According to a report released on March 16 by Reuters, to avoid catastrophic climate change, global investments in clean energy (including planned investments) must reach a total of 131 trillion dollars by 2050. This figure is reportedly 30% higher than current expected investments.
Screenshot from Reuters website
It is reported that this report is from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with over 160 member countries, and is its “annual flagship report.” IRENA emphasizes that to comply with the commitments made in the Paris Agreement established in 2015, global countries need to jointly adjust the scale and speed of their actions—significantly increasing clean energy investments to 131 trillion dollars.
The report also points out that to meet the 1.5-degree Celsius limit, global fossil fuel consumption must decrease by more than 75% from current levels before 2050, especially the consumption of oil and coal, which needs to be reduced more rapidly. Natural gas can peak in 2025 and maintain its position as a “major fossil fuel” until the middle of this century. Meanwhile, clean renewable energy generation capacity must be expanded to more than ten times the original.
In clean renewable energy, the production and usage of “Green Hydrogen Energy” need to be significantly increased, which is particularly urgent. It is reported that “Green Hydrogen Energy” is a type of hydrogen fuel (zero-carbon fuel) produced through the electrolysis of water using renewable energy electricity, as it is generated from renewable energy sources, it does not produce greenhouse gases. The renewable energy can be wind or solar energy.
The report states that by 2050, 30% of electricity should be dedicated to producing green hydrogen, regular hydrogen, and its derivatives. To achieve this goal, global electrolyzer capacity needs to be exponentially increased from the current 0.3 GW to nearly 5000 GW.
Regarding the current situation, IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera stated: the gap between our actual actions and what we should be doing is not only not narrowing but is actually widening… We need to accelerate the energy transition to effectively reverse the situation.
To reverse the global warming trend, first and foremost, the most fundamental step is to continuously monitor global greenhouse gas emissions and the increase in global average temperatures. Only by doing these two can we further dynamically adjust the “task” goals to achieve the desired reversal of the situation.
A recent case that appeared in the media provides a sample. It is the MUCCnet sensor network in Munich, Germany.
Measurement devices of the MUCCnet sensor network. Image source: Technical University of Munich, Author: F. Dietrich
It is reported that the MUCCnet sensor network is the world’s first fully automated sensor network for measuring urban greenhouse gas emissions based on ground-based atmospheric remote sensing. It was developed and established by scientists from the team of Professor Jia Chen from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Through the MUCCnet sensor network, anyone can now access the measurement data of this sensor network via their internet platform.
The MUCCnet sensor network is also called the “Munich Urban Carbon Pillar Network”. It consists of five high-precision optical instruments (sensors) used to analyze solar spectra. These instruments can measure the concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide in the air. The measurement principle is that each gas has its unique spectral “fingerprint,” based on which the concentrations of these gases can be determined through the atmospheric column between these instruments and the sun. Professor Jia Chen stated that by measuring the vertical column of the atmosphere, local disturbances caused by nearby chimney emissions can be eliminated, and thus, this greenhouse gas balance is considered particularly reliable and accurate.
One of the five optical instruments (sensors) in MUCCnet is set up at the TUM main campus and is responsible for measuring the concentrations in the city center. The other four devices are set up in the four main directions at the boundaries of Munich.
Professor Jia Chen operating the MUCCnet sensor network measurement device on the roof of the main building at the Technical University of Munich. Image source: Technical University of Munich, Author: A. Heddergott
Professor Jia Chen briefly explained the relevant principles:
A sensor is set up upwind of the city, and a second one is set up downwind. Thus, the increase in gas measured between the first and the second sensor must be generated internally within the city.
A sensor is set up in each basic direction (the four main directions of the city) to cover as many different wind directions as possible.
The data collected by these sensor networks, combined with local meteorological parameters, can be used to create a spatially resolved urban emission map using high-performance computers.
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