Energy and Climate Change

Abstract

It is clear that the population growth, the extraction of materials, food production and increased energy needed for all human activities lead us to a state of collision with the capabilities of the biosphere and ecosystems in the process of ensuring the provision of goods and services essential for life (1). Production of conventional and clean energy is now one of the most serious issues in this scenario; both the international community and the world powers have begun to show signs of concern about energy security and the threat of climate change.

The current climate change has demonstrated for the first time that humanity has decisively changed the atmosphere by releasing CO₂ through the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use over 500 000 years . The origin of climate change can be traced back to two great transformations in energy use. First, water power was replaced by coal, a source of energy condensed by nature over millions of years. The use of coal for new technologies propelled the industrial revolution and triggered unprecedented increases in productivity. The second great transformation happened 150 years later. Oil had been a source of human energy for millennia. In China, for example, oil wells are recorded as early as the fourth century. However, the use of oil for internal combustion engines in the early twentieth century marked the beginning of a revolution in transport. The burning of coal and oil, along with natural gas, is a transformation providing the driving energy for great increases in wealth and productivity. The downside is that it is a prime contributor to climate change (2).

The human economy has grown rapidly, multiplied 60 times since the industrial revolution to date, and between 2010 and 2050 will be multiplied again by four. How to provide enough energy for such growth to continue without adding to emissions of greenhouse gases and therefore exacerbating climate change?

Technological responses and global proposals are obvious, but there is not enough political impetus of the great decision makers to contribute to its solution. One important proposal is to leave behind the fossil fuels (coal, oil) as the main source of energy production, and migrate as quickly as possible to renewable energy sources such as hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal and especially solar energy (1). By doing this, the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases is expected to be properly directed. In addition, there is need to increase the efficiency of power plants, increase use of renewable energy technologies, reinforce with a more efficient use of energy in transportation, building and the different industrial sectors (3).

At the end of the day, we must bear in mind that virtually all the energy we have available on the planet is from the sun. Fossil fuels are such because they were once living beings that, in large quantities, were buried by geological processes millions of years ago and were transformed gradually into oil and coal. Also, wind and hydro energy are solar energy and gravity products. Except for geothermal and nuclear energy, most sources of energy on Earth have to do with the sun in some way (1).

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) promotes various strategies for low-carbon, ranging from supporting the market transformation of efficient appliances energy to helping the countries to remove barriers to the access of renewable energy. It also promotes a long-term transition towards forms of sustainable and low-carbon transportation.

The cumulative global warming potential  has been avoided as a result of UNDP work on substances that deplete the ozone worldwide, amounting to 24,5 million metric tons of CO2 (4). The key, then, is to influence the behavior of institutions and people and encourage investment in businesses and activities which are innocuous on the environment.

The European Union, taking global leadership in combating climate change and yet making an effort to provide energy to any international crisis, has undertaken the challenge of a common energy reform, historically considered, with emphasis on environmental protection through renewable energy. Its leaders, in March 2007, undertook to achieve an energy strategy, known as 20-20-20, 2020. This strategy involves the fulfillment of three major objectives: 1) to reduce energy consumption by 20 % through increased energy efficiency; 2) to increase the use of renewable energy up to 20 % of total energy consumption, and 3) to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in relation to 1990 emissions by 20 %.

According to energy consumption trends, it appears that climate change is and will be inevitable, and the Earth will continue to warm. Just imagine that, to increase the energy consumption to 83,7 % until 2025, as planned since 1990, the planet will receive 76,4 % more CO2 during this period (5).

The more we delay in making decisions and changing our dominant patterns of energy generation and use, the higher the costs of adaptation to a future that is expected to announce adverse impacts.