitigate climate change. Barriers include:

• lack of funds (budget constraints)
• lack of technical resources
• lack of education,
• misinformation, and
• institutional failures—failure of national and international governments to plan climate management measures

Adaptation : Adapting to Climate Change

Adapting to climate change is a strategy of accepting climate change and reacting to its consequences. It is uncertain how much of the planet will remain habitable and remain available to adapt for life, if global warming is not limited.

Adaptation can be either proactive or reactive. Reactive adaptation helps affected people to recover from events: storms, floods and fires after they happen using a coordinated disaster response. This strategy requires spending money to recover from disasters rather than preventing the catastrophe and the expense from occurring in the first place.

Proactive responses are more complicated and depend on an ability to predict events and anticipate their impact. Construction of dykes and removal of flammable material are two strategies. Other examples include:

• flood-proof homes, elevated basements
• land use restrictions to prevent development on flood plans
• use of permeable surfaces to facilitate the passage of rainwater
• planning for water from available sources during drought. (Sources may be limited.)