An Increasing Focus on Renewable Energy?

As COP-21 in Paris draws ever closer, the spotlight is focusing on the world's leading political figures, business leaders and climate scientists. I, for one, am waiting with baited breath for what I feel could potentially be one of the most defining moments in history. 

After the poor result from the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in 2009, this is a crucial moment for not only our political leaders and scientists, but for the 7.1 billion people on this planet. Another summit cannot pass without a legally binding agreement to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate Climate Change. Nations must work together in order to keep the global temperature rise under the 2°C limit; a threshold often cited by scientists and the UNFCCC. 

The impact of anthropogenic activities on climate change has been acknowledged by scientists for decades. In 1972, James Sawyer published research into the link between atmospheric CO2 increases and human activity (Sawyer, 1972). Then in 1988, climatologist James Hansen testified to the United States Senate that climate changes were the result of human induced activities. Today, we have far greater insight, with the IPCC's 5th Assessment Report, stating that 78% of the total CO2 emitted into the atmosphere between 1970-2010 was caused by fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. As shown in the figure below, of all the greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere, CO2 emitted by anthropogenic sources is by far the greatest and it is rapidly increasing. 



Source: IPCC, 2014: Summary for Policymakers, In: Climate Change 2014, 
Mitigation of Climate Change

Although today it is widely acknowledged that humans are a cause of climate change, the subject has historically been highly contentious with many global leaders refusing to acknowledge the relationship between anthropogenic changes and the Earth's warming. Progress to limit emissions has been slow as a result, but many, myself included, hope that COP-21 will result in a legal agreement that will mitigate climate change and its impacts. 


If the Paris Summit results in some hard targets and limits on greenhouse gas emissions, countries will be forced to look at alternative energy sources and move away from fossil fuels. As a result, I have chosen to write about renewable energy, a subject of immense interest to me, in this blog.

There are numerous energy alternatives, but of course each one has its difficulties, whether it is aesthetics, expense, or unreliability. Over the next few weeks, I will be looking into some of these alternative forms of renewable energy, including numerous well known technologies, as well as some of the lesser known and less widely distributed ones.

Californian wind and solar farm
Source: oag.ca.gov

I am excited to learn about renewable energy in greater depth and hope to challenge my own opinions through delving into this subject and studying conflicting viewpoints.

For anyone reading this, I hope to provide you with some new insight into this innovative, exciting and fast changing area.