Climate Change Thread

[ReluctantSamurai]

Now for the US, another mixed bag. First, energy consumption by sector (there's a jillion sources for this info, this one is simple and to the point):

https://www.e-education.psu.edu/ebf301/node/457

U.S. Energy Consumption by Energy Source, 2019
Total = 100.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu)

• Petroleum: 37%
• Natural Gas: 32%
• Coal: 11%
• Nuclear electric power: 8%
• Renewable Energy: 11% (10.2 quadrillion Btu)

Renewable energy is broken down as follows:

• Hydroelectric: 22%
• Biomass: 43%
  
  • Wood: 20%
  • Biofuels: 20%
  • Biomass Waste: 4%
  
  
• Wind: 24%
• Solar: 9%
• Geothermal: 2%

Use of coal is declining steadily and is being replaced by natural gas and renewable energy. Gas is still a carbon emitter, but much less than coal or oil. Unlike ending pharmaceutical addictions, the US can't just go "cold turkey" from coal and oil. There has to be a transitional period of the infrastructure to renewable energy sources. Fracking, the major source of the recent natural gas supplies, is fraught with problems and a topic in, and of itself.

With the transportation sector being the largest consumer of energy, the switch to electric vehicles is a huge plus:

https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-reichmu...-yes-heres-why

When looking at all these factors, driving the average EV is responsible for fewer global warming emissions than the average new gasoline car everywhere in the US. In some parts of the country, driving the average new gasoline car will produce 4 to 7 times the emissions of the average EV. For example, the average EV driven in upstate New York has emissions equal to a (hypothetical) 231 mpg gasoline car. And in California, a gasoline car would need to get 122 mpg to have emissions as low as the average EV.

The use of renewable energy in the US is growing steadily:

https://www.c2es.org/content/renewable-energy/

• Renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy source in the United States, increasing 100 percent from 2000 to 2018.
• Renewables made up more than 17 percent of net U.S. electricity generation in 2018, with the bulk coming from hydropower (7.0 percent) and wind power (6.6 percent).
• Solar generation (including distributed) is projected to climb from 11 percent of total U.S. renewable generation in 2017 to 48 percent by 2050, making it the fastest-growing electricity source.
• Globally, renewables made up 24 percent of electricity generation in 2016, much of it from hydropower (16 percent).
• Renewable ethanol and biodiesel transportation fuels made up over 12 percent of total U.S. renewable energy consumption in 2018, up from 7 percent in 2006.

All good signs, but is the transition happening fast enough? An interesting look at the current performance ratings:

https://ccpi.org/ranking/

Rankings are based on each country’s overall score. This is calculated from the individual scores in four categories, consisting of 14 indicators. Click on a country name for greater detail. No country performs well enough in all index categories to achieve an overall very high rating. The first three overall positions therefore remain empty. The results show that, even if all countries were as committed as the current frontrunners, efforts would still be insufficient to prevent hazardous climate change. The countries with high rankings also have no reason to ease up. Even greater efforts and actions by governments are needed to set the world on track to keep global warming well below a 2°C increase.

Not very encouraging....

Next up, Japan and the Russian Federation.