We´re steering System Earth into uncharted waters

Climatologist Stephan Rahmstorf of Postdam Institute for Institute for Climate Impact Reserch says a new direction for energy policy is urgently needed.

Rahmstorf is a member of the American Panel on Abrupt Climate Change and of the German Advisory Council on Global Change. He is one of the main authors of the fourth IPCC Report.

We have choosen two replies from a recent interview by Nicole Weinhold at new Energy magazine.

1.- Is there a danger that the IPCC report may still be too optimistic and that the Earth heats up more rapidly after all ?

Rahmstorf : ... The sea level has also increase about 50 % faster over last decades than models would lead us to believe. Despite that, these models were used for the familiar forecasts in the IPCC report. There are a growing number of signs that at least some components of the climate system are reacting more quickly than acticipated.

2.- By what concrete means can climate change be stopped ?

Rahmstorf : The options are well known. Improve energy efficiency and the energy that we do still use must be produced inasmuch as possible without CO2 emisssions. That can be done with renewable energies or by developing fossil power plants with CO2 capture and storage. But it´ll be at least 2020 before the first large-scale power plant is running with that technology.Whether that´s the even economical is written in the stars. On no account can we wait until that technology achieves a decisive breakthrough. We already have good technologies, renewables like wind power and biomass that ready for action now and are securing a rapidly growing share of our energy supply. The options should be developed massively.

Summary at Spanish language:

El destacado Doctor Rahmstorf nos advisa que las previsiones realizadas en las últimas dos decadas han sido superadas por el valor incuestionable de los hechos . Es decir , el clima esta cambiando a un ritmo imprevisible ( por ejemplo , el nivel del mar ha subido en 20 años el doble de lo previsto en los modelos matemáticos desarrollados por los cientificos en los años 80 ).

Por ello preconiza el urgente compromiso politico en el desarrollo de técnicas de capturas de CO2 de forma industrial ( sin esperar al previsto año 2020 para iniciar la producción de plantas de captura de CO2 ) así como el uso másivo de energías no contaminantes = renovables.

Pedro Pablo Molina suscribe y apoya lo expuesto por el físico neozelandes Stefan Rahmstorf.

Articulo publicado en la edición de new Energy magazine de Junio 2007.