Taking a look at Project Drawdown’s solutions to climate change
Refrigerators for food became common household items in the early twentieth century, but their use to keep us cool has now become shockingly widespread. Ten percent of electricity use worldwide can be attributed to air conditioning and fans.
Ultraviolet radiation leaves the sun, determined to reach Earth, only to be halted by the ozone layer. The ozone layer is a ten-kilometer-away volatile collection of O3 (ozone) differing from oxygen gas by its additional oxygen atom. Certain compounds damage the ozone layer by thinning it, allowing some ultraviolet radiation to travel through to Earth’s atmosphere. This poses a risk to human health as well as the health of plants and animals.
Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henriquez was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for identifying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as an ozone-depleting substance. CFCs, as well as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), are both used heavily in refrigeration (refrigerators and air conditioning), but were banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which replaced the use of CFCs and HCFCs for refrigerators and air conditioners, do not appear to damage the ozone layer, but are an incredibly potent greenhouse gas. This means that they contribute to the thickening of the greenhouse gas layer, trapping excessive heat, and warming the climate. The 2016 Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol joined 170 countries in a pledge to discontinue the use of HFCs, instead replacing them with natural refrigerants such as propane and ammonia. The complete termination of the use of HFCs has a due date of 2028 (with some countries aiming to eliminate them sooner). Curiously, Drawdown did not mention the effects of diet on refrigeration use, as surely a diet consisting of less meat and dairy would decrease the need for refrigeration.
Selected climate change solutions compiled and ranked by Project Drawdown (for the comprehensive list, go to https://www.drawdown.org/). See the following issue for the next proposed solution.
