Engineers can build a low-carbon world if we let them
By Colin Brown,
Engineering solutions to combat climate change already exist and were it not for patchy political will, we could be building a low-carbon economy right now with them, as this story in New Scientist explains.
One word sums up the attitude of engineers towards climate change: frustration. Political inertia following the high-profile failure of 2009's Copenhagen climate conference has coupled with a chorus of criticism from a vocal minority of climate-change sceptics. Add the current economic challenges and the picture looks bleak. Our planet is warming and we are doing woefully little to prevent it getting worse.
Engineers know there is so much more that we could do. While the world's politicians have been locked in predominantly fruitless talks, engineers have been developing the technologies we need to bring down emissions and help create a more stable future.
Wind, wave and solar power, zero-emissions transport, low-carbon buildings and energy-efficiency technologies have all been shown feasible. To be rolled out on a global scale, they are just waiting for the political will. Various models, such as the European Climate Foundation's Roadmap 2050, show that implementing these existing technologies would bring about an 85 per cent drop in carbon emissions by 2050. The idea that we need silver-bullet technologies to be developed before the green technology revolution can happen is a myth. The revolution is waiting to begin.
Comments
Stewart Farr
As an engineer, this article brings a small amount of joy to my humble life in the cupboard out the back of the building.
Truth be told many of us had given up on common sense prevailing.
The ETS won't fix anything, as our ideas won't get funding from it……..
But who do we think we are?
Coming up with solutions for problems, thats crazy talk, that the kind of talk that removes politics from a situation.
Your crazy man.
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