Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Emissions
ΒΌ
Population
(GDP/Population)
(Energy/GDP)
(Emissions/Energy)
World population is going to go up for at least the next
is projections. There is no
help there. The next piece, GDP/Population, is per capita
income. The poor of the world are not willing to stay
poor, and the rich of the world are not willing to become
poorer for the sake of their currently poor brothers and
sisters. Per capita income is going to go up for a while at
least. There is no help for the foreseeable future in that
term either. All emissions reductions have to come from
the next two parts of the equation, energy intensity and
emissions intensity.
The third piece, energy intensity (Energy/GDP) can
change dramatically if the ef
years according to the UN
'
ciency of using energy is
improved. Ef
ciency improvements are not necessarily
about lifestyle changes but how to do the same with less
energy. Lifestyle changes are advocated by some as well,
and if they are signi
cant can also reduce emissions by a
large amount. However, that is a societal decision with
large political implications and is not a topic I intend
to discuss. There is a huge amount of
room for
ef
ciency improvements, and
Chapter
will look at the
possibilities.
The fourth piece of the equation, emissions intensity
(Emissions/Energy), is the emissions from the fuels used
to power the world
s economies. Changing from a fuel
with high emissions to one with low emissions obviously
reduces emissions, and this is what is behind the move to
'
