Will Cutting CO2 Send Us Back To The Dark Ages?

It's a frequent claim of climate sceptics that we will all somehow be plunged into the Dark Ages if we attempt the sort of emission cuts that will be necessary to stop climate change.

There's rarely any attempt at explaining these claims, it's just left there, as if it were a given.

So, I'll attempt to fill in the blanks for you. I think they're trying to imply that we'll all be forced to live a simpler, low tech life to achieve the sort of cuts required. No TVs, cars, planes, mobile phones, PCs etc etc.

If that's what the sceptics are driving at, then, as usual, they are mischief making.

Yes, if we were to ban the use of oil, coal and natural gas tomorrow, or attempted to remove 80% of emissions by the day after, we would be in trouble. But that's not going to happen is it?

What we'll actually have is a lengthy period of transition from the dirty fuels of the past, to the cleaner fuels of the future.

It'll be a period in which:

• The efficiency of the things like solar panels, wind turbines, and biofuels, will be massively improved.

• Other, known technologies like tidal and wave power, ground-source and air-source heating, and Concentrated Solar Power will come to prominance.

• Further technologies will emerge thanks to greater investment (Some really interesting ones are already at the experimental stage).

• The huge subsidies handed out to the oil and coal industries by some countries can be switched to renewables.

• Companies worldwide can become more energy efficient and therefore save costs (e.g. The container ship industry, which is set to contribute 3% of all emissions in the future, has identified a number of ways it can save fuel and therefore CO2).

• Collectively, we will need to learn to recycle everything to preserve scarce resources and save energy. Everything from household rubbish to sewage to discarded electronics.  

• Manufacturers will reduce the amount of packaging they put on their products and ensure what's left is recyclable.

• Governments will encourage widespread micro-generation (where homes produce some or all of their own energy using solar power etc.).

• Carbon capture and storage is likely to become widespread, perhaps converting the CO2 into limestone which can be used for building materials and so on (we have a pilot scheme going on here in the UK).

These are just some of the likely highlights. Together they will cut emissions massively whilst continuing to meet our growing energy demands. Anyone who doubts that under-estimates human ingenuity.

But, I suppose you may be asking: Why bother at all? Why go to all that expense?

Well, leaving aside the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change, we'll have to do much of this anyway when oil and natural gas start running out.

Estimates of when demand for oil will exceed supply (known as Peak Lite) vary considerably, but it's inevitable. These resources are not unlimited afterall. So it makes sense to prepare sooner rather than later, in case peak lite is only just around the corner, because that would be economically disastrous.