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The Week in Germany: Business and Technology May 4, 2007 Boosting Energy Efficiency Imperative to Avert Climate Crisis
Only 13 years are left to avert a climate change catastrophe, according to a draft of the next part of the latest UN climate report. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed by 2020, there will be irreversible consequences such as a melting of the polar ice caps, rising sea levels and widespread flooding, it suggests. Mankind's role in damaging the climate and its consequences for the planet have already been outlined in the first two parts of the report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In the third section unveiled in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Friday (May 4), the IPCC outlined what options are left for us to save the planet One big opportunity is boosting energy efficiency, according to Olav Hohmeyer of the northern German University of Flensburg, one of the co-authors of the new report. He underscores that energy efficiency is more economical than renewable energy, although investments in renewable sources are also necessary to counter global warming. "Tightening guidelines on the construction of new homes could result in energy savings of 10 to 20 percent from current levels," said Hohmeyer. "The regulations in force today are far removed from what is possible in the future." The construction industry has a key role to play in conserving energy, and he called for steps to be introduced now so that climate issues could be resolved by 2050. Household electrical equipment is another area with a great potential for savings. Japan has the toughest regulations for such goods. "The highest standard there today will be the minimum standard in a few years' time," said Hohmeyer. A legal limit on fuel consumption should moreover be introduced for cars using conventional fuels. "Politicians need to define standards and constantly improve them," Hohmeyer added. Another German co-author of the report, economist Ottmar Edenhofer of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, believes that economic incentives are needed to force action on climate change. "The atmosphere should no longer be used free of charge. People who pollute have to pay," he said, calling for improvements in carbon trading and the inclusion of more countries in the process. Economists believe that investments in new technology to the tune of less than 1 percent of gross domestic product per year would be enough to achieve an effective slowdown in climate change. "The conflict between business and environmental protection can only be overcome if governments invest in the proper technology," said Edenhofer. As examples, he mentions biomass, underground storage of carbon dioxide and solar thermal projects which convert heat from the sun. A pilot project has just started for CO2 storage, but scientists remain divided on whether this system will contribute to climate protection. Hohmeyer is optimistic than China and the United States, two of the world's biggest polluters, will in future join in international agreements to protect the environment. In the case of the United States, he believes this could come after the presidential elections in 2008. "It's possible that the US might ratify the Kyoto protocols in 2008," he says in reference to the international agreement requiring countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions nationally by 2012. If Washington were to do this, China and India could follow suit under a system that allows them carbon emission rights per head of population, according to Hohmeyer. "Under such a system of apportion, each person on earth would receive the same emission rights by, say, 2080 or 2100," he says. In 2003 Americans produced 20 tons of carbon dioxide per head of population,
Germans 10.5 tons, Chinese 3.5 tons and Indians 1 ton. (dpa) Links: Berlin Conferences Discusses Ways to Save Energy (TWIG, April 27, 2007) Germany's
Largest Glacier Keeps Melting Despite "Sun Screen" |
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