In this blog series, we have been talking about new technologies that could potentially help us solve climate change. We’ve discussed many new leaps in energy capture technology that could make our energy usage essentially carbon neutral, and new systems of mining important energy components; but this week we are looking at emissions and how we can make reduction in this area of society.
We all know that human have an impact on the world around us. We also all know that many of these impact come from large industries and corporations. However, some of our nation’s carbon footprint comes from us, the ‘normal’ individuals. In fact, 13% of U.S. emissions come from comercial and residence areas. While 13% might not seem like a lot, it can still have a big effect on the environment. Which means that it is important that everyone does their part in resudcing their carbon footprint and lowering emissions.
But how do we do that? There are many ways that we can lower our energy footprint. Today we will be discussing one big way: and that is to decrease your transportation emissions.
The transportation sector contributes 29% of U.S. emissions, and while some of that is corporations, some of it is also from commuters and from residential use. You might be thinking, how can I reduce how often and how much I drive? Some driving is unavoidable, and no matter how mindful you are about it, it still causes emissions. One solution to this problem is electric cars.
Electric cars contain a rechargable battery that powers the car, instead of the burning of gasoline. This major different eliminates the emissions released from driving. You may be thinking, if this reduces carbon emissions from cars, why doesn’t everyone drive an electric car? The answer may be that people simply don’t want to make the switch to an electric car; but in a poll on our Instragram, we found that 88% of people would be willing to switch to driving an electric car. So if mindset isn’t the issue, what could be causing the delay in switching to electric cars?
The answer is resources and resource allotment. The materials that are needed to make car batteries are expensive and not easily gathered. There have been discussions about making car batteries from recycled technology parts, but this too has led to some complications. This difficulty in finding resources and designing the technology capable to handle electric cars on such a wide scale is still a little out of our reach. So the answer to our question earlier, are electric cars the future of clean technology, is that we aren’t sure. If technology advances, and our mindsets change, this could be a great way to combat climate change. However, if we continue on without an initiative towards change, we may never see electric cars succeed on a large scale.
We hope we have provided you with some food for thought about the technologies related to climate change. Stay tuned for next weeks blog post where we will discuss a new technology that allows us to store renewable energy!
- Edible Landscape Initiative Team
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