Top 6 Ways We'll Beat Climate Change (Number 1 Will Surprise You!)

The world has set a goal of limiting global warming to 2°C by 2020. That's the most optimistic outcome that climate scientists have envisioned, and it is, in a nutshell, the climate change challenge. The International Energy Agency has laid out the solutions that we (the world) will use to reach this goal in its seminal report, Energy Technology perspectives. In this document, the IEA describes, on a proportional basis, exactly what technologies we will use to reach our 2°C goal. The bad news is that we're falling behind on our schedule -- the good is that all of the technologies described are available today and just need to have the right funding and international will applied to accelerate their deployment. In this list, the climate change solutions are ordered by the proportion required for each solution in a least-cost scenario, with the most effective solution listed last -- here we go, on to the list. Number 6 - Power generation efficiency and fuel switching (3%) It's no secret that natural gas is less polluting than coal. In fact it produces around half of the CO2 that coal would emit for the same amount of energy produced, and this percentage can be tweaked even further through innovative designs like GE's combined-cycle natural gas power plant. This type of advanced plant uses two levels of energy generation, a gas turbine and steam powered generator. You can read more about the process here. While new power plant designs like these work well, older coal-fired plants can also be retrofitted to change their fuel from coal to natural gas. Combine this with carbon capture technology (more about that later) and much of the exhaust CO2 can be prevented from entering the atmosphere. Number 5 - Nuclear energy (8%) The Fukushima disaster has caused many scientists, environmentalists and national governments to reevaluate their stance on nuclear energy. While a disaster of that scale is an uncommon occurrence, it has to be weighed against the damage we do to our environment while still relying on fossil-fuel supplied energy. The truth is that nuclear power supplies carbon free energy at a very cheap price— less than two cents per kilowatt-hour for operations, maintenance, and fuel. And while renewable energy is growing quickly, even at its peak it may be unable to match the efficiency of a modern nuclear reactor. Beyond fission nuclear power (all commercial reactors use fission so far) there is a hope that fusion power may also play a role. The benefits of fusion are bountiful, safe energy, very cheap fuel and minimal or no nuclear waste. have a look at our recent interview with Dennis Peterson from Focus Fusion for more information on the promise of fusion power. Number 4 - End use fuel switching (12%) Anyone who has been following the tech news knows about the meteoric rise of the electric car through companies like Tesla Motors. The IEA predicts that this trend will continue with more consumers voting with their wallets-- driving vehicles and powering their homes from alternative non-polluting sources. It's not just electric cars either. Companies like Hyundai, Toyota and Honda are making great strides in hydrogen powered fuel cell cars. And even today, fleets of taxis and other commercial vehicles are converting internal combustion engines to use natural gas or LPG instead of petrol - reducing CO2 emissions by over 20%. On the home front, new types of generators that rely on fuel cell technology or even Stirling engines are being used as back-up power for off-the-grid homes. It's no surprise why this area will make up 12% of our CO2 savings. Number 3 - Carbon capture and storage (14%) ​ Full disclosure: Decarboni.se is backed by the Global CCS Institute. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) means that CO2 is trapped at the point where it would otherwise be emitted, (usually power plants or big industrial factories) and then is stored (in deep geologic formations under the Earth) or reused to create other products. The reuse aspects means that CCS is sometimes referred to as CCUS (carbon capture, use and storage) and is described in more detail here. Existing fossil fuel power plants can be converted to CCS plants so that they can continue operating but drastically reduce their emissions. It also means that purpose-built coal and natural gas power plants can be constructed from the ground up, with CCS subsystems. The above image shows a newly funded CCS plant in England that will be built to power the area of Yorkshire. The plant, when completed, will produce enough electricity to power 630,000 homes and will have 90% of its CO2 emissions captured, transported by pipeline and then permanently stored under the North Sea seabed. In addition to decarbonising electricity generation, half the emissions reductions for CCS will come from industrial processes like the manufacture of steel, cement and fertilizer— these industries create lots of emissions, making it particularly important. Number 2 - Renewable energy (21%) Renewable energy has surged in the last 10 years to become the world's best known hope for combating climate change. Whether it's distributed rooftop solar (Germany makes 90% of its solar energy this way) or giant renewable power plants like the Canadian one in the picture - there's no doubt that renewable energy is already having an impact on our daily lives. Some think that there may even be a "Moore's Law" for technology like solar power that means that its capacity will increase almost exponentially. And it's not just solar doing the heavy lifting - wind energy, geothermal, biofuel and marine energy are all pulling their weight and will bring in a substantial 21% of the CO2 abatement — but not as much as our number one decarbonisation solution! Number 1 - End use energy efficiency (42%) You've heard the saying 'a penny saved is a penny earned'? The same goes for energy. A whopping 42% of our CO2 abatement will come from end use energy efficiency. An example of this type of saving is replacing the thousands of fluoro tubes in office buildings with LED versions that use 30% less electricity but produce just as much light. We can also get savings from smart appliances that know when energy is cheapest and turn themselves off when not in use. Some decidedly low-tech solutions can have big results too-- adding insulation can provide a 20% savings on your heating and cooling bill - and in turn reduce energy usage. No one technology will get us to the IEA's goal of limiting temperature rises to 2°C by 2020. Climate scientists and policy makers sometimes refer to a "portfolio approach" to climate change-- using all of the best solutions that we have available and combining their powers when possible to get the best possible results. The top six technologies we've listed here show us the way — time to get busy and join the battle. How will you participate in the climate change challenge? Let us know in a comment below, or get in touch on our Facebook page. Source:decarboni.se,bbc