By David M. Greenwald
Executive Editor
This week Davis will discuss once more on its Climate Motion and Adaptation Plan. An enormous focus locally appears to be on a mandate for electrification.
While constructing energy is currently only 15% of Davis’ total emissions, town still believes “this can be a significant goal to satisfy the City’s carbon neutrality goal.” Staff adds, “Electrification reduces GHG emissions by replacing natural gas appliances with electric appliances if the supplied electricity is carbon-free (may also be known as 100% renewable).”
Staff notes, “Unlike the transportation sector where vehicle manufacturers have set aggressive targets to extend electric vehicle sales, there isn’t any industry-wide commitment to decarbonizing existing buildings, which places many of the responsibility for motion on the community level. The Constructing Energy actions within the CAAP primarily emphasize voluntary compliance, through education and outreach.”
Critics proceed to point just how costly even a phase out at time of alternative could be. The town can takes steps to mitigate those costs through grants and subsidies.
I proceed to wonder just how impactful local level change will actually be given the enormity of the worldwide problem.
There’s just about only bad news on the climate change front today.
This morning, the Washington Post has a story, “Near the top of 2020, because the covid-19 pandemic continued to rage, a number of climate scientists and energy experts made a prediction. They estimated that emissions from fossil fuels — which had just plummeted due to the worldwide pandemic — might never again reach the heights of 2019. Perhaps, they speculated, after over a century of ever more carbon dioxide flowing into the atmosphere, the world had finally reached “peak” emissions. They were fallacious.”
Based on a report released last month by the Global Carbon Project, “carbon emissions from fossil fuels in 2022 are expected to achieve 37.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the very best ever recorded.”
The Post writes, “That signifies that despite the continued fallout from the coronavirus pandemic — which caused emissions to drop by over 5 percent in 2020 — CO2 emissions are back and stronger than ever.”
I feel on the time, all of us saw a possible for a gamechanging move – and the shortage of strong leadership fumbled the chance.
In the course of the past century, “carbon emissions have only ever fallen in a single circumstance: crisis.”
Coal is a large problem and the most important offender now shouldn’t be China, but India.
“Coal is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, releasing 820 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions for each gigawatt of electricity produced,” the Post notes. “India’s use of the world’s dirtiest fuel has skyrocketed. India’s coal use is ready to extend by 5 percent in 2022, on top of a 15 percent increase the yr before. All of that signifies that previously two years, emissions from burning coal have increased by almost a gigaton.”
Finally, while developed nations have seen their emissions declined, “that decline hasn’t happened nearly fast enough to counterbalance the expansion in emissions from developing countries.”
Meanwhile CNBC this weekend published a story, “Parking lots have gotten as vital as cars in climate change efforts.”
Amongst the important thing findings:
- France would require all parking lots with 80 or more spaces to be covered by solar panels.
- Major corporations within the U.S. are switching to solar energy for each the price advantages and net-zero goals related to climate change and carbon reduction.
- Solar carports and rooftop solar are the design options that companies from grocery stores to warehouses usually tend to deploy as costs come down.
Finally, an ominous article this weekend within the NY Times, about The Texas Public Policy Foundation, that’s waging a national crusade against climate change.
“The Texas Public Policy Foundation is shaping laws, running influence campaigns and taking legal motion in a bid to advertise fossil fuels,” the Times reports.
The group is “an Austin-based nonprofit organization backed by oil and gas corporations and Republican donors.”
Reports the Times, “With influence campaigns, legal motion and model laws, the group is promoting fossil fuels and attempting to stall the American economy’s transition toward renewable energy. It’s upfront about its opposition to Vineyard Wind and other renewable energy projects, making no apologies for its advocacy work.”
The group “has spread misinformation about climate science. With YouTube videos, regular appearances on Fox and Friends, and social media campaigns, the group’s executives have sought to persuade lawmakers and the general public that a transition away from oil, gas and coal would harm Americans.
“They’ve often seized on current events to advertise dubious narratives, pinning high gasoline prices on President Biden’s climate policies (economists say that’s not the driving force) or claiming the 2021 winter blackout in Texas was the results of unreliable wind energy (it wasn’t).”
So within the midst of all of this, we’re going to have the Davis debate over electrification.
But while I understand that the price to the person is prohibitive, a recent report found that “insufficient motion on climate change could cost the U.S. economy $14.5 trillion in the subsequent 50 years. A lack of this scale is similar to nearly 4% of GDP or $1.5 trillion in 2070 alone. And over the subsequent 50 years, nearly 900,000 jobs could disappear annually resulting from climate damage.”
In April, CNBC reported that in line with White House estimates, Climate change could cost the US no less than $2 trillion per yr by the top of the century.
Meanwhile the UN climate science panel’s highly anticipated report this spring warned that slashing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels would require greenhouse gas emissions to peak before 2025.
Bottom line: things are getting worse and they will cost rather a lot to either fix or adapt.
