World is Green

Self-control is never easy, and I would guess it might be even harder when you’re poor, than when you’re rich.

Source: Salon.com

Christian Downie : Climate change is different. Because it is an issue that poses such grave threats it has appealed to people of all political persuasions, regardless of their ideological disposition.

Technorati Tags: climate change, australia

Liberal leader Stephane Dion: “Yes, Canada will cut megatonnes of emissions, but we will also make megatonnes of money”

NEWS.com.au Survey.: AUSTRALIANS are more worried about climate change than terrorism or any other global issue but believe there is widespread public misunderstanding about it,

Technorati Tags: Green, Australia, Climate Change

Pricewaterhouse Coopers inaugural survey of executive opinion on climate change in Australia called Carbon Conscious suggests that 78 percent of the respondents support a national, broad-based, regulated carbon emission trading scheme.

The survey respondents consisted of stationary energy and utility sectors (50%), mining and resources sector (20%), financial institutions and professional service organizations (16%). This mix could determine a bias towards a higher carbon consciousness.

The main results of the survey are the following:

• 100% of respondents viewed climate change as strategically significant to their organisation in the next five years.
• 90% of respondents view historical policy settings as marginal or not effective at all in addressing the problem of climate change.
• There is a lack of carbon literacy and numeracy in the Australian
  business community.
• 78% of respondents would prefer a regulated emission trading scheme rather than a voluntary scheme.
• 60% of respondents believe a meaningful reduction in emissions are achievable under a broad based national emission trading scheme that includes all emissions intensive sectors.
• Australian business has to date been unenthusiastic about participation in the international carbon market created by the Kyoto Protocol



The above list provides a glimpse of the strategic issues within climate change.

As the below quote shows, most of the CEOs do understand the situation.

“Leadership requires understanding of the commercial
terrain……carbon cost is the rising volcano that will soon dwarf all
other molehills.”

Managing Director,Electricity Generation Company

The bigger issue for me the lack of discussion on the other areas of the sustainability issue. Resource depletion, ecosystem destruction, waste management, toxic substances in products, health and environmental aspects of products etc.

Due to the changing scenario in the past year there has been a greater understanding of climate change but that is not the only problem facing mankind. It remains to be seen if other important issues are taken up.

The whole climate change issue could overtake the entire debate of sustainability and may not be helpful in the bigger scheme of things.

Paul Grover over at GreenBiz.com has a good article on understanding the definitions of the terms energy efficiency and energy conservation. A better understanding will yield to better results.

He writes:

Engineers originally created the term “efficiency” to quantify machine performance. Efficiency is “the ratio of (useable) energy developed by a machine to the energy supplied it, usually described as a percentage.” If we put 100 units of electricity into a motor get back 60 units of motor energy to use, that motor has an efficiency of 60%. Energy efficiency numbers tell us which equipment delivers “more bang for the buck.”

Energy conservation is quite different from energy efficiency. We “conserve” by turning equipment off when it is not needed and by optimizing the operation of equipment so that is runs only when needed. The goal of energy conservation is to minimize resource use and eliminate waste.

Energy efficiency may enable consumers to get “more” from the energy they use, but without conservation, resource use increases.

And there are no simple answers and pitfalls to remember.

But who is more environmentally responsible, the Prius owner who drives 40,000 miles a year or the person who purposely and carefully drives a less efficient car only 10,000 miles a year? Using efficient products or machines seems to give us license to use them with little consideration of how long or how much we use them.

It’s like buying low-fat potato chips to “save” calories and then eating the whole bag.

In my current job we are working on both conservation and efficiency. In the large buildings we own it is generally better to implement energy efficiency technology with payback periods between 3-5 yrs however, in other places conservation is better.

A lot of times engineering and financial calculations means it is easier to implement energy efficiency technology but changing people’s habits towards conservation is tougher.

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