harikumar1964's blog

It is apprehended that China has overtaken US as the no-1 CO2 emitter of the world. The term apprehended is used because we really don’t have any mechanism to measure CO2 of China and whatever we have is on the basis of Fossil fuel consumption. ( For example if the coal has 28 % fixed carbon, for every Kg of fuel you have 0.28 Kg of carbon which combines with 2 volumes of oxygen to produce CO2. Atomic wt of C is 12 and O is 16 , So molecular CO2 has a weight of 44, that is the amount of CO2 produced is 3.66 times the amount of C. So for each Kg of Indian coal, we get  1.028 Kg of CO2). And the actual figures of this coal consumption is always a secret. So the figures are only speculative. But one thing is certain, it cannot be less than this as we habitually lie about our efficiency.

Chinese defence of their sky rocketing emission is the usual developing economy and per capita emission. As per 2006 records, Total CO2 emission of US was 6 billion tons (of the total global emission of 27 Billion tons), closely followed by China at 5 Billion tons. India is at No.5 at 1.4 Billion tons.  It is expected that based on the Chinese growth,  by now these would surely have overtaken US. Whereas CO2 emission of most of the developed nations have plateaued or tapered, developing industrialized nations are pumping out more and more of it with a vengeance to make up for the lost years! What an appalling scenario! I have not heard any Indian or Chinese leader speaking about containing Co2 emission with any element of conviction or concern. Just lip service. And we are all afraid that , if we don’t do it now, tomorrow we may not be allowed to do it!

It is quite true that we don’t have the technology to satiate our appetite for energy in an environmentally friendly manner. Nuclear energy is not the real alternative- for we don’t have ways of disposing off the nuclear waste. It can even pose a greater threat (even without  using the technology for weaponisation and terrorist threats). Hydrogen technology is still not a viable alternative as the power required to make and transport H2 on a commercial scale is more than the energy it will be giving out. Wind, tide, geothermal , solar energy can be local solutions to a global problem, but not definitely a global solution.

We can only improve the efficiency of our system- which can plateau our emissions despite increase in energy demand. Sacrificing a bit of our luxuries is also the need of the hour. Take a walk to nearby places, use public transport or car pools, use cycles, use stairways rather than elevators- it is even good for your health, use CFLs, Switchoff lights , fans, computers and TVs when not needed. Hope we the most intelligent and sentient creature of this planet  will not end up as the Frankenstein of this planet.

Happy  Earth day.

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