TRUE OPTIONS TO A ZERO CARBON ECONOMY

Carbon emissions like CO2 in the atmosphere form a blanket, trap heat  and result in warming of our planet. All actions and deeds of our civilisation for ensuring prosperity and comfortable life to humanity require burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, natural gas for energy in our means of transport, electricity generation and supply, industrial processes, residential and commercial buildings lead to formation of a blanket of these emissions contributing heavily to global warming. Similarly felling of trees for various industrial uses as well as for increased demand of cultivable land for ever growing population reduces the capacity of natural CO2 cycle so very essential for maintaining its balance on our globe.

We all have been a witness to the increase in temperatures during the last 50 years or so and even if carbon emissions are allowed to be stagnant for the next 50 years, earth will be hotter by a minimum of 2degree Centigrade.This could be real catastrophic for the mankind as it threatens about 40% of world population living within 100 Kms of oceans as the sea levels will rise because of excessive melting of snow in glaciers and permafrost land regions.

No doubt that an attack on reducing global warming has to come on many many fronts as is clear from the following pie chart describing the contribution to carbon gases in the earth's atmosphere.

Contributors to  Carbon gases in earth's atmosphere

The effect of these heat trapping gases will impact health of the people, fresh water supply sources, oceans, ecosystems and temperatures in a big way and poses a threat to the very existence of life on planet earth.A concerted effort by humanity is needed to bring down these heat trapping gases by at least 80% by mid century through all measures big and small to avoid this imminent catastrophe staring at us because of indiscreet use of technologies and practices in quest for the so called betterment of life and prosperity.

Resorting to power production through clean technologies, green transportation and managing forests and agriculture with particular accent on avoiding deforestation and forest degradation etc.. But a big contribution can come from energy efficiency boosting named as hidden fuel worth 100's of billion by the International Energy Agency and it can be a real game changer.

THRUST TOWARDS SOLAR ENERGY IS THE RIGHT STEP FOR ENERGY SECURITY OPTION FOR ONE AND ALL

Energy security through clean energy is much more than the necessity for mankind. In fact looking at the problems associated with all fuel based energy options, namely the global warming and health hazards, quest for clean energy has become the need of the hour to save our mother earth and its occupants. In this kind of a scenario and the finite quantum of all fuel resources one fails to understand as to why thrust towards clean renewable energy sources is languishing. 

Out of all clean renewable sources, solar energy occupies the pride of place for its large scale availability at almost all the places on our globe and above all the source is eternal and will last till humanity lives. The amount of energy falling on our globe is of the order of 174000 TWatts, a magnitude best understood by the fact that 1 hour of solar rays' energy is more than what mankind uses in a year. When this energy is responsible for lifting water from surface of sea to fall back down on the high mountains, drives ocean currents from tropics to poles, spins winds from pole to pole and power the green engine of life with guaranteed absolute safety, why it cannot be depended upon to provide energy security to all mankind on our globe. The powerful and mighty of this globe, the men who take pride in changing the fortunes of mankind certainly owe an explanation to the same mankind for guiding it to the brink of self destruction through their vested and motivated interests by resorting to all kind of energy security approaches likely to result in annihilation of life.
The irony of the whole game of providing energy security to the mankind on mother earth is that we are aiming at mastering more than complex and catastrophic nuclear sciences and technologies, from the finite fission energy to infinite fusion energy. It is something like an effort to reinvent wheel for the same fusion energy which has been bestowed upon mankind since ages in the form of solar energy and that too at a safe distance of millions of kilometers from earth with all the inbuilt safeties that man and his science cannot even dream of for the next thousands of years.It does not require any rocket science to conclude that we must spend all our time, energy, money and resources in harnessing what comes to us from nature and remove all small and inconsequential bottlenecks that are being talked about by those professing against the suitability of renewable energy sources for providing energy security. In fact thrust towards solar energy is the only right step for energy security option for one and all.

EU seeks nuclear power disaster insurance plan

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS -- The European Commission's energy chief says the bloc's executive arm will present a proposal on mandatory disaster insurance for nuclear power plants in coming weeks.

Guenther Oettinger said Tuesday the proposal should be one of the first items on the European Parliament's agenda following elections in May. He declined to elaborate.

The world's nuclear power plants have hardly any coverage. Governments implicitly guarantee they'll pay for the bulk of a disaster.

In several EU nations, required insurance only covers liabilities of a few hundred million dollars, while a worst-case scenario accident is estimated to cost up to hundreds of billions.

In the U.S., the necessary insurance for nuclear operators is capped at just $375 million per plant, with further claims funded by utilities up to a maximum of $12.6 billion.

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  Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/05/3732827/eu-seeks-nuclear-power-disaster.html#storylink=cpy