The earth’s temperature is rising. The result is erratic and uneven weather conditions resulting in floods, drought, storms, and cyclones, that the whole world is facing. So, what’s the solution to this problem?
We have already identified the problem that Global Warming is the culprit behind this rise of earth’s temperature, and the reason for global warming is the excess amount of Greenhouse Gases(GHG) that has been released into the atmosphere, especially after the post-industrial era.
Fortunately, the world has not just recognized the problems and but also has started working to reduce these unhealthy GHG emissions. But this is one part of the solution. The other part is devised by a mission named NetZero.
So, exactly is NetZero, how it’s going to help and how we as individuals can contribute to this mission, we are going to look ahead in this article.
What is NetZero?
NetZero or NetZero emissions is a vision to achieve a balance between the emissions that are produced and the emission that is taken out from the earth’s environment.
Take this example as an analogy that’ll make things simpler: You are filling a bucket with water with a mug but the bucket has a hole in its bottom that is of the size of the mug!. The result: The bucket will never get filled with water.
Now consider this in our scenario: the bucket resembles our environment or earth and the water represents those harmful greenhouse emissions. So, the total amount that is IN has to be the same amount that has to be OUT – making the difference of ZERO – hence we have the name NetZero. And the goal is to achieve this emission balance by 2050.
Why NetZero?
This is an underlying fact that Climate Change is a real concern. So, if Climate Change is the Problem, then NetZero is the solution.
Now, let’s first understand Climate Change how big is this issue. As the name itself suggests, our climate or its pattern is changing. The consequence of Climate Change is erratic weather patterns that cause severe floods and storms, drought, heatwaves, and loss of polar ice and so the rise of sea levels.
But what is causing climate change? This Climate Change is happening because of the phenomenon called Global Warming. Now, about Global Warming, it simply means our globe or the earth is getting warmer day by day.
If you ask what’s the cause of Global Warming, then the answer is those Greenhouse Gases(GHG) or emissions entering into the atmosphere. The most common Greenhouses are Carbon Dioxide, water vapor, and methane. Out of these gases, the most abundant and trouble-causing gas is carbon dioxide – CO2.
So, we can even say that Global Warming is proportional to the cumulative CO2 emissions getting injected into the environment. And we can also denote NetZero by the term Carbon Neutrality.
Now, talking a bit about these Greenhouse gases, what these gases do is trap the heat energy from the sun rays that fall on the earth’s atmosphere. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect and hence the greenhouse gases get their name. But the greenhouse effect in itself is not a bad phenomenon as per se, as it helps to keep the earth warm making it fit for habitat survival.
Recognize the fact that the part of solar radiation that arrives on earth gets reflected back to outer space and the rest gets absorbed by greenhouse gases that keeps our earth warm. But the problem occurs when the greenhouse gases go beyond a certain limit inside the atmosphere, thus trapping inside an enormous amount of heat that causes the earth’s temperature to rise.
Looking at the data available, then as per the World Meteorological Organization, the global average temperatures are now 1 degree higher than the pre-industrial times. But you must not think that it’s just a 1-degree rise. Though seems small, this 1-degree rise is responsible for all the erratic weather conditions, sea-level rise, and all the environmental havoc that we are experiencing today. And what’s more? If the earth’s temperature continues to rise like this in the future, then the earth’s temperature is expected to rise by 3-5 degrees by the year 2100, making the condition worse than ever.
So, to mitigate or eliminate the damage due to climate change and its implications, we have to focus on the mission of NetZero 2050. And note that if we want this mission to be achieved by 2050 as planned from our side, then we have to reduce the CO2 emissions by 45% from the level of 2010 before 2030.
What is Gross Zero and what’s the difference between the two terms: NetZero and GrossZero?
You might be wondering that why go NetZero i.e. to balance the emissions going in with the emission going out, and why not try to achieve complete zero-emission? No emissions will require no balancing and hence will ease our task. This brings us the term Gross Zero on our table that visions a world without having any GHG emissions.
So, the difference between the terms NetZero and GrossZero is that the former aims to balance the emissions, and the latter aims to completely eliminate them. But there is a problem with the GrossZero policy i.e. it can be applied to all the sectors of society especially manufacturing and aviation. You can surely install solar panels to harness the power of solar radiation and brighten your home with clean electricity – no emissions here. And you can purchase Elon Musk’s next invented Tesla car or commute with battery-operated vehicles to reduce air pollution, but there will be unavoidable emissions coming from manufacturing processes and the power-consuming aerospace industry.
So, what actually required is to have a practical approach and take both the missions – NetZero and GrossZero – to go hand in hand.
How to achieve NetZero?
As we have understood what the Mission NetZero 2050 is, why one has to take global warming seriously, and why we have to adopt this mission, let’s now look at what needs to be done to achieve NetZero emissions.
We need to manage the input and output i.e. input emissions equal the output emissions. But does this mean that we don’t have to worry or think on the input side, meaning the emissions that we are producing? Definitely not. What we must need to do is to work on both ends.
So, we need to do the following things:
- Reduce the carbon emissions that we are producing
- Remove the carbon or GHG emissions from the atmosphere
For the former one, we need to adopt energy-efficient machines and devices to reduce our carbon footprint and adopt alternative or clean sources of energy like Solar, Wind, and Hydropower.
For the latter part, we need to plant more and more trees around our surroundings that’ll absorb excess CO2 from the atmosphere, and implement the Carbon Capture Tech across industries.
About LogicLadder: Who are we and what do we do?
We, at LogicLadder, are an IoT firm and provider of energy and environmental monitoring solutions viz Energy Monitoring Solution, Water, and Groundwater Monitoring System, and Stack Emission Monitoring System.
Fortunately, all the environmental parameters – water, energy, and stack – that our systems monitor can be managed through a single dashboard – The Sustainability Cloud. So, this makes our platform an all-in-one solution aiming to achieve the NetZero mission and environmental sustainability.
