Climate change, sustainability and the need for a new industrial revolution in Scotland

2012 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Sugden ◽  
Janette Webb ◽  
Andrew Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
Major Commitment

ABSTRACTThis paper sets the wider global and Scottish context for this Special Issue of EESTRSE. Climate change is inextricably linked to wellbeing, security and sustainability. It poses a fundamental challenge to the way we organise society and our relationship to the exploitation of the Earth's resources. Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, linked to burning fossil fuels and land use, present a major risk of climate change, with serious but uncertain impacts emerging at a regional scale. A new industrial revolution is needed to achieve energy security and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with energy efficiency and energy production emitting low or no CO2 at its heart. At present, on a global scale, there is a mismatch between the emphasis on economic growth and the need to reduce emissions and achieve a sustainable use of resources. A more sustainable blueprint for the future is emerging in Europe and Scotland has much to gain economically and socially from this change. Scotland's ambitious emission reduction targets (42% cut by 2020 and 80% by 2050) are achievable, but require major commitment and investment. Despite success in cutting emissions from activities within Scotland, Scotland's consumption-based emissions rose by 11% in 1996–2004.

Contributions of Sustainable Biomass and Bioenergy in Agriculture Transitions Towards a Circular Economy

2022 ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Oloiva Maria Tavira ◽  
José Tadeu Marques Aranha ◽  
Maria Raquel Lucas
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
Starting Point

The production of bioenergy and biofertilizers based on animal and plant biomass is a crucial pillar in circular economy (CE). CE conceptual model and main aims are closely related to the 3 “R” (reduce, reuse, and recycle) rule, which is to improve the use of resources, minimize waste, and assure sustainability. Although bioenergy offers many opportunities and could be an alternative to fossil fuels use, the path for a broader implementation of this type of activity is still long. This study marks the starting point or direction of research to be taken, ensuring the existence of benefits from plant and animal biomass for the production of bioenergy and biofertilizer, as well as the contributions of this type of production to the circular economy and the mitigation of the climate change impacts.

scholarly journals Food Security in the Era of Sustainable Organic Farming: A Comparison Between the Visegrad Group and India

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-18
Author(s):  
Priya Rani Bhagat ◽  
Róbert Magda
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Organic Farming ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Climate Change Effects ◽  
Organic Cultivation ◽  
Agriculture Industry ◽  
Visegrad Group

Abstract The agriculture industry has undergone many developments that embraced automation, agro-chemical fertilizers, genetically modified organisms etc that brought exponential growth in productivity post industrial revolution. This growth resolved the food availability issues on a global scale, but rapid climate change has brought about a shift in production practices to more sustainable organic farming techniques from the conventional methods. The climate change effects and increase in greenhouse gas emissions adversely affected the overall agricultural output. The widespread perception is that adoption of organic farming can reduce the harmful greenhouse emissions and be less damaging to the environment, although expecting the same level of productivity as conventional farming is challenging. This gradual shift can cause future food security problems such as availability and affordability of food in developing countries. This article compares and analyses such trend in the Visegrad group (V4) and India. The comparison between a group of developed nations and a developing nation is of exploratory interest because V4 countries are regarded as high-income countries and they are leaders in organic cultivation practices since the 1980s, whereas India as a developing country has seen substantial conversion of agriculture land area from conventional to organic farming in the past decade.

scholarly journals TENDENCY OF GLOBAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN THE WORLD IN THE LAST TEN YEARS

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Isak Karabegović
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Small Hydropower ◽  
The World

It is well-known that, in the past decades, the burning of fossil fuels was identified as the major cause of climate change. Climate change mitigation is becoming a central concern of global society. Limiting global warming to below 2 °C above the temperature of the pre-industrial period is the key to preserving global ecosystems and providing a secure basis for human activities, as well as reducing excessive environmental change. The ambitions increased at an accelerated pace with a dramatic expansion of net zero-emission targets. Increasing pressure from citizens and society has forced countries to intensify their climate plans, while the private sector has bought a record amount of renewable energy. An energy system based on fossil fuels must be replaced by renewable energy with low carbon emissions with improved energy efficiency. That applies to all consumers of fossil energy: cities, villages, building sectors, industry, transport, agriculture, and forestry. The paper explores and presents the strategy of energy development of renewable energy sources in the world. The application of new technologies that have led to developing renewable energy sources is presented in detail: wind energy, solar energy, small hydropower plants, biomass, and their increase in the total share of energy production, i.e., reduced fossil fuel use in energy production. Investments in new technologies used in renewable energy sources have led to increases in employment worldwide. Analysis of the trend of increased energy production from RES (Renewable Energy Sources) with investment plans, the employment rate for each energy source, and the development of renewable energy sources in the coming period are provided.

