Climate Crisis & Energy Management

Climate crisis is not only an environmental threat, but also a milestone in terms of energy consumption and management. Increasing temperatures on a global scale change the dynamics of energy demand and make the requirement for energy efficiency even more urgent. Impacts of climate change decrease heating requirements at some locations while increasing climate control and cooling requirements at others. This creates a giant pressure on energy networks.

So, is it possible to reshape energy consumption to fight climate crisis? In this post, we evaluated energy demand, consumption, and management. We wrote about energy management and climate crisis.

Climate Crisis & Energy Consumption

Discussing climate crisis, it is not possible to differentiate energy and climate, as 80% of emissions that cause climate crisis is generated in the energy industry.

Although a hotter climate means less heating requirement, this includes a series of inequality in itself, varying from region to region and season to season. There are different energy consumptions that emerge, and different players come into play although heating requirement is expected to reduce with the climate change.

Global warming reduces the requirement of heating at some locations while A/C use increases due to increased temperatures, and this causes an increase in the electricity demand. Climate change has a great impact on the dynamics of A/C use; re-painting, insulation and vegetation are required to enable thermal comfort in buildings, and this brings an additional economic burden.

Transition to Renewable Energy

Going beyond a temperature threshold results in requiring increasing use of HVAC systems every day due to climate crisis. The hot summers we experience are proof of that. Although the demand on the electricity grids can be met since they are designed accordingly, the high variability in electricity consumption is not in balance with the rate of generation via renewable energy. Therefore, renewable energy should be urgently increased in every country.

Increasing Cooling Demand

The gradual increase in the global A/C requirement on a global scale cannot be balanced with the reduction of heating requirement in several regions worldwide in terms of global warming levels and GHG emissions analyzed. For example, the energy demand will rise in the middle and higher latitudes of Eurasia and at every location other than the southwest of South America. Equatorial Africa and India in particular will be impacted by the increase in energy demand. As HVAC systems are added to the buildings, electricity requirement will also increase.

Cooling requirements also result in a huge load in terms of both in economic and energy. The dynamics following the adaptation to use HVAC systems also vary. For example, A/C use in the USA is quite common while it is rarer in Europe. Moreover, the type, brand, model, and technology of the A/C units also play a significant role in affecting energy consumption. Increasing temperatures can be considered as the main reason for purchasing fixed A/C units. Frequent hot weather waves due to climate change are the main reason for purchasing mobile A/C units.

As the economies grow and the Southern Hemisphere is exposed to a hotter climate, the increasing cooling demand has the potential of creating a substantial increase in GHG emissions. The estimation of the International Energy Agency related to the global A/C unit stocks for the period between 1990 and 2050 reminds us strikingly that the cooling demand has increased dramatically. Indoor cooling consumes 16% of the total electricity used in buildings. Since indoor cooling on some extremely hot days constitutes over 70% of the electricity demand for houses, the issue creates additional load on electricity grids. The energy demand for indoor cooling in buildings may be tripled by 2050.

Are the Taken Measures Enough?

Forest fires increasing globally, agricultural produce famine and years of continuous droughts due to heat waves put forward climate change not as a future problem but as a crisis of today. Unfortunately, up until today, everyone has focused on long-term climate goals rather than creating immediate action plans and governments made big statements for the middle of the century while short-term plans that can have an impact on the most critical times (in other words, today!) were mostly neglected.

Reducing the Global Energy Demand is a Must.

Another subject that has not been dealt with sufficiently is the global energy demand. Even the investments in green energy seem to fall short to end the global dominance of fossil fuels. If we are not careful about the acceleration in energy consumption, use of renewable energy resources will not be enough. If we cannot meet the increasing energy demand particularly in developing economies, it will be extremely hard and more expensive to reach global climate goals.

But the good news is, we can solve the issue by prioritizing the popularization of energy efficiency solutions. Energy efficiency, in the simplest terms, means using less energy for the same job, in other words preventing energy waste.

Energy is wasted in so many industries and areas every day. Inefficient transportation vehicles on the land and in the sea burn too much fuel while inefficient electric engines in industry cause so much energy waste and the extra heat from production cannot be used in any way. Unless simple and relatively low-cost measures are taken to monitor and control energy consumed in buildings -both commercial and residential buildings-, substantial amounts of energy are wasted every day. We have the technologies to prevent wasting; however, we must prioritize raising awareness of consumers through awareness-raising campaigns.

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Energy Efficiency & Climate Crisis

We can reduce cooling-based emissions through energy-efficient solutions. By just preferring energy-efficient options, we can reduce global energy consumption almost by half. 

There are also other solutions to prevent energy waste in food storage and transportation. The current cold chain technology can reduce food loss up to 40% in the developing countries. We can close the gap between the commitments and actions with a global driving force for energy efficiency and reduce global emissions by 5 gigatons per year until 2030. This corresponds to almost one third of the reductions required to reach the net zero target. The solution stands before us: the greenest energy is the one not consumed.

Significance of Energy Management

Climate change creates deep and complex impacts on energy consumption and management, and it comes up with critical challenges for humanity. Projections on how global warming changes energy demands put forward critical questions related to energy consumption in the future. While increasing temperatures can reduce the requirement for heating at some regions, this advantage is balanced with the increase in the requirement for HVAC systems in other regions. The issue causes an increase in electricity demand and therefore emissions, especially in tropical and hot climates, and creates an excessive load on global energy grids.

Acceleration in the transition to renewable energy resources can mitigate the imbalances in the energy demand. However, this will not be sufficient unless it is supported by propagation of energy efficiency solutions. Efficiency solutions come forward as one of the most effective ways to reduce energy waste and play a critical role in tackling climate change. Energy efficiency does not only optimize our current energy consumption, but also enables us to do more work with less energy, which provides both economic and environmental benefits.

To sum up, 80% of the emissions that cause climate crisis originate from the energy industry and create an inevitable pressure over energy consumption. Mitigating and managing this burden should constitute the core of our global energy strategies. Governments, companies, and individuals can together reduce our energy consumption by prioritizing energy efficiency and follow a more sustainable path in tackling climate change. It is of critical importance to rapidly adopt and propagate energy efficiency solutions worldwide to reach long-term climate goals, not only to deal with climate crisis but also to leave a habitable world for future generations. Energy efficiency is an indispensable part of transitioning to green energy, and it has the potential to significantly reduce global emissions. We should not forget that the most sustainable energy is the energy not consumed at all.