Climate Is Ripe for Massive Change

Squeezing more out of the energy that industries, homes and vehicles burn is the most economical way to stifle rising energy demand and control output of planet-warming gases, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute.

Many countries have mostly invested in finding more supplies of oil, gas and coal to meet rising energy needs, but as energy costs and global warming concerns rise, interest in investing in ways to slow energy demand is beginning to take hold.

The study acknowledges that better energy efficiency alone is not enough. The need to act to curb climate changing emissions is urgent; deeply disturbing reports come in daily. As OVEC volunteer scientist Mel Tyree noted in a Jan. 2 column in the Charleston Gazette:

ü Globally, all of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1997;

ü Major wildfires in North and South America have increased over 400 percent since 1990 compared to earlier decades;

ü The heat wave which devastated Europe in 2003 killed more than 30,000 people;

ü Deaths from climate change now number more than 150,000 a year;

ü The percentage of the earth’s surface suffering drought has more than doubled since the 1970s;

ü In 2007, the Arctic’s summer ice cover melted 23 percent below its previous low point in 2005. If the current melt rate continues, the Arctic could be nearly ice-free in the summer months by 2012.

"It’s going to take more than a dozen silver bullets to achieve the carbon-neutral world necessary to get our climate back in balance. Princeton University researchers… discuss how current technologies can solve the climate problem in 50 years. The 15 solutions they outline are called "stabilization wedges" because by employing them we can stabilize, then reduce, greenhouse gas emissions… The catch is that at least a dozen of the (wedges must be used), which would require unprecedented international cooperation," Mel writes.

He notes that one wedge is the installation of about 400,000 wind turbines. Another is a 700 percent increase in solar power. The end of all deforestation is one wedge. An energy efficiency gain of 20 percent from power plants is another.

"The United States is still the only industrial country in the world that has not signed the Kyoto agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Plus, the United States still has not enacted a climate protection law. It will be nearly impossible to meet global gas reduction goals without U.S. cooperation. George W. Bush will be back in Texas in a year. Now is the time to begin lobbying our federal politicians to hammer out U.S. and international policy for 2009," Mel concludes.

Fortunately, most of the rest of world is already galloping ahead of us. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the world is on the cusp of "the age of green economics."

West Virginia coal companies and politicians would do well to take heed and join with OVEC members and allies in transitioning out of the carbon era and advocating for new, clean energy jobs.