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Meat is a big contributor to climate change. If half of the people on the planet went vegetarian and followed a 2,500 calorie-per-day meal plan, it would eliminate 26.7 gigatons of emissions by 2050.
Wind energy could provide 21.6 percent of the world’s energy by 2050, that would eliminate 84.6 gigatons of emissions.
If 40 percent of urban travelers put down their car keys and instead took buses, trains or subways, 6.6 gigatons of emissions would be saved by 2050.
Fixing refrigeration would slash 89.7 gigatons in that time frame.
Perhaps for the same reason that remodeling a kitchen is more enticing than replacing a water heater, devising greener refrigerant chemicals will never make headlines like solar installations or electric cars do. You just can’t take a great selfie with the inside of an air-conditioner.
But fixing how we cool ourselves may also help fix the climate. New research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California indicates that adding improved efficiency in refrigeration and phasing out fluorinated gases used for cooling, as mandated by international agreement, could eliminate a full degree Celsius of warming by 2100. Given that the “business as usual” trajectory leads to 4 to 5 degrees Celsius of warming, that is shaving off a pretty big slice.
Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, account for about 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but they can be thousands of times as potent than carbon dioxide and may account for up to 19 percent of emissions by 2050 if their manufacture continues unchecked.
That’s because from India to the Philippines to South Africa, air-conditioners are increasingly a must-have item. Less than 10 percent of homes in India have units, but air-conditioning makes up 40 percent to 60 percent of the country’s electricity demand in major cities like New Delhi. Businesses and homeowners in Asia and Africa are expected to buy an estimated 700 million air-conditioners by 2030, and 1.6 billion by midcentury. Without major changes in the way we cool ourselves, those units will in turn crank up the global furnace.
“This is going to matter a lot,” said Lucas Davis, an associate professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. “If one is thinking about energy and environment in the next couple decades, you have to think about cooling.”
Controlling Chemicals That Cool Us
One way to curb emissions associated with air-conditioning is already in the works: the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol, the landmark 1987 pact designed to close the hole in the ozone layer by banning ozone-depleting coolants called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs. Manufacturers found a substitute in HFCs, and while those didn’t degrade the ozone layer, scientists soon discovered that they acted as worrisome warming agents.
The amendment reached last year in the capital of Rwanda binds nations to phase out HFCs, avoiding an estimated half degree Celsius of warming by 2100. It was embraced by environmentalists and industry leaders alike, but its fate in the United States is unclear.
At two recent international summit meetings, the United States was listed as a footnote on all climate change pacts, including the Montreal Protocol. The State Department has neither sent the Kigali Amendment to the Senate for ratification as a treaty nor ruled that the deal does not require a legislative green light. A spokesman said the department had no updates on the matter. At least one powerful lawmaker, Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, has vowed to oppose the amendment if it gets to Capitol Hill.
Scientists, activists and business leaders are meeting in Bangkok this week to discuss how to finance the phasing out of HFCs. Many there said they were confident the amendment would survive.
“It is imperative that we use the successful process started 30 years ago to protect the ozone layer and to ensure consumer access to technologies worldwide that contribute to health, safety and energy efficiency,” Kevin Fay, executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Atmospheric Policy, which represents 95 percent of American refrigerant manufacturers, told delegates at the meeting.
Increasing Efficiency of Air-Conditioners
Efficiency doesn’t require a global treaty. It does, however, call for new regulatory policies on manufacturing standards and labeling.
It matters, researchers say, because cooling has a direct relationship with the building of coal-fired power plants to meet peak demand. If more air-conditioners are humming in more homes and offices, then more capacity will be required to meet the demand. So 1.6 billion new air-conditioners by 2050 means thousands of new power plants will have to come on line to support them.
The Lawrence Berkeley study argues that even a 30 percent improvement in efficiency could avoid the peak load equivalent of about 1,500 power plants by 2030.
But most countries have a lot of work to do in modernizing their energy policies.
“Many countries haven’t updated their standards in a while,” said Nihar Shah, a senior scientific engineering associate at the Lawrence Berkeley laboratory and lead author of the study, which examined the markets of 19 nations. “In most of these countries there’s an opportunity to do both things together.”
The countries driving the bulk of demand for air-conditioning — China, Brazil, India, and Indonesia — have energy efficiency improvement policies like labels and incentive programs. But improvements to China’s policies could have sweeping gains, because it is the key exporter to countries primarily in Southeast Asia, where demand is growing. India’s Ministry of Power is working to develop a program for bulk purchases of superefficient air-conditioners, which may include refrigerant alternatives to HFCs.
In India alone, air-conditioner purchases have risen sharply over the past decade. Many believe India will outpace China, which grew from 5 percent market penetration in the mid-1990s to more than 140 percent today, meaning millions of families have more than one air conditioner.
Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a nonprofit based in Washington that commissioned the lab study, said efficiency was not getting enough attention.
For instance, Eneco owns Jedlix, an electric vehicle charging unit, which has partnerships with Tesla and BMW and allows car owners to recharge their vehicles inexpensively when there are large supplies of renewable energy on the grid. Jedlix sometimes even pays them to do so.
