Various human factors actively contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon (IV) oxide, methane, and fluorinated gases. Some of these factors include building and construction, transport, production of nuclear energy, industrial manufacturing, land user, and dietary behaviors. Through the use of the Global Calculator utility, several models can be modeled by combining these human factors to ensure emissions of these gases was managed below 50% to strike the UNFCC global mean temperature target of 20 Celsius in 2050. As shown in the screenshots below, the utility allowed me to vary various assumptions to come up with a pathway that was more of a simulation of how human activities affected the rate of greenhouse gas emission. Among the human parameters varied on the Global calculator were lifestyle behaviors like traveling, home activities, and dietary variations. Also, under technology and fuel parameters, levers such as transport, building manufacturing, carbon capture and storage, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy were varied ( Globalcalculator 2015 ). These levers were varied by selecting effort levers on a four-point scale, with effort one representing minimum effort while level four reflected extreme ambitions. For instance, to keep emissions below 50% in the year 20250, buildings should be insulated with appropriate materials to improve the thermal performance of urban buildings to reduce emissions. Also, 45% of heat energy has to be sourced from either solar or heat pumps while 15% of cooling energy has to come from solar. Besides, manufacturing industries have to work on material improvement as well as recycling processes to keep emissions below 50% and attain a 2-degree Celsius global temperature range by 2050. On the other hand, carbon capture and storage facilities should be able to capture at least 20% of carbon (IV) oxide produced during steel production as shown by the screenshot below. The cost, environmental, health and political implications of this model cannot be overlooked. The total capital outlay required to generate sufficient solar energy to make up 45% of the whole energy requirement is high since sophisticated technology and expertise have to be sourced. Also, the recycling process might be costly to some companies. From the model, the cost of implementing this pathway is slightly higher than the GDP of the counterfactual pathway, IEA 6DS as shown in the following screenshot.
References
Globalcalculator. (2015, January 27). How to use the Global Calculator [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_6flonHN0o&feature=youtu.be
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