How the Kyoto Protocol is Doing?

With the end of the Kyoto Protocol just around the corner, many are countries including Spain (although somewhat later joined the initiative), wonder no go ahead or if in fact there will be a new commitment for controlled greenhouse gas emission when in fact the first carried out in many cases it has not fulfilled.

It was in the year 1997 in Kyoto (and within the framework of the third session of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change) when 163 countries representing the world's major economies pledged to carry out a protocol that would serve to control and reduce the emission of gases responsible for global warming greenhouse.

Although a priori all were good intentions, the truth is that it was soon seen as not all countries have fulfilled the objectives set.

Keep in mind that in meetings in Kyoto was determined that they were 6 gas which should reduce its emission since they were cause the greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, the compound perfluocarbonados, consisting of hidrofluorocarbonated and sulphur hexafluoride.

From here are marked as standards which is to reduce emissions of 5.2 per cent of these gases between 2008 and 2012, with respect to the levels measured in 1990, although in each country, the fee varies depending on how contaminated in the past, and the obligation to inform 106 Nations in developing on their levels of pollution as well as give an account of his attempts to reduce them.Although the origin of this Protocol and that the major countries involved to comply with the regulations was good, many of them as United States, already "gave problems" since its inception even though they did not meet the reduction of emission of these gases. 

Government Durban climate summit (held at the end of the 2011) reached the conclusion that the Kyoto Protocol had not reached its goal although all countries which applied failed to reach the 5% required in reducing gases.However, others such as Spain (and that joined the Protocol in 2004), it has been fairly educate the citizens regarding the effects of these gases, but the truth is that it is difficult to say that we have reached an objective optimum, when even I have reported increased in the emission of these gases.

According to scientists, current emissions cuts will not prevent that the Earth is cencouraged at the end of century above 2 degrees Celsius considered dangerous and would be required to cut greenhouse gases by 50% by 2050, something that does not seem to be to comply.

Future on the Kyoto Protocol can say that it is something had and although some countries will undertake to apply in 2013, indeed than others as Russia, Canada and Japan announced his decision not to continue with that Protocol.It is a real shame because this Protocol is the only legally binding international instrument to reduce CO2 emissions.

The Difference Between Being a Lone Nut and Being a Leader (or How Solar Became Viral)

Somebody has finally put a number on something we have all had a gut sense about: people are far more likely to follow a trend (in this case, installing solar panels) when it is clearly a trend. But the natural follow-up question is: “when does a trend officially become a trend?”

There is an amusing and inspiring TED talk (core part of it above) that uses a popular YouTube video to illustrate a fairly universal human tendency — to dismiss a true trendsetter as “loonie” until a certain threshold, whereupon, suddenly and magically, what they’re doing becomes a trend. Perhaps you’ve seen the video above before — it’s a lone guy dancing up a storm, painfully alone in a sea of a mostly sedentary audience. You can feel the scorn of those who presume him to be either crazy or drunk — who does that anyways? But this dancin’ fool doesn’t care, he’s oblivious to conformity, and ends up triggering a human landslide. There is a difference between “crazy” and “I don’t care if people think I’m crazy” though, and there is an important lesson to be learned about leadership — and it isn’t obvious, you have to watch the TED talk to get it.

When I put my architecture career on hold to enter into the red hot Ontario microFIT solar market, it was because I knew a sure thing when I saw it. Highest feed-in tariff in the world, highest in world history. Why on Earth would someone say no to earning 14% ROI, protecting your roof, reducing your carbon footprint, ensuring energy independence, boosting your local economy, and displaying what some might argue to be the strongest symbol of environmentalism after the bicycle? You don’t need to be a strong salesperson, this sells itself!

Turns out it wasn’t so easy. Everybody embraced the idea, but it seems many were afraid of looking like a freak. In the early months, aesthetics seemed to be the number one concern, and I frequently questioned my sanity for having left my original career path.

