Introduction of Renewable Energy Technologies

Lecture‐03
Energy, Sustainability and Climate Change

Prof. C.S. Solanki

Department of Energy Science and Engineering
chetanss@iitb.ac.in

© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 1

 Recap of the last lecture

 Energy consumption and growth parameters, health,

education, income, HDI etc.

 Current World energy consumption

 Fossil fuel reserves, how long they are going to last

 Issues related to fossil fuels, limited availability,

unequal distribution

© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 2

 In this lecture

 The space we live in

 Current state of events in the world

 CO2 concentration and how much it is responsible for global warming

 The impact of high carbon levels

 How does the future look like?

© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 3

 The space we live in

4
© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies
5
6
7
8
9
How precious is the space we live in?

10
 Earth Overshoot

2019 July 29
Stealing

Earth’s ability to generate Actual consumption of

resources in a year resources in a year
11
 Research Studies on Climate
Change
Understanding Global Warming of 1.5°C*, IPCC 2019

Latest climate models confirm Carbon dioxide emissions continue

need for urgent mitigation to grow amidst slowly emerging
Forster et al., Nature Climate Change climate policies
G. Peters et al., Nature Climate Change
 Carbon dioxide levels

400 ppm

340 ppm

CO2 Concentration of last 2000

280 ppm
years
1 500 1000 1500 2016
13
 IPCC 2018 Report

 World is already hotter by about 1oC

 Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require

“rapid and far-reaching” transitions in Energy

 World should be cutting CO2 emission by 45% in

2030
& reaching ‘net carbon zero’ around 2050.

1
5
 UNDP and UNFCCC report, Sept. Current Status
2019

 CO2 emission in 2018 increased by 1.7% as compared to

2017

Installation of Renewable Energy in 2018 was same as

2017

 Levels of heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere rose to

415 parts per million in May 2019, higher than those
observed in nature in at least 800,000 years.
16
 UNDP and UNFCCC report, Sept.
Current Status
2019

With current NDC (nationally determined

contribution) after Paris Agreement, the CO2
emission will be 10% above the 2016 level by 2030

On current trends, someone born today risks

spending their old age in a world that is 3°C warmer
than pre-industrial times

Momentum after Paris Agreement is building,

however, At the same time, the impacts of
climate change have been growing; often with
terrifying results, ranging from wildfires, droughts,
flooding, and hurricanes to sea-level rise, ocean
acidification, melting of permafrost
17
23
 Impacts
How much CO2 isof Climate
responsible? Change

Venus is too hot and Mars is too cold due to inappropriate CO2 level
 Is Sun Responsible?

• Amount of Solar energy has

either remained constant or
increased slightly
• If sun is responsible for
warming, then we expect to
see warmer temperatures in
all layers of the atmosphere
• Only there is cooling in the
upper atmosphere, and a
warming at the atmosphere’s
surface and its lower parts
• Greenhouse gases are
trapping heat in the lower Source: Global Climate Change
https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
atmosphere.
 Green House Gases and Effect
A greenhouse gas is
a gas that absorbs and emits
radiant energy within the thermal
infrared range.

Increasing greenhouse gas

emissions cause the greenhouse
effect.

The primary greenhouse gases

in Earth's atmosphere are water
vapor, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous
oxide and ozone.
CO2 absorbs radiation at
wavelength where Earth surface
radiate back to sky due to its
surface temperature

Ref: http://clivebest.com/blog/wp‐content/uploads/2010/01/595px‐
atmospheric_transmission.png

© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 27

 Carbon Cycles
ON land: CO2 is absorbed by
Photosynthesis and released
by plant respiration,
microbial respiration and
decomposition of living (120
Gt of C/year cycle)

In Ocean: Co2 is absorbed by

Phytopalnkton photosynthesis
and released by respiration
Ref: Wikipedia.org
and decomposition (90 Gt
 CO2 increasing despite increased
absorption in natural sinks

Increase in CO2 concentration has resulted in

increase in uptake of Co2 by natural sinks
(a)Photosynthesis
(b)air-sea gas exchange
 Carbon diocide Levels - last several
centuries

• There has been a

major spike in the
carbon dioxide
levels since 1950s
• The current levels
start at 412 ppm
• Carbon dioxide is
the major
contributor to
climate change
Carbon dioxide levels – last 2000 years

400 ppm

340 ppm

CO2 Concentration of last 2000

280 ppm
years
1 500 1000 1500 2016
31
 Rising CO2 Levels – last 15 years
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping
(greenhouse) gas.

