The Criticality of Composting

In 2011, the 27 states in the European Union composted on average 15 percent of municipal waste, with Austria composting 34 percent, the Netherlands 28 percent, and countries like France, Spain, and Germany each composting about 18 percent.

A 2019 article said that India produces 1.5 lakh tonnes of solid waste every day and its biodegradable fraction can be upto 70 per cent for various Indian cities. Not even 5 per cent of organic waste generated by cities is converted into compost in India, even though the Swachh Bharat Mission has committed to ensuring that all organic waste produced in Indian cities is processed into making compost.

Landfilling, although according to the waste hierarchy the worst option, is still the most used MSW disposal method in the EU. Landfills need to be constructed and operated in line with the EU Landfill Directive (impermeable barriers, methane capturing equipment) to avoid environmental damage from the generation of methane and effluent.

Bio-waste is a putrescible, generally wet waste. There are two major streams – green waste from parks, gardens etc. and kitchen waste. The former includes usually 50-60% water and more wood, the latter contains no wood but up to 80% water.
As the efficiency of incineration is lowered by the moist bio-waste, it can be beneficial to remove bio-waste from municipal waste.

Waste to Energy (WtE) plants need waste of high calorific value and low moisture content to generate electricity. Only non-biodegradable, non-recyclable waste should be sent to these plants, as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. This would include only non-recyclable plastics, polymers etc.

But in India, it’s mixed waste that’s sent to WtE plants. And this mixed waste (not considering inerts) has high vegetable and wet waste content – close to 60-70 percent. Whereas non-biodegradable non-recyclable waste comes to less than 10 percent of the mixed waste.

Moreover, as the waste is mostly unsegregated with high wet content, it’s unsuitable for burning. To burn, extra fuel is needed, which would make power generation itself inefficient.

Middle-class residents in big cities generate nearly 0.8 kg of waste per day. And nearly 60% or more of the daily waste generated in households is made up of organic matter.

With increasing food demand and depleting soil quality, city compost plays a very important role as a replacement or supplement to chemical fertilisers in replenishing the nutrient-depleted soil.

Just because we source more of our energy from sources other than fossil fuels, does not mean we bring down our consumption of them

A World Bank data set shows that the world has gone from 94 % of all energy being sourced from fossil fuels in 1960, to 80 % in 2015, in the world as a whole. 

While that is great, the world consumed 40,900 TerraWatt Hours (TWh) equivalent of fossil fuels in 1965. This shot up to 131,100 TWh in 2015, an increase of more than three times. So what we have to really look for is countries that reduced their consumption of fossil fuels.

• Sweden sourced just 27 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 75 % in 1960 (it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 20 % from 1965 to 2015).
• The Czech Republic sourced 76 % of its electricity from fossil fuels in 2015 (it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 19 % from 1965 to 2015).
• Denmark sourced 66 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 100 % in 1960 (what is commendable is that it also reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 11 % from 1965 to 2015). 
• Germany sourced 80 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015, compared with 99 % in 1960 (but it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 2 % from 1965 to 2015).
• France went from sourcing 96 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 1960 to 47 % in 2015 (but it also increased its fossil fuel consumption by 21 % from 1965 to 2015).
• Estonia sourced just 12 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015 !
• Belgium sourced 76 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared to 100 % in 1960 (but in another dataset from 1965 to 2015, it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 25 % in that period). 
• Switzerland sourced half its energy needs from fossil fuels in 2015 compared with 75 % in 1960 (but it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 44 % between 1965 and 2015).
• The US sourced 96 % of its energy needs from fossil fuels in 1960 compared to 83 % in 2015 (however it increased its use of fossil fuels by 60 % between 1965 and 2015).
• Finland sourced 40 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015 compared with 45 % in 1960 (however it nearly doubled its use of fossil fuels from 1965 to 2015).
• Austria sourced 66 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015, compared to 84 % in 1960 (however it nearly doubled its use of fossil fuels from 1965 to 2015).
• Even bad boy Canada (for its shale oil !) has gone to sourcing 74 % of its energy from fossil fuels in 2015, compared to 83 % in 1960 (sadly, it increased its use of fossil fuels by nearly 2.5 times from 1965 to 2015).
• Chile sourced 73 % of its electricity from fossil fuels in 2015 (but its use of fossil fuels went up nearly 4 times from 1965 to 2015).

Some countries went the other way though - they sourced more of their energy needs from fossil fuels in recent years than they did decades ago :

• India went from 35 % of its energy needs sourced from fossil fuels in 1971 to 74 % in 2014.
• China went from 56 % of its energy needs sourced from fossil fuels in 1971 to 88 % in 2014.

Fossil Fuel Production - and Consumption climbed dramatically - but some countries reduced their consumption !

The 20th century saw a large diversification of fossil energy consumption, with coal declining from 96 percent of total production in 1900 to less than 30 percent in 2000. Today, crude oil is the largest energy source, accounting for around 39 percent of fossil energy, followed by coal and natural gas at 33 and 28 percent, respectively.

