<b>Devangshu Datta</b>: Countering climate change

The diagnosis of climate change and its solutions have always suffered from a pernicious mismatch between politics and science. At one level, climate change is about applying the tools of multiple scientific disciplines to first diagnose the problem and then deploy various technologies to combat it. 

There is near-absolute scientific consensus that climate change is proceeding apace. There is also consensus that it is caused and exacerbated by fossil fuels that put masses of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.

There is less consensus about the ultimate effects of climate change, though. But the estimates vary only in degrees. The optimistic models estimate that the results will be merely horrible. The less optimistic models estimate results will be even more horrible. All the models estimate multiple species extinction, rising sea levels, loss of current human habitats, etc. Scientists also concur that a massive shift in energy generation and usage is required to slow down and mitigate the effects of climate change. 

But the costs for such massive shifts will have to be borne by political systems. Political systems are run by politicians who are notoriously unwilling to bear such costs. Most politicians cannot think beyond the limited term of their personal election cycles, and they will not adopt policies that have a longer gestation period. There are no short-term solutions to climate change and hence, there is a large and vociferous club of climate change-deniers scattered across the political firmament.  

At this instant, we have a United States’ president-elect who denies that climate change is happening. He is one who would be perfectly prepared to get out of any existing climate change agreements and even push through drilling for fossil fuels in the fragile Arctic environment, etc. We also have a Russian president, who would like to push up the use of fossil fuels. We also have the concerns of emerging economies such as India, Nigeria, China and Indonesia, which extensively use coal- and gas-based thermal energy. 

However, despite the lack of global political consensus, there have been a series of developments which bring a little hope. 

First, the levels of air pollution across India (and China) have hit a point where there is grassroots political support for anti-polluting measures. Such measures would, by coincidence, also help with mitigating climate change. Even though pilot schemes such as “odd-even”, which was tried out by the Delhi government, did not work, the acceptance of such schemes suggests that anything that did reduce pollution would be welcome.

Second, a couple of recent discoveries suggest that there may be radical ways of “fixing” carbon emissions and thus reducing the greenhouse effect. Some scientists recently found an accidental way to turn CO2 into ethanol.

Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA, were experimenting with nanotechnology when they discovered an inexpensive way to turn CO2  into ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) by using a catalyst and adding water. A small current run through a nano-wafer made of copper is enough to trigger the reaction. Ethyl alcohol has a multitude of industrial uses, including being used as a fossil fuel substitute. (It is also the world’s favourite mood-altering substance.) 

One possible method of using this technology would be to utilise excess electricity produced, and not stored, by wind turbines and solar panels. That excess electricity could be used to fix atmospheric CO2, and turn it into ethanol. 

A second discovery was made recently at Tuticorin where an Indian company, Carbon Clean Solutions, figured out another way to fix carbon emissions. Carbon dioxide is turned into baking soda (sodium bicarbonate or NaHCO3) by using a proprietary solution at a thermal power plant. Again, baking soda is a useful chemical, and the process is said to be cheaper than other carbon-fixing methods. This makes it economically interesting. 

The last development is a classic market response to technology maturing and hitting big scales. Solar energy is now about as cheap as thermal. In fact, solar will soon be cheaper. Solar is also way cleaner (though it’s less clean than public perception). A combination of cheap solar energy, and retro-fitted methods that enable the fixing of atmospheric carbon could help to mitigate the effects of climate change. That could trump the climate change-deniers as we enter the Trump era.  

Twitter: @devangshudatta