Eneco is also starting a business called CrowdNett which, unusually, pays customers for some of their power. Eneco looks for people who already have solar panels at home and tries to sell them a large home battery, like a Tesla Powerwall. Surplus power generated by the solar panels is stored in the battery and Eneco taps into a portion of that storage to help balance the electricity grid. Customers will receive 450 euros, or $530, a year for allowing use of their batteries.
The Toon meters allow customers to control their domestic heating settings through a smartphone app, and they have displays that show electricity and natural gas consumption in detail, along with other information like weather forecasts. Much as telephone companies offer discounted devices with longer-term contracts, the Toon typically comes as part of a utility contract; Eneco customers pay €3.50 a month for the meter. In return, customers say it helps them save energy, offering the dual benefits of saving money and cutting the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change. Quby says it has placed more than 300,000 Toons in Dutch homes and has deals to supply the devices to other utilities, like Engie in Belgium and Viesgo in Spain.
Mr. Westenbrink, who lives with his wife in a cozy, century-old house in Krommenie, estimates that the Toon has helped them cut their annual energy bills by nearly a third, to about €2,000. His wife, Karin Krol, says the Toon is also helping their family battle climate change. “We believe that small things can change the environment,” she said. Those who sign up for the Toon cut their average annual energy consumption by around a tenth, according to Quby. Lower energy consumption would not necessarily seem to be in Eneco’s interests, but it figures that any loss in revenue will be more than offset by growth in its services business.
Through Toons, Eneco can monitor the performance of natural gas boilers and solar panels and can send repair people when equipment needs servicing. And, as Mr. Valk, the Quby chief, had hoped, the devices have helped reduce the number of customers who leave Eneco for other providers by 60 percent, the company says.
Eneco has also invested heavily in wind power, in part so that it can assure environmentally minded customers that their power comes from cleaner sources. That has paid dividends: The company has a 10-year contract to supply Google with clean energy for an electricity-hungry data storage center that opened last year in Eemshaven, in the north of the Netherlands.
Daan Berkouwer and his wife, Louise Bokhoven, at their home on the outskirts of Gouda, the Netherlands. They are part of a pilot project using the Tesla Power Wall battery, which is mounted on the side of their house.
Much of Eneco’s strategy is in its infancy. CrowdNett, the battery storage service, has only a few dozen clients, but the utility has big ambitions for the initiative. If enough battery owners sign on, Eneco says, it can use software to electronically aggregate and sell the power, like a conventional utility.
Daan Berkouwer, who works for a water management company, said the combination of financial incentives and the promise of cutting emissions helped him decide to buy a lozenge-shape Tesla Powerwall battery to use with CrowdNett. “When everybody is doing this, then the oil companies can quit with their production,” said the 27-year-old Mr. Berkouwer, who lives with his wife on the outskirts of Gouda, the town famous for its cheese. “Why take out all the oil and demolish the planet if you can do it with clean energy?”
Ford Motor (F) Announces MOU for All-Electric Vehicle JV with Zotye Auto in China; JV is 50/50
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd., a major manufacturer of zero-emission all-electric vehicles in China.
The goal of the MoU is to explore the establishment of a joint venture for the development, production, marketing and servicing of a new line of all-electric passenger vehicles in China. The announcement is consistent with Ford’s vision for a more sustainable auto industry, as well as efforts to contribute to societal goals of improving air quality and addressing climate change.
“The potential to launch a new line of all-electric vehicles in the world’s largest auto market is an exciting next step for Ford in China,” said Peter Fleet, Ford group vice president and president, Ford Asia Pacific. “Electric vehicles will be a big part of the future in China and Ford wants to lead in delivering great solutions to customers.”
China is the fastest-growing market in the world for new energy vehicles (NEVs). Ford expects the market for NEVs in China to grow to six million units per year by 2025, of which approximately 4 million vehicles will be all-electric.
Zotye Auto is a pioneer in the Chinese all-electric vehicle segment and was one of the first automakers to produce all-electric passenger vehicles in the country. It is the market leader in China’s all-electric small vehicle segment. Zotye sold more than 16,000 all-electric vehicles through July this year, representing a growth of 56 percent year-over-year.
Vehicles produced would be sold under an indigenous brand owned by the new joint venture and would aim to capture a sizeable share of China’s all-electric passenger vehicle market. Additional details, including information about the brand, products and production volumes, will be announced at a later date, pending a final definitive agreement and regulatory approvals.
“The MoU between Zotye Auto and Ford opens the door for us to explore our cooperation in the development of clean energy vehicles,” said Jin ZheYong, chairman and president, Anhui Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd., based in Huangshan, Anhui province. “This presents us with an exciting opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths in achieving a win-win situation for both parties’ growth in the fast-evolving Chinese electric vehicle market.”
As part of its global electrification commitment, Ford has invested $4.5 billion to make electric vehicles that offer customers more capability, productivity and performance. Ford plans to introduce 13 new electrified vehicles globally in the next five years, including an all-electric small SUV to be sold in Asia, North America and Europe. Ford also recently announced an ambitious China electrification strategy and confirmed that 70 percent of all Ford vehicles sold in China will have electrified powertrain options by 2025.
