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Blogpost 4

The document discusses climate change and potential solutions. It summarizes that climate change has been demonstrated through data collection and models, and will have dangerous consequences if global temperatures rise more than 2°C. Geoengineering methods to reduce temperatures, like creating more clouds or mimicking volcanic ash, and removing CO2 from the atmosphere are discussed. Small-scale community projects like the Osney Lock Hydro Project, which harnesses renewable energy locally, are presented as examples of combating climate change. Individual actions like using solar/wind energy and electric vehicles are also increasing and seen as able to replace fossil fuels. Sustainability requires preserving resources, innovation, and ensuring all people can live well into the future.

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74 views3 pages

Blogpost 4

The document discusses climate change and potential solutions. It summarizes that climate change has been demonstrated through data collection and models, and will have dangerous consequences if global temperatures rise more than 2°C. Geoengineering methods to reduce temperatures, like creating more clouds or mimicking volcanic ash, and removing CO2 from the atmosphere are discussed. Small-scale community projects like the Osney Lock Hydro Project, which harnesses renewable energy locally, are presented as examples of combating climate change. Individual actions like using solar/wind energy and electric vehicles are also increasing and seen as able to replace fossil fuels. Sustainability requires preserving resources, innovation, and ensuring all people can live well into the future.

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West/Blog 4

What We Have Learned about Climate Change


Over the past two weeks of the course and throughout the spring semester, climate
change, its consequences, and its solutions have been an essential part of the curriculum.
Through meticulous data collection and multiple predictive models, the existence of climate
change has been easily demonstrated and the direct effects of climate change can also be
forecasted.
If the planets temperature rises by 2C or more during the next century, there will be
dangerous consequences: including massive flooding and overheating at the poles and equator.
There has been a 5-10% rise in total annual precipitation since the early 20th century and this
increase in precipitation coupled with the rising levels of CO2 contribute to an increase in highly
damaging tropical storms (Easterling, Meehl, Climate Extremes: Observations, Modeling, and
Impacts.) Overall, sea level has risen by about 0.17 m during the twentieth century and much of
that can be attributed to climate change as well (Easterling, Meehl, Climate Extremes: Observations,
Modeling, and Impacts.) While sea levels and storms rise in some areas, nations like Hungary have been
experiencing droughts- all of which negatively impact agriculture and the natural ecosystem. Therefore,
maintaining the global temperature at 2C is incredibly important for the future of the Earth.
One of the possible methods of combating climate change is geoengineering, otherwise
known as the deliberate large scale interventions in Earths natural systems. There are two main
kinds of geoengineering, lowering the planets temperature and physically removing CO2 from
the atmosphere (Tim Kruger, 31 July). One of the methods of lowering the planets temperature,
formally known as Solar Radiation Management, is to make more artificial, white clouds to
reflect sunlight back into space. Another method of lowering the temperature through reflection
was the use of synthetic materials to mimic the reflectiveness of volcanic ash, which could lower
global temperatures by 1.5-2 degrees (Tim Kruger, 31 July).
When it comes to removing CO2 from the
atmosphere, the mere scale of the challenge is what makes it
so difficult. There is almost 40 million tons of carbon
dioxide being added to the atmosphere in 2013 alone,
compared to about 5 million tons in 1850 (Tim Kruger, 31
July).
One possible process is what Kruger called Black
Box 1, which used limestone, air, seawater, and low grade
heat to create CO2 that can be stored in the ocean that is
buffered by Ca2+ ions to keep it there. Another process, cleverly named Black Box 2 used
ambient air, electricity, and medium grade heat to create pure, geologically sequestered carbon
dioxide that would be buried miles under the earth. The third prototype that has been proposed
by Kruger is the Black Box 3, (pictured on right) which takes ambient air and natural gas and
created geologically sequestered carbon dioxide to produce both air without CO2 and electricity
for the surrounding area. This third method would have -400 to -850 gCO2/kWh, making it fairly
West/Blog 4

carbon negative (Kruger, 31 July). All the processes are supposed to be carbon negative and alter
the air so that it is mostly without carbon dioxide.
One of the limitations with geoengineering is that it would provide a quick fix solution to
the problem, but no real societal change to prevent it from happening again. There is also the
reverse-gear idea that could possibly come into play. This is a psychological phenomenon that
states that if people know that solutions to an impending problem exist, they are relieved of panic
and will instantaneously stop trying to change the situation,
regardless of whether the problem is being resolved (Kruger, 31
July). However, the geoengineering method of removal for the 1-
5 trillion unnecessary tons of CO2 in the atmosphere could create
a market for its cleanup and incentivize companies to participate.
A much smaller scale method of dealing with climate
change can be found in the Osney Lock Hydro Project (pictured
on the right), which the class visited on the 26th. It is the first
community owned hydro scheme on the River Thames that uses a
reverse Archimedean screw to harness the rivers power to
generate electricity for local buildings. The roof also has solar
panels to harvest other forms of energy as well. The project took
sixteen years to come to fruition from surveying the community about the idea
to the completion of the building itself (Saski Huggins, 26 July). Before
construction, the engineers demonstrated that it would cause no flooding and
create little noise that would disturb anyone located near the turbine. They also
agreed to attach fish pass (see picture on left) so that the turbine would not
disturb the local ecological systems in the river and allow fish to move
downstream (Saski Huggins, 26 July).
The Hydro Project is a perfect example of communities coming together
to combat climate change. With over 2/3 of the investors in the project from the
Oxford area and almost 90% of them include people who once lived there, it
shows a devotion to helping the community (Huggins, 26 July). The project
also supplies energy to 55 local homes per year, which is roughly 179,000 kw
of green, clean energy (Saski Huggins, 26 July). In its first
year, the project generated 125% of the revenue vs the
80% that they had expected. Because of the projects
successes, a similar project, which is ten times larger than
the Osney Lock, is being built just south of Oxford in
Sanford.
On a more individual level, Dr. MuCulloch spoke
about the increase of households using solar/wind energy
and the use of electric cars during his presentation at
West/Blog 4

Christ Church. In his opinion, sustainability is not only possible, but it can be achieved within
decades.
In his presentation, he claimed that wind and solar energy are increasing in use rapidly. It
has been predicted that that they will be able to eclipse fossil fuels by the year 2027 due to
incentives for greener, carbon neutral technology (McCullough, 25 July). While they become
increasingly available, the prices of solar and wind energy have dropped dramatically in the past
few decades as well.
The presentation also mentioned the rising use of electric cars. The precedent has already
been set because there were electric cars used in 1910 before the use of combustion engines
(McCullough, 25 July). The efficiency of the car has been making it much more competitive than
those with combustion engines. One electric car tops out at around 205 mph, making it one of the
fastest cars in existence and it can also complete about 1280 miles of travel over the span of 24
hours. The demand for these cars is only rising. In 2011, there was about 10,000 electric cars in
the United Kingdom and in 2016 it has risen to about 100,000 (McCullough, 25 July).
Like Dr. McCullough said, sustainability, is defined by multiple components. One, all
people must be living well, now and into the future. Two, industry and individuals are more
careful in preserving non-renewable resources. And finally, innovation is not just thinking
differently, but also thinking cleverly and efficiently. The methods proposed, from large scale
geoengineering to a family being a Nissan leaf can help reverse or negate the damage done to the
planet by humankind.

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