The Need for Education to Mitigate CO2 Emissions
February 12th, 2010 by Roel Snieder, Colorado School of MinesBoth our energy use and CO2 emissions can be reduced by using and producing energy in different ways. Implementing these improvements is associated with changes in our technology and energy use. It has been shown that the public is, to a large extent, unaware of the essential role played by energy in society, of the challenges that we face with our energy supply, and the steps we can take to increase energy efficiency.
The public largely believes in a number of myths regarding our energy use (see Sovacool and Brown’s book issued in 2007). These wrongly held notions include the idea that today’s energy crisis is a hype, that efficiency improvements have reached their potential, that climate policy will bankrupt the US economy, and that the current global energy infrastructure is optimally efficient.
Achieving the reductions in CO2 emissions will require the support and cooperation of the public. In particular, taking advantage of the cost-effective achievable emissions will require the public to:
• develop a preference for purchasing energy-efficient appliances and automobiles,
• make capital investment on retrofi ts for improving heating and lighting effi ciency, and
• support promulgation of standards for high-efficiency buildings and low-emission vehicles.
Without support of the public, we could well miss the opportunity to implement negative cost options—and rely more heavily on higher-cost, but more centrally-controlled options that do not gain from the leverage of participation by so many people who take advantage of them.
Many steps to reducing CO2 emissions can be realized at low-to-moderate cost, including increasing the amount of electricity supplied by wind farms and building new nuclear power plants. Gaining the support of the public for siting and building new wind farms and nuclear power plants will be needed to take advantage of these low-emission sources of electricity. Continued support for renewable-energy portfolio standards is also needed to help accelerate deployment.
Continuing to reduce emissions beyond those options with negative or low costs will require a new generation of low-carbon energy technologies. Many are under development— carbon-dioxide capture and storage of emissions from fossil fuels, solar-thermal systems for generating electricity, plug-in hybrid vehicles powered by electricity from renewable sources, advanced biofuels created from cellulose or algae, electricity grids with a large fraction of intermittent and distributed renewable energy sources, and grid-scale storage of electricity. Supporting research to lower the cost of these options will pay dividends in the future. Large-scale demonstrations are needed to gain the confi dence of industry, permitting agencies, insurers, and fi nanciers. Public support for government funding and commercial incentives for research and development will be needed, as will public support for taking chances on something new—new infrastructure, new ideas, and new technologies!
The public struggles to come to grips with the magnitude of numbers that is relevant to understanding our energy use and its consequences. As an example, consider a coal train. We found that the question “what is the mass of the CO2 produced when the coal in one railroad car is burned?” often leads to the reply “a few grams.” The correct answer is about 300 tons, about three times the weight of the coal. (Each carbon atom is bound in CO2 to two oxygen atoms, and carbon and oxygen have about the same mass.) ! The reason many people think the amount of CO2 is negligible is that CO2 is a gas, and therefore must be light. Indeed, it is difficult and confusing to understand the large numbers associated with our energy use, especially with the plethora of different units that are used.
Because we must develop a strategy for our energy use, combined with the widespread misconceptions about our energy system, it is essential that the public be informed and educated about energy. Such education also helps create public support for energy-related research. Providing balanced information to the public helps foster a mindset that is open to technological and social innovations needed for a stable and environmentally responsible energy system.
Roal Snieder, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
April 19th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
According to the IEA, the efforts to reach the aim of 450 ppm of carbon dioxide in 2050 will be split quite equitably between the public through a better use of energy and the engineers through the improvement of existing technologies and the development of new ones.
So, it is indeed really important to educate the population to enable a better awareness of these issues and to correct the too numerous misconceptions. For example, a French study shows that 66% of French believe that nuclear power plants contribute to the global warming: on the opposite, only 54% of French believe that coal power plants contribute! Actually a certain education already exists but unfortunately the information given by the media is often far too simplified and creates some untruths which confuse the public and even some politicians which continue to spread them.
Actually, we must be cautious with some popular green trends. Certainly solar energy is far greener than fossil fuels but, contrary to thermal solar energy, photovoltaic cells aren’t a panacea: due to a manufacturing process which emits a lot of CO2, this energy produces about 1100 tons of CO2 by toe (coal: 4100 t/toe; oil: 3000 t/toe; gas: 2400 t/toe; thermal solar: less than 200 t/toe). The biofuels are another example: current biofuels based on agriculture seem to be not as green as predicted due to fertilizers and the competition with the food production. The next generation of biofuels, based on algae in particular, should be far better. So, an education is necessary but it must be accurate, cautious and continuously updated.
However, it seems likely that such an education will not be sufficient: governments should settle standards, regulations or incentive systems to help this process. Actually, some steps have a low but sizeable cost, others don’t cost anything but little daily efforts: these measures, soft at the beginning then stronger, should help to create new habits in our energy use. Moreover these standards should encourage industry to make progress in order to anticipate these new habits. This is for example the case in France with the promotion of green cars, the environmental standards for the construction of new buildings, or the progressive ban of the incandescent light bulbs.
So, certainly an education is needed to promote a better energy use by the public, but this education must be accurate and updated, and, on top of that, it should be supported by government actions to help the creation of new habits.
September 18th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
Thanks! I have been looking for information on this all week. I wish there was more info about this. I really appreciate the post