The world's total production of fossil fuels grew from 54,000 Terrawatt Hours (TWh) in 1970 to 130,000 TWh in 2014 : 

• India's production of fossil fuels climbed in the same period from 600 to 3900 TWh. 
• Australia has a similar trajectory of 500 TWh in 1970 to 3900 TWh in 2014.
• Indonesia's production went up from 500 to 4700 TWh in 2014. 
• Iran's production went up from 2400 to 3900 TWh in 2014.
• And that of the US from 16000 TWh in 1970 to 21,000 TWh in 2014. 
• Russia moved from 9800 TWh in 1970 to 14800 in 2014. 
• China moved from 2400 TWh in 1970 to 22900 TWh in 2014. 
• Saudi Arabia was a real surprise - its production in 2014 was about double that of India at 8000 TWh, up from 2200 TWh in 1970.
• Canada from 1600 TWh in 1970 to 4600 TWh in 2014.  
• Qatar went from 200 TWh to 3000 TWh in 2014.
• UAE went from less than 500 TWh in 1970 to 2700 TWh in 2014.

Total consumption levels of fossil fuels in higher-income countries have typically peaked, and are now declining as they transition towards lower-carbon energy sources. For example, the United Kingdom's total fossil fuel consumption is at its lowest level in the last 50 years. In many lower-income countries, total consumption of fossil fuels continues to increase as a result of both population growth and rising incomes (resulting in higher per capita energy demands). Global fossil fuel consumption crossed 1.3 lakh TWh in 2014 :

• China's consumption of fossil fuels grew from 2900 TWh in 1970 to 30,900 TWh in 2014.
• India's fossil fuel consumption climbed from 670 TWh to 7120 in 2014.
• Iran's consumption grew from 161 to 3,000 TWh in 2014.
• USA's grew from 18,200 in 1970 to 23,000 TWh in 2014.
• Australia's consumption grew from 500 to 1500 TWh in 2014.
• Brazil increased its fossil fuel consumption from 320 to 2400 TWh in 2014.

European Countries that REDUCED their consumption from 1970 to 2014 (!) :

• Sweden reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 362 in 1970 to 202 TWh in 2014, thus down by 44 %.
• Denmark reduced its consumption from 240 to 154 TWh in 2014, a decline of 36 % !
• Romania reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 430 to 280 TW in 2014, a decline of 35 %. 
• The Czech Republic reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 521 to 364 TWh in 2014 (a reduction of 30 % !).
• Bulgaria reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 202 to 147 TWh in 2014 - thus down by 27 %.
• UK's fossil fuel consumption declined from 2400 to 1900 TWh in 2014, a decline of 21 %.
• Germany's fossil fuel consumption declined from 3500 to 2900 TWh in 2014, a reduction of 17 %.
• Hungary reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 213 in 1970 to 184 TWh in 2104, thus by 14 %.
• France's consumption declined from 1600 to 1400 TWh in 2014, thus lower by 13 %. 
• Belgium reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 534 TWh in 1970 to 529 TWh in 2014 (but in another dataset from 1965 to 2015, it increased its fossil fuel consumption by 25 % in that period).
• Slovakia reduced its consumption from 135 TWh to 123 TWh in 2014. 
• Switzerland reduced its dependence on fossil fuels from 154 to 153 TWh in 2014.

The former Soviet countries reduced even more in 28 years from 1988 to 2014 -  64 % for Ukraine, 39 % for Belarus and 24 % for Russia :

• Ukraine reduced its fossil fuel consumption by 64 % from 2590 TWh in 1988 to 920 TWh in 2014.
• Belarus reduced its consumption from 488 TWh in 1988 to 296 TWh in 2014, a decline of 39 %.
• Azerbaijan reduced their fossil fuel consumption from 248 in 1988 to 163 TWh in 2014, a decline of 34 %.
• Russia reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 9400 TWh in 1988 to 7100 TWh in 2014, a decline of 24 %.
• Kazakhastan reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 830 TWh in 1988 to 750 TWh in 2014, a decline of 10 %.

The European Union as a whole reduced its fossil fuel consumption from 14200 TWh in 1970 to 14000 TWh in 2014. 

The relative mix of coal, oil and gas in total consumption also varies by country. China, for example, sources more than 70 percent of fossil fuel consumption from coal. In contrast, Argentina sources less than two percent from coal, with gas accounting for nearly 60 percent.

The Story of Coal..

The United Kingdom was the first large-scale coal producer - we see its long-run trend growing, peaking just prior to the First World War, and its gradual decline throughout the 20th century. Its production levels are now comparable to those at the beginning of the 1700s.

Today, China dominates global coal production, accounting for nearly half of total output. This growth has been rapid since the 1960-70s. However, Chinese coal production appears to have peaked, with continued decline in the years since. This decline is likely to have been a key contributor to the apparent global peak in 2013.

Driven by continued population growth and economic development, India's coal consumption grew more than four-fold from 1960 to 1990, and has more than doubled from 1990 to today.

However, the per capita use of coal remained the highest in China in 2015, at over 15 Megawatt Hours (MWh) per person per year. The US, Germany and Japan were between 10-15 MWh and the UK and India, below 5 MWh.

