strategies to manage climate change Flashcards
hydrogen buses
hydrogen buses were introduced as a way to lower nitrus oxide emissions produced by regular buses.
Water vapour is the only gas they emit and they offer more efficient refuelling compared to electric buses.
However, this is not fully effective as not enough is done to encourage people to use public transport (eg. improve reliability of bus times).
electric cars
electric cars were introduced to reduce the amount of nitrus oxide emissions entering the atmosphere.
This hasn’t been successful as the sales of electric cars account for 1.1% of all UK car sales - the cheapest car available is £26,000.
Also, they are heavy and the current multi-story car park infrastructures aren’t suitable to hold electric cars.
save energy in homes
encouraging people to save energy in their homes to reduce carbon dioxide levels is very easy to do as it only requires small adjustments.
Installing smart meters helps to monitor energy efficiency. This also drives people to save money so they are more likely to do it.
Paris agreement
The Paris agreement outlined agreements between leaders of developed and developing countries to limit climate change to below a 2⁰C rise.
All countries agreed to be ‘carbon zero’ by 2050 apart from Scotland who said they could reach the goal by 2045.
They update these on a 5-yearly cycle to be increasingly stricter and reduce emissions even more.
By 2015, Scotland generated 59% of its energy via renewable energy. 2020 figures show Scotland has 97.4% of energy created from renewable sources.
bag charge
In 2014, a ‘5p’ charge was introduced for single use carrier plastic bags to reduce amount of plastic going into landfills and reduce emitting methane levels. Since 2015, there has been an 85% drop in single use plastic bags (7 billion down to 500 million).
In 2021, the charge increased to 10p but Green campaigners urged for a 50p increase as many supermarkets reported a surge in plastic bags being sold.
