In January, Bill Gates
published an argument about solving climate
change titled “Why We Need Innovation, Not
Just Insulation”. As you may have guessed,
Gates’ point is that energy efficiency alone
will not achieve us the emissions cuts scientists
say are necessary to avoid
the most catastrophic effects of climate
change. Innovation, Gates says, is key to
getting the bulk of emissions - those from
transportation and electricity generation
- down to zero.
And Gates received some
flack for pitting innovation against energy
efficiency and regulation in an either/or
scenario, which favored the former over
the latter. Gates’ controversial claim was
that a focus on individual consumption,
energy efficiency, renewable portfolios,
and cap and trade is a distraction from
solving the climate crisis.
Given the scope of the
problem, combating climate change is going
to require all of the above -- innovation,
private and government sector investment,
and regulation. Perhaps a more important
question, then, given Gates' power and influence
as the founder and current Board Chair of
Microsoft, is whether he can influence the
company to offer the innovative solutions
needed to fight the climate crisis.
Is Gates putting his
money where his mouth is?
We recently evaluated
Microsoft on its climate leadership efforts
and discovered that, even in the realm of
innovation, Gates’ company has a way to
go if it intends to meaningfully address
climate change with technology. In fact,
Microsoft receives only 31 points out of
100 on the latest version of the Cool IT
Leaderboard.
While Bill Gates is
outspoken on how to approach climate change,
Microsoft has not demonstrated the same
zeal as its founder. The company has only
recently begun to leverage its reach and
core competencies towards achieving economy-wide
greenhouse gas cuts. The company receives
only 14 points out of 50 on the Leaderboard
for its climate solutions case studies,
which show how its digital music and software
distribution result in lifecycle emissions
reductions.
Microsoft’s Hohm energy
management software is, ironically (given
Gates’ statement), a tool that helps make
your home more energy efficient. Hohm provides
a personalized home energy score, and helps
you identify potential savings. And in March,
Microsoft teamed up with Ford to apply the
Hohm software to plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle (PHEV) ownership. Hohm will help
PHEV owners charge their batteries efficiently
and affordably, while contributing to better
management of the impacts of vehicle charging
on the electricity grid.
In his opinion piece,
Gates also makes a case for government incentives.
“To achieve the kinds of innovations that
will be required I think a distributed system
of R&D with economic rewards for innovators
and strong government encouragement is the
key," he says.
We couldn’t agree more. And, based on our
Leaderboard evaluation, it is apparent that
IT companies need to strengthen their policy
positions, and throw their significant political
weight behind advocacy that creates favorable
market conditions for climate innovations.
Thus far, Microsoft’s
CEO, Steve Ballmer, has failed to articulate
the urgent need for government policy to
drive a clean energy transformation. By
comparison, Microsoft’s competitor, Google,
is the top scoring Leaderboard company on
advocacy for the clear position taken by
its CEO, Eric Schmidt, in support of political
action to drive transformative investment
in clean energy technologies.
If innovation and government
encouragement are what IT pioneer, Gates,
says will get us to zero emissions, shouldn’t
an IT behemoth like Microsoft be demonstrating
stronger leadership to get us there?
The energy of the future
Blogpost by JulietteH - June 11, 2010 at
4:41 PM Add comment Make no mistake: the
oil spills happening everywhere on this
planet, whether in the Gulf of Mexico or
in the Niger Delta are symptoms, not the
disease.
The disease that we're
facing is a fossil fuel addiction - an addiction
so strong that to feed it, we keep drilling
for oil and mining for coal in impossible
places, accept unacceptable risks to human
lives and the environment and tolerate the
most disgusting corporate behaviour.
Fossil fuel companies,
whether the try to sell you oil or coal,
have just as much interest in stopping this
addiction as a coke dealer to send his clients
to rehab. So what are they doing at the
Bonn climate meeting? Would you invite a
coke dealer to a meeting to decide how to
best stop drug traffic? Would you allow
them to give their opinion to policy makers?
