Paper Keywords: environmental science; Low carbon economy; Low-carbon life; Sustainable consumption
China is in the stage of accelerated development of industrialization, urbanization and modernization. The scale of infrastructure construction is huge. Energy demand is increasing rapidly. The prominent feature of "high-carbon economy" has become the main restricting factor of China's sustainable development. How to find ways to ensure rapid economic and social development? We must face the task of not repeating the old road of western developed countries seeking development at the expense of the environment and not blindly letting western countries lead by the nose.
Uncertainty of carbon dioxide emission from new energy sources
From the perspective of technological innovation, the ideal form of "low-carbon economy" is to fully develop solar photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation, hydrogen energy and biomass energy technologies. Generally, solar photovoltaic power generation, wind power generation and hydrogen energy are called new energy or alternative energy, and biomass energy is a renewable energy among alternative energy sources.
Although wind power generation has developed rapidly in recent years. There has been a breakthrough in technology to a certain extent, but its cost is still higher than that of coal-fired power and hydropower.
In addition, because wind power does not emit carbon dioxide during power generation. The thermal power generation process emits a lot of carbon dioxide. Therefore, people think that wind power does not emit carbon dioxide. This is actually a misunderstanding! Compared with thermal power generation, wind power generation hardly emits carbon dioxide during power generation. However, in the process of manufacturing wind power generation equipment and its maintenance, carbon dioxide must be emitted. We should not only compare the carbon dioxide emissions during power generation, but also compare the carbon dioxide emissions per unit of power generation between thermal power generation and wind power generation. In this way, it is not very scientific to think that wind power generation and electric vehicles will not pollute the environment and emit carbon dioxide.
At present, the cost of solar power generation is 5 ~ 10 times that of coal-fired power and hydropower. As a secondary energy source, hydrogen energy is still far from the commercialization goal. The technology is still very immature.
It should be realized. On the one hand, due to poor technology, the current development cost of new energy is high; On the other hand. Due to the uncertainty of carbon dioxide emissions from new energy sources. Before calculating the carbon dioxide emissions in the whole process, it cannot be said that the new energy is low carbon dioxide emissions.
Low-carbon economy depends on low-carbon life
One of the important meanings of "low-carbon economy" not only means that the manufacturing industry should speed up the elimination of backward production capacity with high energy consumption and high pollution, but also means guiding the public to reflect on those bad hobbies that waste energy and increase pollution. So as to fully tap the huge potential of energy conservation and emission reduction in the fields of consumption and life.
Under the system and concept of market economy, the production in the state of "low-carbon economy" with high energy efficiency and low energy consumption is still pursuing profit maximization. Therefore, mass production is inevitable, and the products produced must be sold in the end, and the more you sell, the better. However, large-scale production will inevitably produce a lot of pollution and carbon emissions. Although the unit energy consumption is reduced. However, due to mass production, the total energy consumption has greatly increased. Carbon dioxide emissions will not decrease much, but may increase. For example, through decades of efforts, the fuel consumption of cars driving 100km has decreased by about 50%, but the total number of cars has increased by dozens of times. Obviously, pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have also increased many times.
So ... Advanced technical support is not enough for "low-carbon economy". We must rely on "low-carbon life" to achieve the real purpose of energy saving and emission reduction.
Low-carbon life "is a sustainable lifestyle."
"Low-carbon life" is a simple, simple and frugal lifestyle. People's food, clothing, housing and transportation are all related to carbon dioxide emissions and even climate change. For example, the energy content of an A4 piece of paper is close to 0.1kW h h electricity, from which its carbon dioxide emission can be calculated.
If the vast majority of people can live a life of moderate consumption with low carbon emissions. Then the realization of "low-carbon economy" is possible. What kind of lifestyle there is, what kind of economy there is.
"Low-carbon life" includes not only the details of many energy-saving technical improvements such as manufacturing and construction, but also many energy-saving details in people's daily life habits. For China, the most populous country in the world, it seems that everyone wastes relatively little energy and carbon dioxide emissions in his life. And it has been calculated by many population multipliers. Is a huge number.
