Climate Change and future

Climate Change and future Harsh reality of climate change is upon us and we cannot deny it. 2014 was hottest year of recorded history. Average temperature for the year 2015 was higher than 2014. Occurrence of hurricanes, super storms, Droughts, heat waves and wild fires have increased causing billions of dollars in losses. As per scientific analysis, these are not freak incidents of nature but are caused due to global warming. Global warming is caused due to increase in green house gases. Carbon dioxide and methane are green house gases. Percentage of green house gases has been increasing due to burning of fossil fuel in industry and production of electricity and in transport sector. The climate change is a global phenomena and U.S.A has taken leading role in this cooperative approach. U.S.A. has already pledged a contribution of $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund to cut carbon pollution. Climate change action plan shall be technology driven and financially viable. The government shall assist in research projects to open up new frontiers in technical expertise to convert solar, wind and tidal energy to electrical energy more efficiently and in cheaper way. Our goal is to move towards zero emission energy sources by 2050. Renewable energy will get tax breaks where as there will be carbon tax on CO2 emission on electricity generation from fossil fuel. We will allow technological innovation to decide the future as least-cost technology will be deployed (New Energy Outlook 2015 3). Green house gas emissions can be reduced by adopting following steps: Stronger fuel economy standards – improvement in efficiency of cars and trucks. Increase electricity production through renewable sources like wind power, solar power, bio-fuel, and geothermal power by further enhancing investment in these sectors to the tune of $500 billion. Providing tax breaks for new installations of solar panel and wind turbines. Decreasing electric consumption by increasing efficiency in industry, buildings and transport sector. Reduced use of green house emitting fuels by gradually phasing out old and inefficient coal-fired power plants and banning their construction and fixing tougher carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants. Phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies by 2020. Reducing methane emissions (40 to 50%) in oil and gas production. The United States’ pledge to cut net greenhouse-gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025 (relative to 2005 levels), shall deliver a major reduction in emissions while the economy grows by more than one-third over current levels (World Energy Outlook 12). Natural gas, the fossil fuel, has least green house gas impact on the atmosphere, and releases 43% less CO2 than burning coal. America has vast resources of Natural Gas deposited as shell gas. Natural Gas will increase its share of the electricity market. “By 2034, according to Black & Veatch, nearly half of U.S. electricity will come from natural gas combustion turbines or combined-cycle units, whereas conventional coal-fired generation will shrink to just 23 percent” (David Biello 1). Share for electricity production from different sources has been projected in the following table. ENERGY SOURCE FOR ELECTRICITY CURRENT US ENERGY FROM SOURCE (%) ENERGY FROM SOURCE (%) - 2020 PLAN CURRENT US ENERGY FROM SOURCE (%) - 2030 PLAN         COAL 38 34 25 GAS 28 30 34 HYDROELECTRIC 7 6 6 NUCLEAR 19 19 18 BIO FUELS 1 1.2 1.5 GEOTHERMAL 2 3 4.6 SOLAR 2 3.3 6.2 TIDAL 0 0 0.5 WIND POWER 3 3.5 4.2       Total 100 100 100 Electricity consumption will increase at a rate of 0.7% per year during the period. Lower growth rate will be possible due to increased efficiency as described above and improvement in electric transmission network. Coal-fired capacity will decline from 304 GW in 2013 to 260 GW in 2040.Power generation from natural gas will grow by an average of 2% per year, solar photovoltaic by 6.8% per year, geothermal by 5.5% per year, and biomass by 3.1% per year, all increase at faster average annual rates than wind (2.4% per year) (Annual Energy Outlook 2015 with projections to 2040 15). Slower growth for wind energy has been considered as setting up wind turbines require large coastal area, faces transmission bottleneck due to remote area of its installation and it has started with larger base. The cost of electricity from solar voltaic cells will become competitive by 2025 considering available current technology and increase in prices of natural gas to $5.8 per million BTU by 2025 ) (Annual Energy Outlook 2015 with projections to 2040 figure 6). There is huge potential for increase in renewable source of energy. This can be achieved by accelerating research projects and technological innovation. Tapping energy from tidal waves holds promise as one of the source of clean energy of the future.  Work cited “Annual Energy Outlook 2015 with projections to 2040”. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), April 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. Biello, David. Where Will the U.S. Get Its Electricity in 2034?. Scientific American, 25 February 2010. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. DiStasio, Cat. The world is on target to get 26 percent of energy from renewables by 2020. Inhabitat Newsletter, 10 August 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. http://inhabitat.com/the-world-is-on-target-to-get-26-percent-of-energy-from-renewables-by-2020. Merchant, Brian. One Quarter of the World Will Run on Clean Energy by the End of the Decade. Motherboard, 5 October 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/ read/one-quarter-of-the- world-will-run-on-clean-energy-by-the-end-of-the-decade. “New Energy Outlook 2015, Executive Summary June 2015”. Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. Tweed, Katherine. Utility-Scale Solar Reaches Cost Parity With Natural Gas Throughout America. Greentech Media, 30 Sept. 2015.Web. 25 Oct. 2015. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Utility-Scale-Solar-Reaches-Cost-Parity-With-Natural-Gas-Throughout-America “World Energy Outlook Special Report 2015: Energy and Climate Change”. International Energy Agency (IEA), Paris, France, 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.  Graphs: 5 Student’s Last Name 1