Climate change is without a doubt one of the most pressing issues of our day. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has risen dramatically in the previous 150 years, particularly methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide. We know that these gases hasten climate change by trapping heat in the atmosphere, resulting in a rise in global average temperature. The majority of environmental issues require collaborative efforts to solve. Voluntary technical policy solutions alone will not be enough to keep greenhouse gas levels stable. To minimize emissions and foster technological innovation, sufficiently stringent regulatory policies are also essential.
Coronavirus is the most serious worldwide threat that many of us will face in our lifetimes. Prior to the epidemic, however, climate change loomed as the world’s most pressing issue.
Some ways to use technology to help solve the climate change crisis
- Carbon capture:- Carbon collection, utilization, and storage technologies are being employed to minimize CO2 emissions, with the Net Zero Teesside (NZT) project being an interesting example. NZT plans to capture CO2 emissions from industrial operations and power stations and send them to offshore storage locations several kilometers beneath the North Sea via pipeline. This carbon would be sequestered in secure places deep beneath the water, where it would no longer contribute to the greenhouse effect and may even be synthesized into new transportation fuels in the future. As the name suggests, the goal of the NZT project is to reduce carbon emissions in several carbon-intensive businesses in the North East (UK) to zero by 2030.
- Climate repair:- The University of Cambridge’s Centre for Climate Repair is looking into a range of options for repairing the damage caused by human pollution. Refreezing the poles by brightening the clouds above them, effectively by spraying tiny amounts of salt into the sky to help the clouds reflect radiation back into space, is one of their suggestions. Another idea has been to “green” the oceans by fertilizing them to increase the growth of plant materials and algae, which could absorb more CO2. However, some study suggests that this might wreak havoc on ocean ecosystems and that even if it did, it might not be able to capture enough CO2 to offset emissions.
- Greater use of data centers:- Although the introduction of computers resulted in a significant increase in electricity consumption, modern data centers are frequently substantially more energy-efficient than desktop PCs. People might begin to offset a significant amount of energy expenditure by having these activities conducted in the cloud, rather than conducting energy-intensive operations on local workstations, such as calculating complicated calculations or playing video games. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, three major technological businesses that specialize in cloud computing, are heavy users of renewable energy. Google and Microsoft have both introduced cloud gaming services that eliminate the need for gamers to buy consoles (the manufacture of which emits emissions) in order to play them.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 2030 and 2050, climate change might cause hundreds of thousands of fatalities due to air pollution. Congested cities are one of the major issues. Smart cities are being built to help keep earth-defiling pollutants down and inhabitants’ lungs healthy, thanks to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), and smart sensors.
We may feel despondent as a result of climate change. The effects of global warming are only becoming worse, from superstorms and mega-fires to melting ice caps and rising seas. If human activity is pushing us to the edge, the good news is that we are also developing and deploying new technologies to help the globe break its carbon addiction. Affordable, market-ready options such as solar, wind, and hydropower already exist, and their widespread deployment may make America carbon-neutral by 2050. There are also new technologies on the horizon that could hasten our transition to a greener future. From electric planes to “green” cement to tidal power generation, these are seven innovations that could make modern living more sustainable for our one and only planet.
