Losing the remaining Arctic sea ice and its reflective power to send incoming solar radiation safely back to space is equivalent to adding one trillion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, on top of the 2.4 trillion emitted since the Industrial Age. This roughly equates to adding 25 years of additional global CO2 emissions.
Update & Correction: Following further consultation with global and Arctic climate experts, the UN has issued a revised version of Global Linkages–A graphic look at the changing Arctic. The revised report explains winter temperatures over the Arctic Ocean would increase 3 to 5°C by mid-century.
Implemented in a new design called Secondary Loop Mobile Air Conditioning (SL-MAC), the lowest cost alternative refrigerant to HFC-134a has been identified as R-152a. This improved refrigerant is more energy efficient and requires less routine maintenance.
Inefficient ACs dumped into other countries overload energy resources, undermining national and local efforts to manage energy, environment, health, and climate goals, according to new analysis published in the Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum.
On 1 January 2019 the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol entered into force, mandating the phase down of super climate pollutants HFCs. The amendment has been ratified by 65 parties.
From developments in renewable energy, to the growing capacity of energy-storage systems and the adoption of electric vehicles, global action taken to combat rising temperatures has undoubtedly come a long way. But as climate impacts mount, little time remains to ramp up the necessary ambition to limit temperatures to 1.5°C.
At the conclusion of the annual meeting of the Montreal Protocol, the Parties took their strongest action yet to increase energy efficiency of cooling equipment in parallel with the mandated phase down of HFC refrigerants under the Kigali Amendment
The Montreal Protocol—the only treaty with universal membership of all UN countries—is continuing to heal the protective stratospheric ozone layer and also protecting the climate, a key scientific assessment concludes today.
The efficiency of ACs needs to double in little over two decades as part of a drive to give the world a chance of avoiding dangerous climate change, the IEA reports. Otherwise, the growing demand for cooling and the fossil fuel needed to feed that demand will cause still more warming in a dangerous feedback loop, even as it saves lives, creates wealth, and improves education in the world’s hottest countries.
El informe especial del Panel Intergubernamental Sobre Cambio Climático sobre las consecuencias de un Planeta a 1.5°C de temperatura o un Planeta a 2°C es un mensaje de esperanza, pero con una clara advertencia: si seguimos en la trayectoria actual caminamos hacia el abismo.