At one point the pollution from the industrialised world was seen as the air of prosperity for commercial success that had span many decades. But with that success was an ignorance of the externalities that were created by our industrial developments and thereon an amalgamation of such effects in what is now known as the 'Greenhouse Effect'. In the US 20 million people took to the streets to demonstrate the need to look after our environment. This event took place on the 22nd April 1970 and became what we now know as the first of many subsequent 'Earth Days'. The remarkably huge demonstration spoke out against factors including industrial pollution, oil spills and toxic dumps as well as other actions harming the environment. The day brought together people from all walks of life as well as political allegiances in supporting what should be a unanimous cause. Now almost 40 years on, we stand with the news of being on the brink of failing to act in time to reverse the damage our actions have caused to the environment.
There is a target to reduce the amount of global CO2 in the atmosphere by 550 million tons by 2012 within the long drawn out affair of the Kyoto agreement. The long drawn out part relates to the fact that for the agreement to work, member countries need to sign up to it. More importantly from a global perspective the significance of the agreement relates to its success at getting the worst polluters in the world to sign up. The agreement needed countries responsible for 55% of the 1990 emissions to ratify and after the US refused in 2001 despite originally signing up to it under the Clinton administration, Russian ratification was needed and this was only obtained in November 2004. The target set for the UK was a 12.5% reduction in its CO2 emissions, which current progress forecasts indicate that we will fail to meet by the 2012 deadline.
Well 2006 has been the warmest year ever with the top 10 warmest years recorded globally occurring during the last 12 years and at the same time 2007 has been one of the wettest years recorded for the UK. The result of a recent survey by Greenpeace shows that 78% of people are concerned about climate change. So it sounds as though we are already making drastic attempts at rectifying this goliath and potentially catastrophic situation. Well...actually no, we are still in the process of waking up to it and since 2006 alone the amount of headline space these issues have taken have multiplied ten fold. We are now seeing a change in culture towards issues concerning the environment and as alarming scientific research continues to unravel itself, one can see why. We are seeing more and more natural disasters and estimates from sources all around the world predict potentially irreversible consequences of our actions within our very lifetimes.
In November 2006 a long-term study by 300 scientists concluded that that the polar ice-caps had shrunk by up to 20 per cent in the past three decades, with the ice now 40 per cent thinner than it was in the 1970s. The Arctic is now warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. During the 1960's approximately 7 million people were affected by floods worldwide, the figure today stands in the region of 150 million. The costs incurred by floods in Europe during 2002 amounted to an eye watering $16 billion. Swiss Re, the world's second largest insurer, has estimated that the economic costs of global warming could double to $150 billion each year in the next 10 years, hitting insurers with $30-40 billion in claims. Furthermore, there are at present 100 million people living at levels that are forecast to be below sea level by 2100 worldwide.
The time to worry about the effects of our actions on the planet may one day pass with attention turning to the effects of the earth's actions to mankind. Such a day may well be a decade away which is not that long, but where it does leave us is well positioned to make a difference and make a difference we can! Each and every one of us in Britain pollutes the environment with an average of 10.92 tons of carbon a year. Globally there are 26.5 billion tons of CO2 being put into the atmosphere, if we were to each save 1 ton per person we could be saving 1 billion tons a year, enough to prolong the tipping point of no return into the future sufficiently enough to have developed more sophisticated means of renewable energy by then.
Well the Met Office has made a predication that 2007 will be the hottest year on record, so we expect to see continued trends of wilder temperatures. Prof Bryden's group stunned climate researchers in 2006 with data suggesting that the flow rate of the Atlantic circulation had dropped by about 6 million tons of water a second from 1957 to 1998. If the current remained that weak, he predicted, it would lead to a 1°C temperature drop in the UK over the next decade. A complete shutdown would lead to a 4°C to 6°C cooling over 20 years.
Some of the most expensive real estate in the world could be "sleeping with the fishes" so to speak as dozens of the world's cities including London and New York could be flooded by the end of the century. Research suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought. Such a rise would threaten London, New York, Tokyo and Bombay. Mass areas of the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Florida would be swamped, and even smaller rises would flood severe low-lying areas, such as some of the Pacific Islands and New Orleans.
Dr Pachauri who has held many prominent positions throughout his career, is one of the world's leading scientists in this field. He expects the ice caps to disappear altogether by 2070. With the Artic experiencing January heat-waves with temperatures 8°C to 9°C higher than normal, it is no wonder such predictions are being made.
Sir David King a respected member of the scientific community having held positions including the government's chief scientist has made some alarming comments. He has commented that global warming is so bad that Antarctica is likely to be the world's only habitable continent by the end of this century. He goes on to say that "if we do not begin now, more substantial, more disruptive, and more expensive change will be needed later on". In Britain, the number of people at high risk of flooding is expected to more than double to nearly 3.5 million by 2080 according to Sir King, which roughly translated is 1 in every 17 people.
The heat-wave of 2003 across Europe is highly likely to be based on global
warming according to a range of evidence. It resulted in 26,000 premature
deaths and cost £7.75 billion. Such a summer is statistically calculated
to be a 1 in about 800 year occurrence. Yet the latest climate change model
suggests that as soon as the 2040's at least 1 year in 2 is likely to be even
warmer than 2003.
The UK's 21 million homes are responsible for 27% of CO2 emissions in the UK. This no doubt represents a sizeable proportion of the overall emissions and therefore presents the opportunity for each and every household to make a change. By understanding the factors that influence not only the amounts of CO2 we emit but also the amounts we spend on our utility bills each year, we can make the changes needed allowing us to act out the expression that "change starts at home!"
The European Union has set a directive (Directive 2002/91/EC) for all member states to follow which is aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the housing stock. The standards set by the directive are a requirement for all homes in the rental sector to be let with an energy performance certificate which we provide as a Home Energy Report.
In terms of more immediate changes there is the phased introduction of a mandatory Home Information Pack (HIP) for every home marketed for sale after 1st August 2007. The pack must contain a Home Energy Report otherwise known also as an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
The aim of the Home Energy Report is to give consumers an analysis of the energy efficiency and associated running costs of a given home, along with estimates of the CO2 released by that household. The report is designed to give a better understanding of energy efficiency within the home and more importantly an idea of what potential changes can be made to bring that home up to its potential. What it also does is allows buyers to compare the running costs and CO2 emissions of different homes so they can decide for themselves which is more affordable for them. This naturally gives the seller an incentive to keep their home as energy efficient as possible to make their home more attractive to either potential buyers or tenants.
