Biodiversity... Or Not?

Steffen et al. (2015) assert that biosphere integrity has exceeded its planetary boundary. Unfortunately, as per usual, humans are the most likely culprits here. We are involved in a number processes that lead to a reduction in biodiversity, to name a few:

Plastic dumping

• Ingestion of plastics has led to a decline in particular Mediterranean species:
  o   54 less Loggerhead Mediterranean turtles (Bugoni et al. 2001)
  o   171 less Mediterranean birds across 9 species (Codina-García et al. 2013)

• Entanglement
  o   Possible 10,000 Fur Seals on Bird Island, Georgia had suffered from entanglement, which would’ve caused restricted movement and thus possible death from starvation. (Croxall et al. 1990)
  o   62 Gannet Birds in Grassholm, Wales entangled each year (Votier et al 2011)

• Absorption of pollutants
  o   Plastics can also be carriers of pollutants such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). Evidence of PCBs have been found in Great Shearwater birds and may have a damaging effect on them
  
  

Pollution from industrial chemical dumping

• Oil and Petroleum is very harmful to marine life and can greatly reduce biodiversity. The Gulf of Mexico British Petroleum oil spill had several impacts on various species (Biological diversity report, 2011):
  o   82,000 birds of 102 species injured or dead
  o   6,165 sea turtles injured or dead
  o   25,900 marine mammals injured or dead
• A rare species of Iguana on a Galapagos Island fell from 25,000 to 10,000 after a coastal oil spill (Revkin 2002)

What does this mean for us? Well, firstly it means less interesting wild marine life to see. It also means less marine animals available for us to consume and should we consume unhealthy marine animals, it may also have health impacts on us. As more marine species populations go into decline, there are less marine creature for other marine life to feed on, which may lead to starvation and trophic crash. As we can see from this Steffen et al. graph below, marine fish capture is already beginning to decline, which begs the question: have we already reached the peak?

The Living Planet Index shows a 39% decline in marine species between 1970 and 2010. Eutrophication, an increase in nutrients in an environment, can lead to the death of zooplankton, fish and shellfish due to their sensitivity to oxygen; this can then lead to trophic crash and a regime shift to an alternative stable state (WHO, 2002).

Due to these issues, there has been a rise in the demand for marine management and aquaculture (aquatic farming). Here, Schröder shows how the aquaculture market has grown over the past 30 years:

Steffen et al. also demonstrates how shrimp aquaculture along has seen a shocking level of growth over the same time period:

As more marine life becomes endangered, there has been increased investment in protecting marine habitats and species. An ever-increasing human population and an arguably declining marine population has led to a rise in demand and a fall in supply for aquatic organisms. This has led to exponential growth of the aquaculture market, as seen above, which is expected to reach over $195 billion by 2019 (Marine Water, Freshwater and Brackish Water, 2013). 

A Global Effort

From the previous posts, we can clearly see that we can harness the Earth’s natural resources and elements to produce energy sustainably. There are other forms of energy such as nuclear power, which can be just as efficient. Nuclear power in particular however, has death risks associated with it, which is why it a very controversial topic. Hydrogen can also be used to create energy, just as NASA uses it to launch space shuttles (NASA, 2010).

Perhaps as well as investment into renewable energies, we also need to look to nuclear power. Nuclear power plants obviously have a lot to offer in terms of energy production, however, the risk of radiation escape is potentially high and life threatening e.g. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Radiation is also extremely difficult to contain and dispose of. For this reason, I personally feel that renewable energies should be the most substantial energy source of the future. I do also believe that nuclear power does also have a part to play (however small it may be) in future energy sources.

There are many, many ways to harness energy. To really combat climate change, there needs to be a global effort to do so, and as of 2020, there will be! In the COP21 negotiations, 187 countries agreed to emission reduction commitments, including USA, Russia and China (Mabey, 2015). This undoubtedly means more investment into alternative energy sources and exponential growth for the renewable energy market. Feel free to have a look at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions here.

What About the Earth?

Air, Fire, Water… What am I missing? Ah yes, Earth. Earth refers to the substances that create the environment around us. So how can we harness these substances to provide us with energy? Well, there are various different ways, but the main types are through:

• Bioenergy – burning decaying waste or organic material (biomass e.g. plants, wood) to produce energy such as heat and electricity. Only sustainable if organic material used is replanted and replaced.
• Geothermal Energy – This harnesses energy from earth’s natural heat through volcanoes. Water is fed underground in volcanic regions. Water is heated until it turns into steam, which then drives turbines.

