Feeling the heat

The recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Control (IPCC), stresses the fact that man-made causes are the main root cause for the recent increase in the global temperature. Following, the scientific consensus that has been apparent for some time, a solid political consensus that acknowledges the problem finally seems to be within reach. It notes with over 90% certainty that recent temperature increases are driven by human activity and describes detailed impacts in more places than ever before, from melting ice sheets to shifting wind patterns. The report is the first to give a best estimate – 3 °C – of ‘climatic sensitivity’: the global mean temperature rise resulting from the doubling of carbon dioxide levels. Where we end up on that scale will depend mostly on how much fossil fuel the world burns.

So where does global warming lead the planet too? There is a 99% probability to hot days getting hotter and more frequent. Also, there is a 90% probability of heavier rains and a 50% probability that human activities are affecting the intensity of hurricanes. Higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are expected to make the seas more acidic and slow down the rate of calcification, ultimately reducing the ocean’s ability to absorb more carbon dioxide. If the rate of sea-level rise is proportional to the global rise in temperature since pre-industrial times, sea levels could rise by up to 1.4 metres by 2100. Climate researchers believe that storms and heavy rainfall will become more frequent as the planet warms. Greenland is losing ice at an ever-increasing rate, according to data from the GRACE gravity-measuring satellite.

An important problem in climatic politics is how to engage developing nations in controlling greenhouse-gas emissions. To encourage developing-country participation, the Kyoto Protocol established a global market for emissions reductions in 2003 called the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). CEM works by paying developing countries to adopt lower-polluting technologies than they otherwise would. The difference in potential carbon emissions between the coal and gas plants can, after monitoring and certification, be sold to an industrialized nation party to the Kyoto Protocol. The mechanism works because it is cheaper to construct low-carbon energy infrastructure from scratch in developing nations than to modify or replace existing technology in industrialized nations. So far in the CDM scheme, the projected reductions for all these gases combined add up to more than 1.75 billion tones of CO2-equivalent emissions.

So, what has is the main concern as for as researchers are concerned is that laboratories consume between five and ten times more energy that office buildings, such as the Fermilab spends US$1 million a month on electricity. Even a small reduction from 12 to 10 air changes per hour can reduce the amount of fan power by more than 40%. Scientists tend to be in their own little world most of the time cocooned from external miseries as their electricity bills are being paid by the host institution, without the knowledge of the expenditure. They are not necessarily belligerent or disrespectful, they are just very focused people and they really don’t understand how they might be knocking things over in the process.

We don’t understand that small things like switching off fans, AC’s and light when not in lab and during the night period can go a long way in the reduction of the power usage. With India, poised to become a developed nation and also planning to build more universities and labs for scientific research, modulated power usage shall go a long way in reducing or changing the impact of greenhouse gases on the climate.

The present generation has to take the responsibility to make earth a place to live for our future generations. Prevention is a better and much cheaper than dealing with the damage.