Sustainability, Climate Change, and You

Benjamin K. Sovacool,

Assistant Professor LKYSPP,

bsovacool@nus.edu.sg

Presentation to the Asian Youth Energy Summit 2010, Shaw Foundation Alumni

House, National University of Singapore, October 15, 2010

1

2

A brief overview

• Three slides on climate change

• Sustainable electricity

• Sustainable food

• Sustainable homes

• Sustainable technology

3

Sustainable electricity

7

Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for conventional and renewable

resources (grams of CO2e/kWh)

Individuals and companies can support these

technologies by:

• Writing a political

representative

• Convincing your parents or

children (familial or corporate)

to invest shares in a clean

energy company

• Purchasing renewable energy

or climate credits (even as a

gift!)

• Building these systems on

homes, schools, and

manufacturing facilities

• Choosing a career in a clean

energy field

• Consuming less electricity by

altering some of your habits

and routines

Sustainable food

• Agricultural practices

contribute to a number of

climate changing activities:

• Fossil fuel combustion

(irrigation, fertilization, land

reclamation; 72% Nitrogen

oxide emissions from

fertilizer)

• Deforestation (agriculture

is the number one cause)

• Methane emissions

(livestock digestion 18%,

more emissions than

automobiles)

Sustainable food Trends in consumption of livestock

products per person

Global Leaders in Carbon Dioxide Equivalent Emissions from

Deforestation

Country Share of Emissions from Deforestation

Indonesia 33.7%

Brazil 18.0%

Malaysia 9.2%

Myanmar 5.6%

Congo 4.2%

Zambia 3.1%

Nigeria 2.6%

Peru 2.5%

Papua New Guinea 1.9%

Total 80.8%

We can change our food habits by:

• Eating locally

grown and

produced food (the

numbers 2,000 and

17)

• Becoming a vegan

or vegetarian, even

for a day

• Reducing food

packaging and

waste

• Visiting a farm

Sustainable homes

What is this?

http://www.luxe-homes.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/antilla-billion-dollar-home.jpg

Sustainable homes

Sustainable homes

Energy use in a Typical Household

Buildings

are the

“hidden

curriculum”

Sustainable homes

What we can do:

• Space heating/cooling: substitute a fan for air

conditioning

• Water heating: take lukewarm or cold showers

• Lighting: switch all bulbs to CFLs or LEDs

• Cooking: cook meals together, reuse dishes

• Refrigeration: store only essential items,

minimize open doors

• Appliances: un-plug “vampires,” purchase only

essential technologies

• Be satisfied with enough

Sustainable technology

Sustainable technology:

• Turnover for items and goods is

astonishingly quick: we replace

goods when they are no longer

fashionable, not no longer useful

• More than 95% of the goods

most people purchase are no

longer in use after the first year

• Toxic pollution (mercury, lead,

etc.) from these products,

especially electronics, is immense

What you can do:

• Use a towel instead of paper (Douglas Adams)

• Replace items when they wear out

• Purchase used clothing and other goods

• Push for lifecycle responsibility from manufacturers

(called extended product liability)

• Purchase environmentally friendly or (better yet) neutral

items (i.e, the GreenPhone)

That leaves us with one conclusion:

• Despite the magnitude of the world’s energy, food, and

climate challenges, there is much we can do as

individuals to immediately start addressing climate

change

• Individuals such as yourself can make a difference by:

• Educating yourself

• Educating others

• Voting

• Investing

• Buying

• Installing

• Altering lifestyle (walking, vegetarianism)

• Reusing and recycling