Climate Change and Geopolitics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Dalby
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Paris Agreement ◽  
Climate Politics ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Rising Sea Levels

Historic discussions of climate often suggested that it caused societies to have certain qualities. In the 19th-century, imperial representations of the world environment frequently “determined” the fate of peoples and places, a practice that has frequently been used to explain the largest patterns of political rivalry and the fates of empires and their struggles for dominance in world politics. In the 21st century, climate change has mostly reversed the causal logic in the reasoning about human–nature relationships and their geographies. The new thinking suggests that human decisions, at least those made by the rich and powerful with respect to the forms of energy that are used to power the global economy, are influencing future climate changes. Humans are now shaping the environment on a global scale, not the other way around. Despite the widespread acceptance of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate-change action, numerous arguments about who should act and how they should do so to deal with climate change shape international negotiations. Differing viewpoints are in part a matter of geographical location and whether an economy is dependent on fossil-fuels revenue or subject to increasingly severe storms, droughts, or rising sea levels. These differences have made climate negotiations very difficult in the last couple of decades. Partly in response to these differences, the Paris Agreement devolves primary responsibility for climate policy to individual states rather than establish any other geopolitical arrangement. Apart from the outright denial that humanity is a factor in climate change, arguments about whether climate change causes conflict and how security policies should engage climate change also partly shape contemporary geopolitical agendas. Despite climate-change deniers, in the Trump administration in particular, in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement, climate change is understood increasingly as part of a planetary transformation that has been set in motion by industrial activity and the rise of a global fossil-fuel-powered economy. But this is about more than just climate change. The larger earth-system science discussion of transformation, which can be encapsulated in the use of the term “Anthropocene” for the new geological circumstances of the biosphere, is starting to shape the geopolitics of climate change just as new political actors are beginning to have an influence on climate politics.

scholarly journals Technical possibilities of the cutting oils filtration residues combustion

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 45-49
Author(s):  
M. Pešek ◽  
M. Přikryl
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Final Solution ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Greenhouse Gases Emissions ◽  
Technological Waste ◽  
Utilization Of Wastes

The value of consumption share of electricity from renewable sources in the Czech Republic up to 8% in 2010 stems from an individual obligation adopted by the Czech Republic when signing the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. One of the possibilities how to reduce greenhouse gases emissions from fossil fuels consists in biomass burning. Biomass used for power purposes is obtained on purpose as a result of production activities or it originates from utilization of wastes from agricultural, forest and industrial production. In biomass burning, the boiler used produces carbon dioxide, recyclable in nature. Increase of the amount of municipal and technological waste including materials that are heavily soiled and difficult to recycle pushed up demand to obtain the best possible solutions in terms of both technological and economic terms. Recycling of materials can provide multiple circulations which have to lead to final solution such as storage or use in energy production. One of the solutions shall consist in recommending the installation of the sorting line, the homogenizer, and possibly a pelletizer to ensure sufficient homogeneity of the material.  

Global Warming

2011 ◽  
pp. 30-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costas P. Pappis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Basic Facts

As noted in the previous chapter, climate change has emerged in recent years as one of the most critical topics at almost all levels of decision making, both private and public. This constitutes a radical change compared to the common perception only a few years ago. Climate change, a result of global warming, is a reality of universal acceptance, affecting in many ways the life of human societies as well as the environment. Continuing research over the last decades has established concrete knowledge of the basic facts about the results of interactive processes in the Earth system,which determine climate and climate change. It has particularly shown the anthropogenic influences on these processes. There is no doubt that human activities are the critical cause of the changes in the climate that Earth is experiencing since the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century, i.e. since the time that a period of rapid industrial growth with far reaching social and economic consequences begun in Britain and spread to Europe and other countries all over the world. The industrial revolution marked the beginning of a dramatic increase in the use of fossil fuels, which is the main cause of climate change.

