Volume 5, Issue 6
Monday, 30 May 2011 | |
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Three key issues are addressed in this month’s Journal: one, the reason behind the seeming increase in natural disasters and the sites of impact; two, further thinking around overcoming the impending energy crisis; and three, increasing investment in building in times of economic recession.
Popular speculation would have us believe that the increase in natural disaster around the world is a direct consequence of anthropologically-induced climate change: up till now this view has not been shared by scientist’s who are reluctant to draw the same conclusion on so short a timescale of evidence. Recent events may however be changing their view.
South Africa is currently in the midst of developing a new energy strategy, facing, as it does, looming electricity outages. While Government has included renewable in the energy mix, some think that the renewable allowance is too little. They may be right, given the ambitious plan by Denmark.
Investment in infrastructure is seen as one of the best ways of spending a country out of recession. President Obama’s spending plan in this regard is likely to create two opportunities: investment in immovable assets, and the creation of a more efficient built environment.
As always, (I hope), much food for thought.
Enjoy the debates.
Yours truly,
Llewellyn van Wyk
Editor
Big risk of living in known natural disaster areas
In the wake of disastrous Mississippi River flooding, Roger Lewis suggests that you might wonder why presumably reasonable people continue inhabiting a known flood plain. Other devastation unleashed by nature this year suggests that much of the planet seems fated to be violently shaken, engulfed by wildfires, lashed repeatedly by tornadoes or inundated by seasonal downpours. Is land suitable for agriculture, industry or building homes so scarce that we must populate geologically and climatically vulnerable landscapes? I, for one, have long thought that people are being forced to locate on land previously considered undesirable simply because there is now no longer an alternative: Roger Lewis proposes a different theory in this piece.
What’s with the weather? Is climate change to blame?
One of the thorniest questions facing climate scientists is whether human-induced climate change is leading to more heat waves, floods, and extreme weather events. Now, employing increasingly sophisticated methods of studying weather extremes, climatologists say they are closer to answering that key question.
Denmark’s Road to Low-Carbon, Energy-Efficient Economy
As the world’s population grows and emerging economies expand rapidly, global demand and competition for energy are set to intensify in the decades to come. Anders Østervang argues that this will likely drive up prices of the world’s finite oil and other fossil fuel resources, which are concentrated largely in a handful of politically unstable countries. The International Energy Agency projects that global energy demand will increase 34 percent by 2035.
Denmark has decided that they do not want to be in that energy race. They want to insulate themselves from future peaks in energy prices and disruptions in supply, and to invest their money in green, long-term, sustainable sources of energy. The Danish government has announced its ambition that Denmark should become fully independent of fossil fuels by 2050, and instead meet its energy needs with renewable energy. A detailed, comprehensive strategy for how to get there, “Energy Strategy 2050”, was launched a few months ago—the first of its kind in the world.
Green energy’s big challenge: The daunting task of scaling up.
To shift the global economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy will require the construction of wind, solar, nuclear, and other installations on a vast scale, significantly altering the face of the planet. Can these new forms of energy approach the scale needed to meet the world’s energy demands? Opponents and sceptics of renewable energy tend to argue that renewable can never meet the challenge. David Biello ways in on this argument in this piece.
Obama's Building Boom: Will His Architecture Legacy Be as Lasting as FDR's?
The stimulus was passed into law more than 18 months ago, and what has it wrought thus far? Has this administration proved equal to the task of creating a new architecture for a new America? With the economy still on shaky ground, and the start of a new Republican Congress ready to oppose most anything Obama brings to the table, Ian Volner thinks now would seem a good time to begin to take stock.
President Obama Announces "Better Buildings Initiative"
Speaking at Pennsylvania State University on Feb. 3, U.S. President Obama continued to explore the theme of innovation presented in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25, with a focus on buildings and energy efficiency. Specifically, the President introduced the Better Buildings Initiative, which focuses on making commercial buildings 20 percent more energy efficient over the next decade.
The Initiative seeks to build upon the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the President’s proposed Homestar legislation that encourages homeowners to make energy-saving upgrades to their homes.
Three main targets of the Better Buildings Initiative are 1) to achieve a 20 percent improvement in the energy efficiency of commercial buildings through cost-effective upgrades by 2020; 2) reduce energy bills by about $40 billion per year through energy efficiency facility upgrades; and 3) Save energy by reforming outdated incentives, instituting a new competitive grant program, and challenging the private sector to commit to making progress toward the above goals.
