GLOBAL WARMING: Possible Solutions to Global Warming
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What you need to know...
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Lesson Resources
Useful Websites- Solution by continent (use the menu down the left hand side) - This is very useful!
- Emissions Trading (The Guardian) Global warming: are there any solutions?- Watch the video below which provides some useful ideas and thoughts on whether global warming can be solved
Think S.E.C.T.- There are many ways in which carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced to help in the fight to solve global warming
- The solutions put forward by AQA for study form the handy acronym SECT 1. Subsidising and promoting the development and use of renewable resources 2. Encouraging the use of alternative energy sources 3. Carbon Trading & pollution permits 4. Taxing the use of fossil fuels Subsidising and promoting the development and use of renewable resources- As technology and consumerism has continued to advance and grow, our demands for energy have too!
- In order to meet these increased energy demands in a cleaner more environmentally friendly way people have looked to renewable energy sources as a solution. - Click on the image to discover a little bit of information about our renewable energy generation options - Eon the energy company provides some useful interactive resources which will help you establish a working understanding of renewable and non-renewable sources of energy as will as possible solutions of where renewable sources could be used (click on the image below to access them!) - Denmark has its own approach to renewable energy
- Watch the video below and decide on the economic costs and benefits of Denmark's approach to renewable energy; could every country adopt is? Encouraging the use of alternative energy sources- We must both encourage the use of alternative energy sources but also discourage the use of non-rewable energy sources
- Governments and organisations around the globe have encouraged the of alternative energy sources which reduce or eradicate all forms of greenhouse gas emissions - One low-carbon energy source is Nuclear Power; however with any solution there are inevitable drawbacks (click on the image to access some useful resources!) - A useful resource to find out more information on the challenges of using alternative energy sources, such as nuclear power, can be found here! - Turkey has turned its waste into an alternative energy source (watch the video below to discover more) - With support from national governments and world organisations (e.g. The World Bank) Egypt has developed a solar power project helping them generate energy from a renewable source, the sun! (watch the video below for further information)
Carbon Trading & pollution permits - The European Union uses an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to help reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases across Europe's industry (click here to find out more)
- In 2013 as a result of a huge oversupply of polluition permits (i.e. a permit to pollute), owing to the economic crisis causing production to drop, and because of lobbying by industry, the price paid to emit a tonne of carbon has fallen in recent years; this fall in price made it much cheaper to pollute! (read more about the issue here!) - A short-term fix was approved in July 2013 which delayed the release of permits for 900m tonnes of carbon, cutting the oversupply of pollution permits (read more about the issue here!) - If you're struggling to get your head around carbon trading and pollution permits then watch the video below....listen carefully! Taxing the use of fossil fuels- As you can see in the graphic UK environmental (green) taxes have grown in use over the past 20 years.
- The first taxes on fossil fuels focussed on transport and fossil fuels used to cover waste disposal, quarrying and energy efficiency among others. - The aims of these taxes now ranges from broad based revenue-raising instruments to specifically targeted taxes aimed at reducing the use of fossil fuels. - Including transport taxes, the total revenue raised from environmental taxation in 2010-11 was £43.4bn or 7.9% of total tax revenue. - Whilst these green taxes might persuade some consumers and businesses to reduce their use of fossil fuels there is an underlying problem in this fight. - Governments from around the globe continue to heavily subsidise (cash payments) and give tax breaks/incentives to businesses who use and extract fossil fuels. - Fossil fuel subsidies help keep economies hooked on oil and gas, increase the risks of climate change, and make it harder for clean sources to break through (more information can be found in the file called fossil_fuel_tax_breaks_2013 linked above). |