Nowadays in many developed countries. Many people have consciously accepted the low-carbon lifestyle that supports the low-carbon economy, and are willing to give up enjoyment and start from the dribs and drabs of life. From turning off the heating to giving up driving to work. Nowadays, Europeans like to travel by train more and more. One of the main reasons is that the per capita carbon emissions brought by high-speed trains are only110 of airplanes.
Simple life is becoming the norm of family life for more people in China. Some citizens whose income has entered the middle class will also wear old clothes to buy cheap vegetables in the morning market. Travel by bike. Use the oldest mobile phone. The habit of boiling eggs one minute earlier, turning off the gas, flushing the toilet with washing water, turning off the lights and printing on double-sided paper has already penetrated into the most educated class, thus bringing peace of mind.
However, few people can consciously accept the guidance of sustainable consumption values and achieve moderate consumption. Pursuing high consumption is still the main theme of social life. In most cases, low-carbon economy is just a concept in people's minds. Low-carbon life is only in the embarrassing stage of an armchair strategist.
In real life, the proportion of "face consumption" and "luxury consumption" at the expense of consuming a lot of energy and emitting a lot of greenhouse gases is too high. On the one hand, we are striving to achieve a "low-carbon economy", on the other hand, we are constantly squandering. These are all caused by consumerism culture.
Consumerism culture always stimulates you to change the latest mobile phone, TV, clothes and shoes: bombing commercial advertisements incite the public to spend more and more, turning people into tools for commercial profit. Many young people who just joined the work soon bought a new mobile phone or a brand-name handbag with one month's income without blinking. At present, nearly 70 million mobile phones are eliminated every year in China, resulting in a large amount of e-waste. Many young women's homes are full of shoes and wallets of various styles. But I still have to buy newer styles. Today, when "low-carbon life" is advocated, the slogan of "earning and spending" no longer symbolizes the concept of modernization. It symbolizes a barbaric consumption pattern that wastes resources.
The lifestyle of mass production, mass consumption and mass abandonment is moving towards the opposite side of human civilization, which seriously restricts the implementation of the sustainable development strategy. It not only pollutes the ecological environment, but also pollutes people's hearts. It is this infinite expansion of consumption desire that causes the shortage of energy and resources in the world.
In fact, a low-carbon life is not difficult. Many studies call for action. Paying attention to your food, clothing, housing and transportation can halve your carbon footprint.
How should people realize a low-carbon lifestyle and further promote the development of low-carbon economy?
Two reports released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in World Environment Day this year give an unexpected answer-it may be easier to achieve the goal of "eliminating carbon dependence" than imagined: you just need to adopt a climate-friendly lifestyle, which will not cause much change to your lifestyle, let alone make any big sacrifices!
One of these two reports is called "Getting rid of habits: climate neutrality that cannot be ignored", which is a general guide for low-carbon lifestyles. The other, entitled "Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Tourism Sector", was written by experts in cooperation with UNEP and the World Tourism Organization.
On June 10, China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) jointly released the China Ecological Footprint Report, indicating that it is urgent to promote low-carbon lifestyle and low-carbon economic development in China. According to the report, since 1960s, the per capita ecological footprint of China has continuously increased by about two times. If China wants to reduce the ecological deficit, it can start from two aspects, that is, starting with simple things and giving priority to solving the problem of slow effect.
These continuous reports echoed the theme of World Environment Day this year-"Changing traditional ideas and promoting low-carbon economy" from different angles. On the one hand, it shows that if people can change the traditional high-emission lifestyle, it will play a positive role in promoting the low-carbon economy; On the other hand, it also highlights that under the background of increasing global warming, all countries in the world are trying to reduce their carbon footprint in order to promote the development of low-carbon economy.
People living in developed countries and some fast-growing cities can "eliminate carbon dependence" immediately-it is not difficult.
Changing Lifestyle: A Guide to Climate Neutrality and the United Nations points out that only a few simple measures can reduce a person's daily greenhouse gas emissions by half. If companies such as power companies, automobile manufacturers and aviation equipment manufacturers also strive to achieve a green economy, then we can reduce more greenhouse gas emissions.