• Its levels has increased from 280 ppm in the pre-

industrial years to 412 ppm (as recorded in December
2019)
 Impact of rising CO2 levels

33
© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies
 Melting Ice Sheet
• The land ice sheets in both Antarctica (left chart) and
Greenland (right chart) have been losing mass since
2002. Both ice sheets have seen an acceleration of ice
mass loss since 2009.
 Rising Global Temperatures
• Map below shows the five-year average variation of
global surface temperatures.

Dark blue indicates areas cooler than average. Dark red indicates areas warmer
than average.
 Warmest Years
• The 20 warmest
years on record
have been in the
past 22 years.

• The degree of
warming during
the past four
years has been
exceptional,
 Rising Sea Levels
• When temperatures rise and ice melts, more water flows to the seas
from glaciers and ice caps, and ocean water warms and expands in
volume.

• This combination of effects has played the major role in raising

average global sea level between four and eight inches in the last
100 years, according IPCC.
 Occurrence of Extreme climatic
conditions
• The frequency of extreme climatic events
will increase (IPCC, 2014):
– Wildfires

– Floods

– Unusual temperature conditions

– Droughts
What if we do not stop now?
 Food Security
Reductions in yields of maize, rice, wheat, and
potentially other cereal crops, particularly in sub-
Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South
America

Water Scarcity
Risks of water scarcity are projected to be greater
due to global warming in some regions
 Ocean Ecosystems
Ocean ecosystems are already experiencing large-scale
changes, and critical thresholds are expected to be
reached at 1.5°C and higher levels of global warming
(high confidence).

Disparity
Poverty and disadvantage have increased with recent
warming (about 1°C) and are expected to increase for
many populations as average global temperatures
increase from 1°C to 1.5°C and higher
 Ecosystems will collapse
• Huge risks to natural and human systems are
expected
• Over 1 Million Species will be extinct
How does the future
Future look like?
Projections
World is entering in last 20-30 years of
final lap, before we cross 1.5 oC mark

Emission needs to halt by 2020,

followed by deep cuts

44
 Rate at which
reduction in Carbon
emission is required

Ref: https://www.carbonbrief.org/
 Three projections
• 3 sets of projections defined by WEO on climate change
based on the policies that the world enacts and how the
energy systems may evolve:

– No new policies enacted to mitigate climate change

• an increase in the 6 degrees of temperatures

– Sticking to climate pledges made by the world

governments
• warming below 4 degrees

– Recommendation of Energy systems required for

• warming of 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels
Can we limit temperature to 1.5°C?

Under emissions in line with

current pledges under the Paris
Agreement (known as Nationally
Determined Contributions, or
NDCs), global warming is
expected to surpass 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels, even if
these pledges are supplemented
with very challenging increases
in the scale and ambition of
mitigation after 2030 (high
 Catastrophic and sever climate change would
affect the sustainability and life of living
creatures on the planet

48
© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies
© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 49
 Recap of the last lecture

 Several events including Australian bush fire, ice

melting etc. are singling to severe climate change

 The consumption of humans is way above Earth

capacity to generate

 Carbon dioxide levels have increased way beyond the

pre‐industrial era

 Future forecast of limited global temperature to 1.5

degree limits requires tremendous efforts

© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies 50

 Thank you

51
© IIT Bombay, C.S. Solanki Introduction to Renewable Energy Technologies