Well, what a difference 18 months makes. I am seeing the solar version of the dancing guy, and I have a few observational notes of my own. Gone is the worry about how panels will look — it is already something people want to show off. Referrals make up about a third of all sales, and there is a spike of interest right after a new installation. The main question now is not ‘if,’ but ‘when,’ and ‘how big.’

So, back to this study I mentioned at the beginning — what effect does it have on people when solar panels are installed near you? If you start with a neighborhood with 25 solar installations, where it was 100 days between the 24th and 25th installation, this peer pressure effect will reduce the time between installations to just 10 days by the 250th [photovoltaic] project.

To summarize, being near solar panel installations seems to step it up within our personal priorities. Otherwise known as “keeping up with the Jones’s.” Everyone has their own reasons, but the link is clear. No real surprise, but it’s great to have a peer-reviewed study to back it up.

Does this make people dumb as sheep? As my mother used to ask me, “if everyone jumped into a lake, would you do the same?” Trends are not always sensible. In 1637 Holland, people had whipped each other into a frenzy to buy tulips; everybody had them and everybody wanted more, literally trading away their houses until the tulip market crashed. And what about powdered wigs? Don’t laugh, everyone was doing it at one time. I don’t pretend to have the answers to what drives certain modes of conformity, but it is important to make a distinction — the people who got up to dance didn’t do so because they wanted to emulate the dancing guy,… they did so because they wanted to dance
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Anyone comparing solar panels to fashion or fads needs to research what peak oil and climate change is. There is not enough room in this article for science lessons, but suffice it to say that environmental awareness is at an all-time high for one simple reason — we are in the age of information and awareness. You can probably thank the internet for a lot of that. And once you learn something, you do not “unlearn” it.

We have a truckload of problems bearing down upon us, and solar just happens to be a “shovel-ready” solution which some jurisdictions have made it profitable to participate in. It seems once people discover these issues, they prefer to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. This is why anyone new to the program naturally becomes the best advocate for it. It isn’t surprising that within weeks, all his cousins and his accountant want to get a solar evaluation too.

Awareness is contagious. It doesn’t work the opposite way. Thank God for that!





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Woman Business Owner Creates Clean Energy Jobs By Being Bold

Wendy Jameson’s life slogan is “Fear Mediocrity: don’t be afraid to be bold”; a motto that Wendy and her partner in Colnatec, Scott Grimshaw (whom she met on Twitter), established. Wendy has always been an individual who stands out from the crowd and takes risks each and every day, the epitome of an entrepreneur. She is a former business consultant and coach with 25 years experience in sales, marketing, and business strategy for growth companies. A wife and mother of two boys, family has always been an important part of Wendy’s life, too.  But they are not the only people she calls family–the nine employees who work for Colnatec care for each other and believe in the success of Colnatec as much as she does.

Colnatec is a woman-owned “greentech” company from Gilbert, AZ that designs and builds thin film process control sensors for nanotechnology manufacturing.  They have developed and patented groundbreaking film thickness measurement products for making solar cells, mobile displays, optics, and flexible lighting & electronics that increase production yields, decrease manufacturing costs, and improve efficiencies.

The holder of eight patents, they are recipients of a Department of Energy Phase I SBIR award for a revolutionary sensor to be used in manufacturing CIGS solar cells. This sensor will enable manufacturers to achieve cell and module efficiencies well beyond current capability.  Colnatec is also one of 8 winners of the Arizona Innovation Challenge grant program, which was established through $1.5M in ARRA funds provided to Arizona to promote innovation, specifically in the technology sector, and encourage export manufacturing. These funds have enabled Colnatec to hire 3 people in 2011, purchase production machinery, finalize product development, and market globally.

The funding we’ve received has been like a shot in the arm—a significant morale boost,” said Wendy. “It’s proof our science is sound, but even more importantly, that others believe in us too. It gave us not only confidence, but also hope that we really could achieve our dreams.”

Article by Anne Filipic, Deputy Director of the Office of Public Engagement

 

 

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