The new 50:50 joint venture would be a major step forward in building on Ford’s electrification initiatives and will significantly expand Ford’s footprint in China, along with the company’s successful joint ventures, Changan Ford and Jiangling Motors Corporation.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the battery pack are expanding. AES recently teamed up with Siemens on a joint venture, Fluence, focusing specifically on energy storage system development. Fluence will deal in AES’ Advancion and Siemens’ Siestorage platforms, the companies said, adding it will target the development of new energy storage capacity across 160 countries worldwide.
Tesla is looking in another direction. It already has the largest portfolio of completed energy storage projects globally, at 300 MWh. What it is looking for now is integrating future storage systems with wind and solar electricity producers.
When Tesla said it had won a deal for the construction of the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery storage facility in Australia, it noted that the deal involves partnering with local wind power producer, Neoen, which will supply the battery complex with electricity.
At the same time, AES is working mainly with traditional utilities to supply them with energy storage capacity, focusing on constantly improving the energy density and efficiency of its arrays. Tesla’s all-renewables focus is well documented, and now it could give it the lead in the energy storage race.
Earlier this month, Tesla closed another partnership, with wind power leader Vestas, to develop integrated wind power-energy storage solutions. The Danish company announced earlier this year that it has big plans for energy storage, with Chairman Bert Nordberg telling Reuters that the company had 3.2 billion euro (US$3.84 billion) in cash and no debt, so it could afford some good investments. So far this year, Vestas has invested in almost a dozen battery storage makers.
Yes, too many are, as you said, led by money and lust.
----------------------
Nevertheless, I care. It is the central core of my mission of this life.
And one is one. And adding another that is two.
Focus your attention on the good and those who do good. And the more energy you direct to the good the more you strengthen it.
The creative intelligence, the force of infinite power, is there. And will work through you.
Your purpose is only to be a channel.
Let the bad flow by. Give them no energy of attention. Dream of the good, of the beautiful of the healed garden of Eden, the jewel of the planet given us. Then work tirelessly, endlessly, never giving in to discouragement, for manifesting the good.
The door to the kingdom is narrow and the way is hard. The path to destruction is wide and the way easy and traveled by the many.
Paul Allen Wants to Use Satellites and Software to Fight Illegal Fishing
The Microsoft co-founder is donating $40 million to the effort
By
Dina Bass
@Dinabass More stories by Dina Bass
October 5, 2017, 9:00 AM EDT
Paul Allen
Vulcan
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, concerned about illegal fishing depleting global fish populations, will spend $40 million to develop a system that uses satellite imagery and data-analysis software to help countries spot and catch unlicensed fishing boats.
Called SkyLight, the system is being tested in the Pacific Island of Palau and the African nation of Gabon. Allen is trying to use technology to aid enforcement, particularly in countries with thousands of miles of coastline to patrol and few resources to do so. Allen will announce the initiative at the Our Oceans Conference in Malta on Friday.
Illegal fishing accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s catch, costing up to $23.5 billion a year, according to the World Wildlife Foundation, and placing additional stress on a wild fish population that has declined by about half since 1970. Overfishing raises the risk of conflict among fishing nations and raises the risk of hunger and joblessness in an industry that provides employment for more than 1 in 10 of the world’s people. Allen, an avid diver, has backed other ocean health projects and is also active in conservation efforts like trying to save the African elephant population by using drones and sensors to track their movements.
“The stakes are high and the threat is real,” said Dave Stewart, general counsel and head of government affairs for Allen’s Vulcan Inc. “Very few countries have access to timely, actionable intelligence and technology to address this issue. We are developing an illegal fishing intelligence network that will bring this to them.”
About 90 percent of the world’s fishing grounds are being harvested at or beyond sustainable limits. Some species, such as the southern bluefin tuna, are threatened with extinction. Shrinking supplies off the central and western coast of Africa have raised concerns about future food shortages there. In the Mediterranean and Black seas, catches have fallen by a third since 2007.
SkyLight, which will be broadly available in the first half of next year, takes multiple data sources from satellite images, to shipping records to information manually collected by officials standing on docks, and uses machine learning software to track and predict which vessels might be operating illegally. Over time, Vulcan is building its own database of all the boats it tracks. That allows countries to better focus limited resources. Some of the countries impacted have “one enforcement boat that goes out once a month if they have gas money,” he said.
Along with the tracking network, countries will also get access to Vulcan’s in-house scientists and business analysts, who will help advise them on how to make the best decisions about fishery management, the number of fishing licenses issued and appropriate penalties for illegal fishing
The service is cloud-based and will enable different countries to communicate and share information as boats move from one country’s waters to the next, a challenge currently. Allen’s donation will cover the cost of setting up the service and starting with the initial countries. Vulcan is charging participating countries for using SkyLight but plans to use the funds to expand and sustain the program rather than as a money maker, Stewart said.
even such good people with big money can't help our planet, because there are another, who are against this....they rule our world (in economical way), we don't know them, but it is not favorible for them to save the Earth...One question - where they plan to live?