Of course not.
As long as we leave
our energy future to fossil fools, as long
as we allow them to be the only ones whispering
on our governments' ears, we won't be able
to achieve the dream of a future with clean
air, livable cities, true energy independence,
and, of course, a healthy climate.
This future IS possible.
We have the means, we have the technology,
we have the knowledge, to power our societies
with clean energy. Fossil fools would have
you believe that coal and oil detox is expensive,
and never works, and that the doctor isn't
in anyway. Lies.
Lies to make you think
that oil spills are inevitable. Lies to
make political leaders think that they have
to choose between the climate and economies.
Lies to keep their profits while putting
the planet on a very dangerous path. Lies
to prevent a beautiful renewable future
because they won't benefit from it.
It is possible to quit
fossil fuels. It is possible to power ourselves
with renewables. All this is within reach,
and all that lacks to make it happen is
political will. And that little bit is as
much up to us as it is to politicians. Today,
pick up your phone. Call your parliamentary
representative, or energy minister, or environment
minister, or - straight to the top - your
Prime Minister or President. Ask if they've
heard of the Energy [R]evolution. Ask if
they're aware that a clean energy future
is possoible. If not, tell them to check
out greenpeace.org/energyrevolution.
Make that political
will happen. It's up to all of us.
+ More
Mesocosms set up and
running in Svalbard
As the Esperanza leaves
Ny Ålesund and Svalbard, the mesocosms
are all set up and running, and our job
delivering and assisting their placement
is done. We'll return in just over one month’s
time to retrieve the mesocosms from Kongsfjord
and ship them to Germany. But that's not
the end of the story, as the science part
is only just beginning.
Whilst the mesocosms
were being set up, more than 30 scientists
arrived here from all over Europe, including
the Netherlands, UK, Norway, France and
Germany. Over the next few weeks, they'll
be working hard, collecting scientific data
that will be carefully examined and statistically
analyzed during the following months, perhaps
for even a year. Eventually, the results
from the mesocosm experiments will be published
in scientific journals. Only then can we
begin to understand in more detail what
the effects of ocean acidification from
increased CO2 in the atmosphere might be
in Arctic waters.
The Esperanza not only
brought the mesocosms to Ny Ålesund,
but also many boxes and crates of scientific
equipment - all carefully labeled and sealed:
their purpose completely unknown to most
on board. However, it’s now become clear.
The boxes probably contain enough equipment
to furnish a small University chemistry
department. Several boxes contain carefully
packaged delicate analytical instruments,
which will be used in the chemical analysis
of the water samples from the mesocosms.
Fortunately, none seem to have been damaged
in transit and all have now been recalibrated
for their new labs (analytical instruments
do not like to be moved!). Other boxes contain
the items needed to handle the samples:
pipettes, beakers, measuring cylinders,
volumetric flasks, filter papers, tweezers
and lots of other basic lab items.
Stepping over some boxes,
I made my way into the lab, where Andrea
was hoping to finish off making up calibration
standards for one of the analytical instruments
before dinner. I watch a Svalbard reindeer
slowly make it’s way across the village,
munching on the little bits of grass and
moss that are growing between the accommodation
huts now the snow is receding. She commented
that this was the lab with the best view,
looking over the fjord towards the snowy
mountains and glaciers. This was disputed
by Kerstin, who is working in a different
lab, one that overlooks the bay and has
a list of whale sightings. The beluga whales
haven’t arrived just yet, but she’s hoping
to see one before they leave. I’m quite
envious. Although our labs in the science
unit are very good, the view from the windows
can’t really compare to this!
Each box has been carefully
labeled with what it contains and which
lab it belongs to, but even so, sorting
it all out and finding space to store all
this equipment must be a major headache
for the logistics coordinator in Ny-Ålesund.
Out in the cold waters
of Kongsfjord, the nine mesocosms have each
been acidified to reflect a range of possible
future levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The experiment aims to determine the chemical
and biological differences between these
mesocosms over the next month.