Energy such as geothermal, is naturally renewable as it does not require depleting any of the earth’s resources. However, bioenergy does deplete biomass resources and thus to be sustainable and renewable, biomass needs continual replacement. For this reason, biomass may be more maintenance than other energy sources. However, this has not necessarily deterred nations from investing in bioenergy. In Kenya, there is a significant developing bioenergy market, particularly for SMEs (World Bank, 2014). The East African region in particular, is expected to receive an investment of $2.4 billion, $1.4 billion of which will be accessible to SMEs. The developing world however does face significant barriers to entry in the bioenergy market in terms of funding and skills. The following two World Bank graphs illustrate the investment into and the value of the clean tech market in East Africa.

Notice that the geothermal energy market is quite large in East Africa. This is largely due to the 18 active volcanoes in the region (US Geological Survey, 1999). The biofuel and bioenergy market however, is indeed existent, and receiving investment. Other energy sources such as geothermal are preferred to bioenergy in regions such as East Africa, as they can capitalise on their natural resources. Despite the fact that geothermal energy is the cheapest energy resource at 5 cents per kWh, and biomass is only 10 cents per kWh, in terms of efficiency, both biomass and geothermal energy are quite low down on the list...

Nonetheless, this IEA Pie Chart below shows that in 2012, biofuels actually accounted for 10% of the global energy market:

Furthermore, of the US renewable energy market in 2010, biomass energy accounts for more than half of energy consumption  (EIA, 2011). Despite these energy sources not being entirely efficient, they are receiving significant investment. In particular, these energy sources could be invaluable to capitalise on if the geographical region has an abundance of resources to use. These regions tend to be developing regions, which are still exploited for their natural resources through neo-colonial relations. Perhaps this is a market which developing nations can really capitalise on and gain a unique advantage which former colonial powers cannot exploit.

A Dehydrated Energy Market?

Okay, so we’ve covered two of the earth’s four classical elements. Up next: Water! We can harness several types of energy from water:

• Hydroelectric Power involves harnessing energy from the movement of water in different water masses
• Tidal Power is created by moving tides, which drive turbines to generate electricity
• Waves compress trapped air, creating wave power, which drives turbines to generate electricity

As there are so many different types of energy generated from water, and the tides are always readily available, we seem to have no trouble accessing it. In fact, hydroelectric and tidal power, are the most efficient methods of large-scale electric power generation as shown below:

Hydroelectric power is also extremely cheap at 8 cents per kWh (US Energy Information Administration, 2015)! The hydroelectric power market is growing though. The graph below shows additional TWh of electricity generation produced by Hydropower since 2005 International Energy Office:

As you can see, before 2005, in 6 years, hydropower electricity generation increased by 600TWh, which shows increasing investment into such an efficient energy source. This final graph (IEA, 2011) shows the untapped potential of hydropower in various different regions:

Since hydropower is one of the cheapest and most efficient energy sources, and there is so much untapped potential, it is entirely possible that it has a lot to offer in the battle against climate change. However, to see this untapped potential materialise into a significant contribution in repairing the Earth (if we can), the market needs substantial investment and global implementations. 

Solar Energy: The Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Solar power captures incoming solar radiation through solar panels and converts it into electricity. There are different ways of harnessing solar energy for various uses including:

• Photovoltaic (PV) systems and cells – using direct sunlight to produce electricity
• Concentrated solar power – uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate large areas of sunlight or solar thermal energy onto smaller areas
• Solar thermal energy – heating water directly with solar energy

Fortunately for us, solar power should be accessible for as long as the sun exists, which is estimated to be for 4-5 billion years (Nelson, 2014). The most popular types of solar energy are photovoltaic systems and concentrated solar power, both have experienced near exponential growth, as the following PV graph shows (Solar Central, 2015):

This increase in supply, meant that demand for Solar PV energy finally stopped exceeding supply, and prices fell (shown below), although it is still the most expensive energy source:

However, this in turn led to a fall in the market value of solar energy (Clean Edge, 2013). Nonetheless, between 2000 and 2010, the global market value of Solar PV has increased more than 35-fold from $2.5billion to $79.7 billion. Solar energy tends to be most popular in developed countries as this IHS pie chart shows, with Germany, UK, USA, Japan and China taking the lead in PV installations:

However, it is important to also notice China’s astonishing market share of Solar PV energy. In the past, solar energy has been pegged as one of the most expensive energy sources. However, now that supply is meeting demand, and R&D is being increasingly invested in to make solar power as energy efficient as possible, it is becoming more affordable. Solar energy has become affordable to the extent that the Indian government is looking to implement it at both small and large scales. The World Bank estimates the SME opportunity in India to be worth $41 billion (particularly in the latter segments of the value chain e.g. planning and installation). This is further evidence that even developing countries, which haven’t developed to the same extent we have, can still have the same opportunity to industrialise, without making the same mistakes we did.