Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using Renewable Energy and Electric Vehicles

Comparing Climate Change Mitigation Strategies for Global Warming

Even diehard climate change deniers are forced to concede the reality of global warming today, and many members of the scientific community cautions that the tipping point towards unpreventable climate change has already been reached and crossed. Nevertheless, efforts are underway on numerous fronts to identify effective mitigation strategies to address global warming to prevent a worst-case scenario from developing in the near future by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Some of the most widely advocated climate change mitigation strategies for this purpose include the use of renewable energy resources such as wind and solar as well as replacing greenhouse gas-emitting internal combustion engines with electric vehicles (Climate change mitigation, 2022). The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation concerning the characteristics of greenhouse gas emissions and how climate change has exacerbated this threat in recent years. In addition, an evaluation of renewable energy resources and electric vehicles as mitigation strategies is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning climate change mitigation strategies in the conclusion.

Explain the characteristics of the environmental challenge, including its geographic scope, key stakeholders, economic costs, and health impacts

As the term connotes, the geographic scope of “global warming” extends to the entire planet, making all of the global population of eight billion people stakeholders in this grim reality. Although the economic and health impacts of global warming are not felt equally among the world’s population with impoverished nations and densely populated urban areas bearing the brunt, everyone is affected to some extent (Mitra & Roychowdhury, 2022). Notwithstanding the human toll that is exacted by global warming, the corresponding economic costs are truly staggering. For instance, recent estimates indicate that the economic costs of climate change may run as high as $14.5 trillion over the next half century, and this is assuming that current projections concerning the impact of global warming remain valid during this period (Inaction on climate change, 2022). These economic costs would exact a massive toll on the U.S. economy through job losses, increased health care costs, and the displacement of millions of Americans in low-lying areas of the country (Inaction on climate change, 2022). Furthermore, virtually all industries, including agriculture, and geographic regions of the country will be adversely affected by global warming (Inaction on climate change, 2022).

While the full economic costs of global warming may require some time to fully manifest, the health impacts are already being felt and experts predict that these effects will continue to intensify well into the foreseeable future. For example, according to Ebi et al. (2021), “Hot ambient conditions and associated heat stress can increase mortality and morbidity, as well as increase adverse pregnancy outcomes and negatively affect mental health” (p. 698). High heat stress can also reduce physical work capacity and motor-cognitive performances, with consequences for productivity, and increase the risk of occupational health problems (Ebi et al., 2021).

Explain how climate change has created or worsened this environmental challenge

The climate change that is due to greenhouse gas emissions is increasing in severity as these gases continue to be released and concentrated in the atmosphere, thereby accelerating the processes that are driving global warming. For example, as the earth continues to warm, the massive amounts of carbon that are sequestered in vast tracts of permafrost are increasingly being released into the atmosphere. Likewise, in their struggle to extract as much oil and gas out of existing wells as possible, engineers are increasingly turning to fracking technologies that threaten groundwater supplies and even cause earthquakes. In other words, global warming is already making life worse for many people, and it is reasonable to posit that growing enough food and providing meaningful work and safe places for everyone to live will become increasingly difficult in the near future.

Evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation efforts by comparing two examples related to this environmental challenge

As noted in the introduction, two of the most promising climate change mitigation strategies that are currently in use include renewable energy resources such as wind and solar. As the recent experiences of Texas during a historic blizzard in 2021 clearly demonstrated, though, these technologies have their limits. This limitation is noted by Kraan et al. (2019) who caution, “Due to the intermittent character of renewable assets, such as wind or solar parks, electricity systems with large shares of renewable electricity will need to become increasingly flexible” (p. 99). Moreover, the technologies used by battery storage arrays that are required to support these and other renewable energy resources remain suboptimal, and major innovations are still needed to make these alternative energy resources reliable and commercially competitive (Liu et al., 2022).

Likewise, at first blush, electric vehicles would appear to represent a viable solution to fossil fuel emissions and it is clear that this alternative holds some promise for this purpose (Shaffer et al., 2021). In this regard, Mitra and Roychowdhury (2022) emphasize that, “It is evident that environment-friendly cars play an instrumental role in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, but it cannot be expected to have an immediate effect” (p. 44). Although consumer acceptance of electric vehicles is improving due in large part to continuing price reductions, these vehicles still cost more than conventional cars and trucks. In addition, there remains a paucity of charging stations across the country, thereby limiting the range of electric vehicles and diminishing their attractiveness to consumers (Alagu et al., 2022). It is also important to note that the manufacture of all-electric vehicles is just as energy-intensive as conventional automobiles.

Further, the electricity that is needed to recharge electric vehicles is most likely produced by electric generation plants that still rely on fossil fuels for their energy source. In other words, electric vehicles are not the end-all solution that many proponents suggest they are, and there are some significant economic trade-offs that are involved in this calculus that must be taken into account. As noted above, the nation’s electrical grid is already stretched razor-thin and the addition of millions of all-electric vehicles would require the construction and operation of dozens of new fossil-fuel power generation stations across the country in order to satisfy this increased demand for electricity. In sum, every discernible benefit from electric vehicles carries a corresponding economic and environmental cost that is frequently overlooked or discounted by their proponents.

Conclusion

Taken together, the research made it clear that there are no easy or cheap solutions to climate change. The human race has invested the last two-and-a-half centuries spewing enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, and this eventuality is not going to be solved through half-measures or a single mitigation strategy. Indeed, it may already be too late to make any substantive impact on global warming, but it would also be foolhardy not to try. Since the handwriting is on the wall for all to see, garnering widespread public support for the combination of climate change mitigation strategies that may stand a chance at making a difference may be easier than in the past.