In 2016, nearly three-fourths of the world's coal production was in the Asia-Pacific Region. Asia Pacific was also the dominant coal consumer, accounting for nearly three-quarters of global consumption. Europe & Eurasia accounted for 13 % of the world's coal consumption and North America for 10 %. The Middle East, South America and Africa accounted for just 2 % of the world's coal consumption in 2016. 

Trees, Roof top gardens and Ventilation Corridors...

A large city’s built-up environment can make it nearly 3 C warmer than the surrounding countryside during the day and up to 11 C warmer at night.

In Dallas, where a persistent heat dome in the 2018 summer has sent temperatures soaring past 40 C, volunteers have fanned out around the low-income neighborhood of Oak Cliff, working with residents to plant 1,000 new trees around schools and homes.

Trees don’t just provide much-needed shade for a sweaty city. The water evaporating from their leaves can cool a neighborhood by a few degrees during the hottest periods. Tree leaves also absorb and filter local air pollution — a crucial benefit, since heat waves can worsen urban smog, sending people to the hospital with asthma and other illnesses.

Other cities have their own ideas for promoting urban vegetation: Seattle now encourages developers to add rooftop gardens or even walls covered by vegetation to new building projects. London recently conducted an audit of its central business districts and identified over 10 million square feet of space that could be converted to rain gardens, green roofs and green walls.

In the industrial city of Stuttgart, Germany, refreshing breezes are both scarce and valuable. The city sits in a river valley basin, surrounded by steep hills that can trap both heat and polluted air over the region. It’s a potentially lethal combination during the hotter months.

In response, Stuttgart has created a number of ventilation corridors throughout the city: wide, tree-flanked arterial roads that help clean air flow down from the hills at night to cool the city. Officials have also restricted new buildings from going up on certain hillsides in order to keep the air moving.

Some experts are skeptical that this strategy will work for every city because a lot depends on local weather patterns and geography. But China is becoming interested. Beijing and Xian are looking to create their own ventilation corridors, studying local wind patterns and strategically placing parks or lakes instead of buildings along key pathways so that the cooler breezes can flow freely.

We had better wake up to how deadly heat waves can be..

The world will face severe climate impacts even with 1.5 C degrees of warming, and the effects get significantly worse with 2 degrees. In a 2 C warmer world, nearly 40 % of the world's population will be exposed to severe heat atleast once every five years (in a 1.5 C warmer world, this percentage will be 14 %).

How quickly heat waves can kill, was brought home when 80,000 people died in Europe's 2003 heat wave. A majority of the deaths occured in August that year. During one shocking week that month, nearly a 100 % more people died in France than would have as per the regular death rate. 40 % extra people died in Portugal, Italy and Spain. Excess mortality exceeded 20% in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium and 10% in four other European countries.

That summer in some weeks, temperatures soared to 20–30 percent above average. Even nightly temperatures were higher than the average summer midday highs. The heat was particularly severe in France, where the temperature remained around 37 °C for more than a week in August in some areas.

The heat wave also affected the environment. Alpine glaciers shrank by 10 percent over the summer. Forest fires raged across western Europe. The heat affected harvests as well: fodder and grain production declined. In addition, high water temperatures and low water levels shut down French nuclear power facilities just when demand for electricity peaked.

Energy from Renewables..

The following are some of the highlights of what i have been reading lately on global warming :

• In November 2016, the Arctic was already experiencing extraordinary anomalies. Temperatures were 20C above normal.

• “The consequences of failing to keep the temperature below 1.5 C will be to wilfully condemn hundreds of millions of the poorest citizens of Earth to certain deaths from the severe impacts of climate change.”

I started looking for some of the ways forward for countries to bring down Co2 emissions.. there are dozens of ways, and among them are :

• Retrofitting existing buildings can save 70-90% of the energy used to heat and cool them. Such a move also tackles fuel poverty, creates local jobs and reduces deaths from cold. 

• Switching transport from fossil fuels to electricity powered by renewables, cuts emissions but also removes the air pollution that is responsible for an epidemic of lethal respiratory disease. In Europe alone, about half a million people suffer premature deaths each year due to air pollution.

• In 2015, Denmark generated 140 percent of its electricity requirements on one particularly windy day from wind turbines alone, the excess of which was exported to Germany, Norway and Sweden. In 2016, Germany came remarkably close to being completely run by clean energy for a day due to a surge in wind and solar power. 

• That same month, Portugal was powered solely by renewable sources for 107 hours, which is roughly four-and-a-half days, setting the bar higher. 

• But the Central American nation of Costa Rica beat all the European countries with its landmark achievement in green energy in 2016. For more than 250 days the country used zero fossil fuels and drew its electricity from hydropower plants, wind turbines and geothermal installations. Thanks to such efforts, the notion that renewables can run a whole country is no longer unfathomable. In fact, it is now an ideal to aspire to.

• In November 2016, many, mostly low-income countries, from Bangladesh to Tanzania and Guatemala, committed to switching entirely to renewable energy by 2030-50 at the latest. China is installing more new wind energy capacity in a single year than the UK has in total.