Studies have shown that if each air passenger reduces his luggage to less than 20 kilograms, it is possible to reduce the emission of 2 million tons of carbon dioxide worldwide every year.
Other low-carbon lifestyles that can be adopted at home or while traveling include:
Encourage airlines to provide free bus or rail mileage instead of free flight mileage to promote passengers to adopt more environmentally friendly means of transportation;
Replacing electronic alarm clock with traditional clockwork alarm clock can save 48 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per person per day;
Choose to dry clothes and avoid using drum dryer, which can reduce 2.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions every day;
Using jogging in a nearby park instead of 45 minutes of exercise on the treadmill can save nearly 1 kg of greenhouse gas emissions.
Start your "Low Carbon Day": halve your carbon footprint.
There are many small "no regrets" in Changing Lifestyle: A Guide to Climate and the United Nations, which can help reduce daily greenhouse gas emissions. The users of these methods may come from Australasia, Europe or North America, which are the major regions that have caused global warming in history. By adopting the above method, the per capita emission can be reduced from 38kg to14kg.
These suggestions have little or no impact on people's comfort, and may be partly related to some developing countries, cities, departments and people, because their carbon footprints are rising sharply.
Half of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by human control, such as the way we drive, the way we travel by plane, the energy of houses and the way we warm up.
About half of the remaining 50% beyond personal control comes indirectly from providing energy for our work, more than 65,438+00% comes from the maintenance of infrastructure and government departments, and the remaining 20% comes from the production of commodities.
Changing Lifestyle: Climate Neutrality Guidelines and UN Recommendations on How to Start a "Low Carbon Day". What should you do after you turn off the clockwork and put on the sun-dried clothes, brush your teeth and have breakfast? Please consider the following aspects:
Choosing a non-electric toothbrush will avoid nearly 48 grams of carbon dioxide emissions;
Using a toaster with 15 minutes instead of baking bread in the oven can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly170g;
Replacing 60-watt bulbs with energy-saving lamps can reduce greenhouse gases by 4 times;
Taking trains instead of cars as daily commuting tools can save 1.7 kg of carbon dioxide emissions in just 8 kilometers;
Turn off your computer and flat panel monitor after lunch break and after work, and the emissions caused by these devices will be reduced1/3;
Buying and using water-saving shower heads can not only save 10 liter of water per minute, but also greatly reduce the carbon dioxide emissions generated by taking a three-minute hot bath to half.
How to Reduce Air Tourism Emissions
Changing Lifestyle: A Guide to Climate Neutrality and the United Nations points out that the carbon emissions caused by transatlantic flights are equivalent to driving a car 1 year.
For people who often fly, whether you are a successful person or an ordinary tourist, flying is the main cause of global warming at present. Compared with railways, short-distance air travel produces about three times of carbon dioxide emissions per passenger, which accounts for about 2% ~ 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions as an industry as a whole.
Long-distance buses may be a good choice for intercity travel, because some new ultra-high-speed railway services will cause considerable carbon emissions. At the same time, technological innovation can help improve the efficiency of transporting people and goods.
The report "How does tourism adapt to and mitigate climate change" puts forward some other methods, so aviation and tourism may contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.
In addition to measures such as reducing hand luggage and tax exemption on the plane, experts also put forward other suggestions:
Encourage tour operators to book direct flights, rather than those that bypass or need stopovers;
Encourage closer cooperation between airlines and increase the passenger load factor to 80%. At present, the average load factor in the EU is 65%.
Significantly increase the ticket price of business class passengers to truly reflect the extra space they occupy, which can be used to transport more passengers, thus making the aircraft more environmentally friendly;
Formulate measures to reduce the average age of aircraft in service. In Sweden, the average aircraft age is just over 10 years, while in the United States, the average aircraft age of 1/3 is 25 years. Advanced aircraft can reduce the exhaust emissions per passenger by 30% per kilometer.
"Low-carbon life" is an unprecedented problem facing mankind. There is no ready-made experience, theory and choice model. Our only choice is to innovate and innovate our way of life, with the aim of protecting the earth's homeland and benefiting future mankind.