Energy Geography

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry D. Solomon ◽  
Martin J. Pasqualetti
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Land Reclamation ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
First Century ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Climate Change Research ◽  
The Earth

Fossil fuels powered the Industrial Revolution and they continue to dominate our lives as we enter the twenty-first century. Yet there are clear signs that the grip they have on every sector of society must soon relax in favor of other energy sources. Such a transition will not come because we are running out of fossil fuels, but rather because the environmental and social costs of their rapid use threaten our very existence on the planet. This is an expected development. From the time when fossil fuels first enabled and magnified humans’ dominion over the earth, the costs they brought—as any good economist would argue—have been inseparable from their benefits. Although the benefits were explicit and the local costs were experienced by many, it was not until skilled writers such as Zola, Orwell, Llewellyn, and Dickens vividly portrayed them that their widespread and pernicious nature was broadcast to those outside their immediate reach. Nowadays the problems we are grappling with have spread to the global scale, including atmospheric warming, thinning ozone, and rising exposure to above-background radioactivity. Understanding earth–energy associations is a task well matched to the varied skills of geographers. The worth of such study is increasingly apparent as the world’s human population continues to rise, as fossil fuels become more difficult to wrest from the earth, and as we continue to realize that there will be no risk-free, cost-free, or impact-free rabbits coming out of the alternative energy hat. In this chapter, we review developments in energy geography in the US and Canada as posted to the literature since the first edition of Geography in America, including a sprinkling from overseas to provide context. Owing to the fundamental nature of energy, we have accordingly cast a wide net in our background research, albeit with some boundaries. For example, while we discuss several important contributions to energy research by physical and environmental geographers, we excluded consideration of such themes as energy budgets, most climate change research, and mine-land reclamation and radioactive waste transport studies by hydrologists and geomorphologists.

Renewable energy choices and their water requirements in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 80-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Sparks ◽  
Amos Madhlopa ◽  
Samantha Keen ◽  
Mascha Moorlach ◽  
Anthony Dane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Water Withdrawal ◽  
Water Requirements

South Africa is an arid country, where water supply is often obtained from a distant source. There is increasing pressure on the limited water resources due to economic and population growth, with a concomitant increase in the energy requirement for water production. This problem will be exacerbated by the onset of climate change. Recently, there have been concerns about negative impacts arising from the exploitation of energy resources. In particular, the burning of fossil fuels is significantly contributing to climate change through the emission of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. In addition, fossil fuels are being depleted, and contributing to decreased energy security. As a result of this, the international community has initiated various interventions, including the transformation of policy and regulatory instruments, to promote sustainable energy. With this in mind, South Africa is making policy and regulatory shifts in line with international developments. Renewable energy is being promoted as one way of achieving sustainable energy provision in the country. However, some issues require scrutiny in order to understand the water footprint of renewable energy production. Due to the large gap that exists between water supply and demand, trade-offs in water allocation amongst different users are critical. In this vein, the main objective of this study was to investigate and review renewable energy choices and water requirements in South Africa. Data were acquired through a combination of a desktop study and expert interviews. Water withdrawal and consumption levels at a given stage of energy production were investigated. Most of the data was collected from secondary sources. Results show that there is limited data on all aspects of water usage in the production chain of energy, accounting in part for the significant variations in the values of water intensity that are reported in the literature. It is vital to take into account all aspects of the energy life cycle to enable isolation of stages where significant amounts of water are used. It is found that conventional fuels (nuclear and fossil fuels) withdraw significant quantities of water over the life-cycle of energy production, especially for thermoelectric power plants operated with a wet-cooling system. The quality of water is also adversely affected in some stages of energy production from these fuels. On the other hand, solar photovoltaic and wind energy exhibit the lowest demand for water, and could perhaps be considered the most viable renewable options in terms of water withdrawal and consumption.

Co-movements of financial volatilities in a changing environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Martins
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
High Carbon ◽  
Volatility Model

<p>Anthropogenic climate change has been attributed mainly to the excessive burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbon compounds. On average, 75% of the primary energy is still being produced by means of fossil fuels. In order to mitigate the global effects of climate change, a transition towards low-carbon economies is thus necessary. However, given current technology, this transition requires investments to shift away from high-carbon assets and so the effectiveness of changes in investment decisions depends highly on the expectations about policy change (e.g. regarding carbon pricing). The systemic implications of disruptive technological progress on the prices of carbon-intensive assets are thus compounded by the geopolitical nature of transition risk. If investors are pricing transition risk, this implies prices of high-carbon assets should all be responsive to climate-related policy news. For modelling the dynamics of volatility co-movements at the global scale, we propose an extension to the global volatility factor model of Engle and Martins (\textit{in preparation}). To allow for richer structures of the global volatility process, including dynamics, structural changes, outliers or time-varying parameters, we adapt the indicator saturation approach introduced by Hendry (1999) to the second moment and high-frequency data. In the model, climate change is interpreted as a source of structural change affecting the financial system. The new global volatility model is applied to the daily share prices of major Oil and Gas companies from different countries traded in the NYSE to avoid asynchronicity. As a proxy for climate change risk, we use the climate change news index of Engle et al. (2019). This index is a time series that captures news about long-run climate risk. In particular, we use the innovations in their negative (or bad) news index which is based on sentiment analysis.</p>

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