Posts tagged climate change.
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![Can you imagine how much land we’d have to use in order to power the world using concentrated solar energy? Well, not that much it turns out!! Apparently, according to [the brilliant] Inhabitat blog, it would take just 0.3% of the Sahara Desert land surface to power ALL OF EUROPE!
Now imagine, a vast network of solar panels and wind turbines, connected in a circuit, that not only would enable African nations to become economically stable through monies collected as clean energy exporters but simultaneous end starvation and suffering by creating swathes of arable land, done by having de-salination* plants connected to the energy network, thus producing clean, drinkable, usable water.
Imagine a world were Africa can not only feed itself, but energize the rest of the world without being exploited [again] in the process.
Lets not imagine, thats been done! LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Read more at:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/09/04/sahara-forest-project/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/22/worlds-largest-solar-project-sahara-desert/
*Although expensive, de-salination plants energy costs would be reduced due to the proximity and stability of the solar energy supplies.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krirx6RDm41qa70t7o1_500.jpg)
Can you imagine how much land we’d have to use in order to power the world using concentrated solar energy? Well, not that much it turns out!! Apparently, according to [the brilliant] Inhabitat blog, it would take just 0.3% of the Sahara Desert land surface to power ALL OF EUROPE!
Now imagine, a vast network of solar panels and wind turbines, connected in a circuit, that not only would enable African nations to become economically stable through monies collected as clean energy exporters but simultaneous end starvation and suffering by creating swathes of arable land, done by having de-salination* plants connected to the energy network, thus producing clean, drinkable, usable water.
Imagine a world were Africa can not only feed itself, but energize the rest of the world without being exploited [again] in the process.
Lets not imagine, thats been done! LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Read more at:
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/09/04/sahara-forest-project/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/06/22/worlds-largest-solar-project-sahara-desert/
*Although expensive, de-salination plants energy costs would be reduced due to the proximity and stability of the solar energy supplies.
The honeymoon period will soon be over, the IEA predict peak-oil becoming a reality by 2030, not far, but a new study from the Government-funded UK Energy Research Council called this prediction “at best optimistic and at worst implausible”. The peer-reviewed research looked at 500 studies from around the world and took into account the difficulty of accessing new oil fields as well as growing demand. It predicted oil will begin running out before 2030 and there is a “significant risk” peak oil will be reached before 2020.
Robert Gross, Head of Technology and Policy Assessment at UKERC, said
“The age of easy and cheap oil is coming to an end,” he said. “It doesn’t suddenly come to an end, obviously it’s a gradual change, but we’re moving away from easy and cheap oil to increasingly difficult and expensive oil.”
At the moment oil is around £44 ($70) per barrel after peaking at around £92 ($147) per barrel earlier in the year during the height of the economic crisis.
Dr Gross said the spectre of peak oil should encourage Governments to invest in more energy-efficient vehicles such as electric cars, renewable energy like wind or solar and improving energy efficiency in industry and homes.
Read on: at The Telegraph
The really scary thing about all Governments failure to act now is that down the line, Governments will have to act in increasingly drastic ways. CC sceptics, deniers, call them what you like, may not accept the effect of Carbon Emissions, but the reasons for acting environmentally responsibly are not limited to the misnomer “carbon”. Water, as a resource is getting scarcer. Oil is appraoching, or past, peak production. Desertification caused by deforestatioin is a huge issue. Die -off of pollinating species is occuring. Over-fishing has pushed fish stocks to crisis point.
Even IF these problems are not directly caused by humans, we live in a world where they are a reality. The scale of that reality is debatable in some cases, but failure to act on most of these issues affects us all - I have never encoutered an argument, even by a sceptic, that does not accept that the planets ecosystem is completely interrelated.
George Monbiot comments in the governments current predicament.
Fifty-five Greenpeace volunteers scaled the walls of the Houses of Parliament and are now occupying the roof to call for a new style of politics in Britain, one capable of rising to meet the challenge of climate change.
Tomorrow MPs return from their summer break and the government’s own Committee on Climate Change will publish a progress report on UK carbon emissions. They make it clear that Britain is not doing enough to meet its commitments, and insist that a “step change” in emissions cuts is needed. With just 60 days go until the critical climate summit in Copenhagen - which faces a very real chance of failure as things stand - Britain has yet to show true commitment to making the process a success. We need politicians who are thinking about the next generation, not just the next election.
Follow @greenpeaceuk for the latest updates.
