Communities around the world are battling the COVID-19 pandemic with competitive social distancing measures designed to interact with and slow the spread of the virus. These measures are certainly necessary, but there is no doubt that they also have a variety of negative effects for other people. who are poor, disabled or suffer from intellectual fitness problems while isolated and, of course, for the global economy.
However, given the immense costs of social distancing, it would be wonderful to know that there is one domain in which social distancing has been shown to offer significant benefits: the environment.
Much has been said in recent weeks about how social distancing measures in communities around the world have had results for the environment. It’s visual from space.
Similar effects were discovered in New York City, where researchers observed a 10 percent drop in carbon dioxide and methane in March, as well as an astonishing 50 percent relief in carbon monoxide levels. Meanwhile, in Italy, one of the first epicenters of the epidemic, the celebrated canals that run through the city of Venice are now clear. The list goes on.
What it takes to prevent climate change
Early estimates recommend that the coronavirus-induced slowdown in global economic activity may also reduce global CO2 emissions in 2020 by about 4%, compared to the 2019 total. Many observers see this as a rare glimmer of hope in a different way. In the grim situation, however, this optimism would possibly be misplaced.
The fact is that a 4% reduction in annual CO2 emissions is a smart start, but it still falls short of the 7. 6% annual relief that the UN estimates will be needed each year for the next decade to avoid the worst effects of climate change. . . And as Randolph Bell of the Atlantic Council noted in comments in late March, achieving this relief in global emissions has been no small feat. In fact, it required a global pandemic that caused thousands of deaths, emerging unemployment rates, and deep degrees of economic turmoil far beyond any crisis in living memory.
For years, governments and businesses have tried to tackle the climate crisis with little more than comprehensive measures and smart intentions. The UN has continually warned that measures passed as part of foreign efforts, such as the Paris climate agreement, do not go far enough to avert a climate catastrophe, but humanity has yet to achieve those modest ambitions. Now, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed the incredible scale of the measures that need to be taken to make a genuine difference. What it will take to fight climate replacement is a radical replacement in the power we use globally.
Unfortunately, with little power of choice included in coronavirus stimulus spending in the U. S. In the U. S. , it seems policymakers don’t get the message.
Renewable energy as a national security investment
For the United States, making an investment in power of choice isn’t just about environmental stewardship; It is also a serious national security issue. The ongoing oil value war between Russia and Saudi Arabia is a stark reminder that either country is still exercising itself almost entirely in the fossil fuel market and can smoothly bankrupt American suppliers.
So far, the U. S. government has not been able to say anything. The U. S. has been virtually powerless to prevent the negative effects of such market volatility. Despite interventions by the Trump administration to help reach a deal with OPEC aimed at ending the conflict, oil costs still reached record levels and sank into negative territory for the first time just a week after the deal was announced. Now, many U. S. oil corporations are doing so. The U. S. may face bankruptcy, while tens of thousands of oil and fuel employees may face the risk of losing the job.
The renewable energy market, on the other hand, is virtually insensitive to this kind of external interference. By shifting to greater use of renewable energy, the U. S. will be moving toward greater use of renewable energy. The U. S. may be heading toward its absolute dependence on foreign oil. Renewable energy can also help America. decrease your reliance on your aging and volatile power grid, which is not only subject to normal outages caused by excessive weather events, but is also excessively vulnerable to cyberattacks.
It’s possible that foreign adversaries could threaten U. S. petroleum materials. The U. S. and even its energy infrastructure, but the U. S. will still have access to wind and solar power. With increasingly complicated hydrogen production techniques, such as electrolyzers that convert this energy into clean-burning hydrogen in the long term. There is no explanation for why Americans are threatened by the instability of the electricity sector.
Supporting the renewable energy sector during the COVID-19 crisis
Like the rest of the energy sector and many other industries, the renewable energy market has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Companies in the sector today face many challenges. These come with frozen assignment projects, missed deadlines for existing assignments driven through orders. for on-site shelters, and most likely declines in sales of electric vehicles, biofuels, and other products that may permanently harm U. S. efforts. The U. S. government is needed to keep pace with foreign competitors necessary to avoid a climate crisis.
It is almost certain that the U. S. government. It will try to pass more coronavirus-related laws in the coming weeks and months. Lawmakers would do well to use those upcoming legislative efforts as an opportunity to provide the mandatory to the renewable energy sector. To do this, the next stimulus bill deserves to include, at a minimum, extensions of the soon-to-be-eliminated clean energy tax credit, as well as new financing measures and incentives for renewable projects. Running for our environment and the transition to blank energy, but also for the long-term national security interests of the country.