The Sustainable Energy International Youth Competition
Dec 18, 2015
Earth as seen from space at night
What is wrong with this picture?
What we can learn from the above picture is the immense utilization of
energy
Another way to conceive the utilization of energy:Tracking the flight of airplanes
(collected information from around the world)
Earth as seen from space at night
How much oil is left?
The picture above and the former diagram indicate that there are still extensive reservoirs of oil around the world
Sustainability
sustainability is: "Meeting the needs of the
present generation without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their needs." (Brundtland Report, 1987)
Sustainability is an economic, social, and ecological concept. It is intended to be a means of configuring civilization and human activity so that society and its members are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals indefinitely. Sustainability affects every level of organization, from the local neighborhood to the entire globe.
There is no place on earth which is not affected by human activity
Our Ecological Footprint - the price that society
is paying
Population Growth
1871 - 1.5 billion people1950 - 2.5 billion people2010 - 7 billion people
Still, only 2% precent of the earth surface is constructed area
The entire world population can be housed in Texas in spacious apartments
Can we deduce that in our wide open earth there is enough space for all of us and for future generations?
What are the needs for human existence (beyond housing)?
Lands - for food and carbon fixation
Forests - for carbon fixation, paper supply, recreation
Mining areas -for the supply of raw materials
And many more uses
Natural Cycles
In nature, one organism’s waste is a another’s resource, meaning, that waste does not accumulate
Food stuff needed for all organisms is maintained
Waste = Resource
Since the industrial revolution, humans have not planned their production systems according to nature’s cycles
Human intervention
As a result, the waste of manufacturing processes was delivered to the environment: rivers, oceans, land & air
As with living organisms, which interact with the environment-absorbing food stuff and releasing waste-states and cities
consume resources and release waste
Nature’s purification systems
States & cities recycling processes rely on Ecosystems services
To carry out such services, we need large, open green space
So, what is the size of the ground area needed for ecosystems services to operate?
The Ecological Footprint
The Ecological Footprint is a measure of the strain on the Earth’s ecosystems induced by human activity
The Ecological Footprint represents the area needed to supply our resources and absorb our wastes in the
context of our current living standards
Calculating the Ecological Footprint
Ecological Footprint calculations are based on two basic facts:
1. We can estimate the amount of our resources and of our wastes
2. Our resources and wastes can be converted into area units (since it is possible to calculate the area size needed to supply the
resources and to eliminate the wastes)
Calculating the Ecological Footprint
-All agricultural land and forests
-Marine fishing zones
-The land needed for power plants, and green biomass
needed for carbon sequestration
-Built land - covered with buildings, roads and the like,
therefore can not supply biological services
-Land needed for sustaining biodiversity
Country
The world average shows a deficit of 0.3 Ha per person
Ecological Footprint calculations
Israel
Holland
India
China
USA
Canada
Egypt
Japan
Does a country have sufficient land
to sustain the Ecological Footprint?
Footprint(0.1 Ha/pop.)
Available land(0.1 Ha/pop.)
+51
35
56
96
72
10
14
42
14
123
6
7
15
55
3
5
5
-41
-41
-35
-8
-5
-10
-32
Based on the current human demand, in about 20 years time, the earth will not be able to support the future human population
Ecological Footprint calculations
6. Up until now, technological advancement has brought about a rise in consumption, leading to the growth of the
ecological footprint
Ecological footprint calculations
Summary:
2. The world is in shortage of resources
1. In one year, humanity consumes what nature supplies in a 15 month period
5. Most western societies exploit third world ecological resources and the resources of future generations
4. Population growth rate is a major problem, but the effects of consumer society are an even more pressing problem
3. In the future, population growth will place an ever growing strain on resources