Every day, probes will
be lowered into each mesocosm to record
conductivity, light penetration and several
other background parameters. One type is
a fluorescence probe that characterises
the different types of phytoplankton (tiny
plants and bacteria that get their energy
from the sun via chlorophyll).
The spectrum of light
changes as it passes through water and different
groups of phytoplankton have evolved to
make use of the changes in the quality and
quantity of light with depth and turbidity.
Each phytoplankton group has a distinct
make-up of chlorophyll and other pigments.
The fluorescence probe detects these different
types of pigments, allowing the relative
abundance of phytoplankton groups to be
monitored. Used daily, this probe gives
a rapid measure of how phytoplankton communities
are changing with depth and time in each
of the mesocosms.
Fine nets will be used
to capture and count the different types
of zooplankton (animal plankton), such as
tiny crustaceans and pteropods, which in
turn feed on the phytoplankton. Many types
of plankton (both phyto and zoo) form hard
shells of carbonate, and it is these organisms
that are expected to be amongst the most
sensitive to ocean acidification, as it
may be harder to survive under acidified
conditions. As plankton forms the bottom
of the food chain, the concern is that if
they are affected, then it could have knock-on
effects up the entire ocean food web.
Alongside probe and
net measurements, daily sea water samples
from the mesocosms will be taken back to
the lab in Ny-Ålesund, and subjected
to intense biological and chemical analysis
to determine the changes caused by the artificial
acidification.
So what will the scientists
measure in the lab? Well, first of all the
warehouse that usually houses the forklift
equipment for the harbour has been cleared
out. This is where the samples will be filtered
to separate the solids, which are predominantly
plankton, but also some bacteria and dead
cells and other detritus, from the seawater
(containing dissolved salts). The samples
are then split between the labs for the
various analyses to detect changes between
the mesocosms.
The seawater will be
chemically analysed for constituents such
as phosphate, nitrate (and nitrite), sulphate
and silicate; the pH will be accurately
measured, and of course, the carbonate (or
alkalinity) and total CO2 concentrations.
The solid residues left after filtering
will be analysed for their carbon, nitrogen
and phosphorus content. This analysis will
help to build up a picture of the amount
of nutrients taken up by plankton growth,
and how much are remaining in the seawater,
to help the scientists understand any changes
seen in the biology within the mesocosms.
Biological analysis
includes further characterisation of the
types of phytoplankton present and how they
are changing over time. Various methods
can be used, ranging from traditional microscopes
(accurate but very time consuming!) through
to automated methods which give statistical
descriptions of the overall structure of
the plankton community. One such automated
method is "flow cytometry", which
involves shining a laser at individual samples
and examining how the light is absorbed
and scattered to distinguish between different
pigments and cell sizes. This allows a picture
to be created of the whole phytoplankton
community.
Viruses infecting the
plankton will also be studied, as it's possible
that some plankton species become "stressed"
and "unhealthy" as the seawater
chemistry changes during acidification,
and become more susceptible to viral infection.
Certain trace gases such as di-methyl sulphide,
naturally produced by some types of plankton
and important in the formation of clouds
in the atmosphere, will also be measured.
If the plankton are less productive, then
they may not produce as much of these trace
gases and this could alter cloud formation
and possibly even climate. It's a reminder
of how interlinked earth systems are - that
even the smallest organisms can have an
important role to play in much larger scale
processes.
There are many other
types of analyses being conducted at Ny-Ålesund,
including sophisticated stable isotope measurements
that track the passage of carbon from seawater
as it enters the food chain. All of these
analyses will be pulled together to build
a picture of the biological and chemical
changes going on in the mesocosms - eventually,
when published, the results will shed light
on what might happen to these sensitive
ecosystems in the future, as they are become
increasingly affected by ocean acidification.
These scientists have
a lot of hard work ahead of them, but the
experiments being performed here are of
vital importance. So, we wish them lots
of luck with the weather while we are away
- at least they are not short of daylight!
