WASHINGTON -- The presence of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is what is causing the Earth to warm up. Despite efforts to keep carbon emissions low, scientists grimly revealed on Monday that carbon dioxide emissions have continued to rise and even broken its own record of reaching sky high.
Researchers say that it is not about the lack of effort to reduce it. Rather, it is about the world's growing demand for energy that is causing its slow but steady increase, despite numerous efforts to pull its levels down. Because a lot of industries have become dependent on the energy provided by coal-fired power plants, they caused a great increase in carbon emissions to present today.
The demand of the world for energy grew as much as 2.3% over the last year, marking it as the fastest increase in the last ten years. This is according to the International Energy Agency. To meet their energy demands fueled by the booming business economy, countries have resorted to tapping all possible energy providers, including those into the renewables.
However, nothing could provide a huge demand for energy than the use of fossil fuels. It satisfies as much as 70% of the demand for electric energy. Such information is based on the report submitted by the agency that analyzes the trends in energy for 30 member countries including the US.
"In Asia, the average age of most coal-fired power plants is about 12 years. They are still at least two decades younger than their supposed lifespan," the agency revealed. As a result, the energy used has produced more greenhouse gases in 2018. It has reached by far its highest use of 33.1 billion tons.
The current results of the emissions showed a growth of about 1.7%, which is well above the average recorded in 2010. Sadly, the total amount of emissions in 2018 alone covers the total amount of emissions in international aviation.
"The results are worrisome," said Michael Mehling. He is the deputy director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Energy and Environmental Policy. "This is a reflection that the climate policies of countries all over the world need to be reviewed. This kind of progress isn't good at all."
The increase in the demand for more energy is here to stay. What countries need to be looking into is how they could get the energy they need from renewable resources. Tapping wind, geothermal and other forms of renewable energy should be the priority.
The fact that we need to save the world is here. People need to do their share to get this job done.
