Preamble - Global Warming & Common Man
October 2007 - It was yet another moment of pride for India ! The UN body IPCC under the chairmanship of the Indian scientist, Mr. R.K.Pachauri, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Al Gore "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".
However, a common person’s reaction was “I don't know what is global warming or what causes it, as I am not a scientist. But this I know, that we need to work together for a clean environment – to keep our rivers, our air, and our land clean, so we can stay healthy. It also makes good civic sense”. It is, therefore, most vital & urgent to disseminate knowledge to a common person on Global Warming & its cause - Green House Gas Emissions, what are its devastating effects and how can an individual contribute towards minimizing the same.
Global Warming & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The sunlight (solar radiation) at short wavelength passes through the atmosphere, reaches the earth & part of it is absorbed by earth’s surface. Earth radiates back part of the absorbed energy at longer wave lengths which is absorbed more effectively by the greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. GHGs also emit long wave radiation both upward to space and downward to the surface. The downward part of this long wave radiation emitted by the atmosphere is the “greenhouse effect”.
It is important to note that GHGs are essential to maintain the temperature of earth; without them earth would be so cold to be uninhabitable.
However, an excess of GHG can raise the temperature of earth to lethal levels & create climate change . As witnessed during past few years, there has been rise in global temperature & that has caused severe climate changes. For instance, European countries which normally have relatively cold or pleasant climate during summer, witnessed few human deaths due to scorching heat of summer. There was also an unbelievable incident of a person’s death due to snow fall in Saudi Arabia.
Greenhouse Gases (GHG)
On earth, the most abundant GHGs are water vapour, CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, CFCs. But where do these GHGs come from ? The major contribution ( % ) of various sources of emission are as follows : Fossil fuel based power plants (21%), Industries (17%), Transportation fuels (14%), Agricultural byproducts (12%), Residential/ commercial (10%), Fossil fuel retrieval, processing & distribution (11%).
So you are one of the billions of people, knowingly or un-knowingly contributing to GHG emission at home. Are you wondering - how? Few very simple examples will help explain the fact.
As mentioned above, electricity used for industrial/commercial/agricultural/domestic purpose is generated at power plants mostly burning fossil fuel (resulting in 21% contribution towards GHG emission). Out of 1kWh generated at power plant, in countries like India, nearly 28% is lost in transmission & distribution and around 20-30% is wasted due to inherent inefficiency of domestic appliances. So for effectively consuming 1kWh energy, the domestic consumer receives 1/0.7 = 1.4 kWh & the power plant generates 1.4/0.72 = 1.9 kWh. If somehow energy consumption is reduced by 1kWh in a house, power generation will be reduced by 1.9 kWh thus lowering the associated emission of CO2 / other GHG from power plant.
Similarly potable water is pumped for domestic use by municipality after proper treatment involving use of chemicals & power. If water wastage is prevented at home, ultimately not only can it be used by other needy people but the emission of pollutants during production of water treatment chemicals themselves & electricity spent in water treatment & pumping further can also be avoided/ minimized. Similar thinking can be applied to transportation fuel etc & so on.
Now what exactly can be done by an individual at home to conserve resources (particularly power & water)? Some very simple measures are explained below. Interestingly enough, while inflation rate is soaring high owing mainly to rise in crude oil price, these measures would also result in tangible benefits for the individuals by way of reduction in utility & fuel bills.
What you can do at home to save money & reduce GHG emission! (Zero Investment & Immediate Benefits to Yourself & Society)
For easy understanding, the actions mentioned below are arranged as per sequence of daily routine activities performed. Individuals are encouraged to think over & add those activities overlooked here.
1a) After getting up in the morning : Put off the fan/ air conditioner if there is no other occupant in the room. If your a/c has timer facility, set it to turn off automatically, 1-2 hours before your wake-up time.
1b) Immediately put off night lamps (if sufficient daylight is available).
2) Brushing teeth/ shaving : Turn off tap when not needed during the activity
3) Take out the milk container from refrigerator before brushing teeth. This will not only save refrigerator power but also allow milk to gradually attain near ambient temperature so that while making tea/coffee, the power consumption of electrical heating appliance or LPG /PNG consumption of heating stove will reduce.
4) Taking bath : If using electric geyser, turn off immediately after finishing bath, otherwise it will automatically keep on turning on/off to maintain the temperature set on thermostat. Alternatively, if PNG is available, install PNG geyser.
5) Washing & drying clothes : If using washing machine, ensure sufficient clothes are available to run it at full load. If sufficient sunlight is available, don’t use dryer function of washing machine. Rather, hang-dry the clothes. Hang-drying will also make the clothes last much longer.
6a) Cooking breakfast/ meals : Adopt PNG , if available.
6b) Use solar cooker if the orientation of your house allows to conveniently get sufficient solar radiation for 2-3 hours.
6c) Cook only the adequate quantity by whatever means. Cooking the quantity of food much higher than required will only result in its storage of left-out quantity in refrigerator, consuming higher power. If the excess food is thrown away, it is tremendous wastage in terms of resources required for raw food production, transportation, storage, cooking etc. It would also result in un-necessary burden on waste disposal mechanism.
7) Drinking water : Fill in the glass, only the quantity of water to be drunk. It is general tendency to fill the glass up to the brim & throw away the water remaining after drinking (if you drink bottled water, you can't imagine how much money you are throwing away annually) . If you are throwing chilled water, you are also draining precious energy spent in chilling the water.
8) Washing utensils : As far as possible, apply cleaning agent on all utensils & de-grease before washing under running water. If felt appropriate, rinse all degreased utensils in a water tub & wash finally under running water.
9) Leaving home : Unplug mobile charger, TV, electronic items as they use energy when plugged in and on standby. Pull on window curtains to prevent direct sunlight heating your living space.
10) Commuting to work place : Use public transportation or carpool for long trips
11) Office work : Ensure air conditioner temperature set point isn’t unnecessarily low. If leaving your computer for a while, put it on stand-by. You’ll be able to restart it quickly & it’ll take less energy than shutting it down & then restarting it.
12) Shopping : Plan to purchase weekly needed items on one day to save transportation fuel, money & time.
13) Energy efficient electrical appliances : Buy ‘energy star’ rated appliances. Though initial cost may seem higher, it quickly gets paid back as a result of energy saving. Replace older bulbs with CFLs. Look for LEDs (if readily available at not very high cost).
Regularly clean lighting fixtures.
14) Living space cooling/ air conditioning : Weather proof your home. Caulk & weather strip your doorways & windows to prevent hot air infiltration/ cold air ex-filtration. Don’t keep the refrigerator in air conditioned space.
15) Growing trees : If you are fortunate enough to have space for garden at home, plant trees.
There is an apt saying - Think globally, act locally. If simple steps towards resource conservation are collectively taken at millions of homes, the global impact would be significant! So better late than never! Start acting immediately on guidelines mentioned above & also think of your own innovative ways. There is an inevitable, urgent need for every human being to understand responsibility towards environment protection & improvement, at least for the sake of future generations : “We do not inherit the earth from the ancestors, we borrow it from our children”.