Global warming has caused the earth's polar glaciers to melt and sea levels to continue to rise. Even children know this simple chain reaction. " National Geographic " once calculated a specific figure for how much sea levels can rise. 66 meters, that is, the ice at the poles After all the rivers melt, most cities and farmland will now be submerged under the sea. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average temperature of the earth has increased by 0.5°C in the past 100 years, and sea levels have risen by about 0.18 meters. At this rate, in about 5,000 years, all the glaciers at both poles will melt.
Will humans only be able to live on the sea by then? The science fiction movie " Future Water World " shows us the scene of human beings living on the sea. Land has become a legendary object, inspiring the male protagonist to keep looking for land.
Of course, we cannot regard the plots in science fiction movies as real situations. After all, movies are an art and will only show the plots that the audience wants to see. What is the final situation of global warming?
Global warming begins with complex greenhouse gases
What is the greenhouse effect ? When we talk about the greenhouse effect, the first thing that comes to mind is carbon dioxide . Carbon dioxide produced by industrial smoke, automobile exhaust, etc. will accumulate in the atmosphere. When the sun shines on the earth and brings heat, the surface of the earth reflects back The thermal infrared rays in space will take away a lot of heat, and carbon dioxide will block this part of the thermal infrared rays, retaining a small amount of heat like a quilt. Over time, the temperature of the earth will rise.
So, if carbon dioxide is controlled, the process of global warming will be stopped, right? It’s not that simple. According to the definition in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the greenhouse gases that cause the greenhouse effect are not just carbon dioxide, but also methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, and perfluorocarbons. , sulfur hexafluoride , among which hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride have the strongest greenhouse effect, dwarfing the insulation ability of carbon dioxide.
And these three strongest greenhouse gases are closely related to our lives. Sulfur hexafluoride is used in a new generation of ultra-high voltage insulating dielectric materials, smelting of non-ferrous metals , gas insulators and castings for electronic equipment and radar waveguides. Technology, etc., perfluorocarbon compounds are used as food foaming agents, hydrofluorocarbons are widely used in refrigerators and air conditioners, and are the third generation refrigerants to avoid damaging the ozone layer . Moreover, there are no suitable substitutes for these three gases at this stage and they can only continue to be used.
Will global warming only cause sea levels to rise?
mentioned above that in the past hundred years, the average temperature of the earth has increased by 0.5℃. For us, a temperature change of 0.5℃ may not be felt at all, but a bird in the tropical rainforest of the Amazon River Basin in South America A butterfly, flapping its wings occasionally, may cause a tornado in Texas in two weeks. For the entire earth, the power of the butterfly effect is very huge.
Global warming will exacerbate uneven precipitation. This year's precipitation in our country can be said to be unheard of in decades. On the one hand, Poyang Lake , which is in the flood season, entered the dry season more than a hundred days early. The entire lake's water area decreased by about 69% in one month, showing a " "Tree of Life" landscape, on the other side are most of Xinjiang, the Qilian Mountains, Hexi Corridor and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau . Precipitation has increased abnormally, desert floods occur frequently, and flash floods have broken out in many places in Qinghai Province.
According to experts, global warming will accelerate the water cycle. The original precipitation in the western region comes from the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. However, with global warming, water vapor from the Arctic has also been added to the precipitation in the western region, coupled with the melting of glaciers. water, which resulted in increased precipitation in the western region.
The really scary thing about global warming is that the " Younger Dryas event " may be triggered in advance.You may be a little unfamiliar with the "Younger Dryas Incident". Dryas is an iconic plant in the Arctic, and eight-petaled Dryas petals were discovered in the clay layer of the Allud section north of Copenhagen, Denmark. This means that the sphere of influence of the Arctic once reached Denmark , the place at the same latitude is the Heilongjiang region of my country.
The "Younger Dryas Event" is a typical non-orbital event that caused the earth to suddenly cool down 12,900 years ago. In just ten years, the average temperature of the earth dropped by about 7 or 8 degrees Celsius. The familiar mammoth became extinct there. For a time, as to why the sudden cooling event occurred, it was most likely related to ocean currents.
We may have considered why Europe at the same latitude as Siberia is so warm? This climate benefits from the thermohaline circulation of the North Atlantic . The northward Atlantic warm current brings a lot of heat to Europe. However, if global warming causes the glaciers in the Arctic to melt, a large amount of cold water flowing into the North Atlantic will hinder The Atlantic warm current moves north. Once the warm current is cut off, the temperature in Europe will suddenly drop by 5-8°C, and glaciers will re-grow in Europe, which will lead to a new "Younger Dryas event" to reappear, and the world may enter a new "ice age" ".
What should we do to stop global warming?
In order to slow down the process of global warming, the most direct and effective way is to control the emission of greenhouse gases. At this stage, the easiest way is to control the emission of carbon dioxide. I am not familiar with other industries, so I will talk about the fuel industry that I am familiar with. Coal power plants and automobiles.
How powerful is the carbon dioxide emitted by coal-fired power plants? Many people know that coal-fired power plants burn coal very powerfully, but we rarely have an idea of how powerful it is. The current coal consumption of power plants in my country for power generation and power supply is calculated based on standard coal. The complete combustion of 1 ton of standard coal produces " The "Carbon (C)" emission coefficient of "carbon dioxide (CO2)", the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission recommends a value of 0.67 (unit: tons of carbon/ton of standard coal (tc/tce)), that is to say, the carbon dioxide released after the combustion of 1g standard coal is 0.67 grams, and the current mainstream ultra-supercritical power generation unit’s coal consumption for power supply is 283.2 grams/kWh, which means that one kilowatt hour of electricity will emit With 187 grams of carbon dioxide, on August 3, the electricity load in Shandong Province reached 100.78 million kilowatts.
Such high electricity consumption corresponds to a huge amount of carbon dioxide emissions, so Shandong Province attaches great importance to the development of renewable energy. In 2021, Shandong Province's total installed renewable energy capacity will reach 8.49 million kilowatts, and the annual clean energy power generation will be 91.2 billion Although the development of renewable energy has an almost fatal blow to traditional coal-fired power generation units, in the face of the environment, the importance of energy cannot be measured by money.
Next is the automobile industry. The number of fuel vehicles in our country is about 290 million. Sixty percent of the crude oil consumed in our country every year is used to refine gasoline. The country is also vigorously promoting the development of new energy vehicles. With high oil prices and the country’s Thanks to the promotion, the sales of new energy vehicles have been very rapid this year.
Take BYD Auto as an example. In the first half of 2022, BYD total sales were 640,000 units, a year-on-year surge of 160%. With the excellent performance of DM-i super hybrid technology and blade battery , BYD Auto has achieved global success The market value of the automobile industry has reached the second position, which shows that the global capital market is optimistic about new energy vehicles in the future.
It is still too early to say that new energy vehicles will replace fuel vehicles. However, at the national level, behind the gradual replacement of fuel vehicles is the determination and epitome of the country’s determination to control carbon emissions. Every car owner’s car preferences are needs Being respected, I will not judge whether fuel vehicles or new energy vehicles are better, but from the perspective of controlling carbon emissions, new energy vehicle owners are undoubtedly in the lead.
