Drivers

column 1

What are the drivers of climate change?

  • Natural drivers:
    • Solar radiation
    • Volcanic eruptions
  • Anthropogenic drivers - Human-caused warming

Let’s look at major types of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)
Reference: https://cfpub.epa.gov/ghgdata/inventoryexplorer

CO2 is the largest driver of climate change

column 2

CO2 is mainly produced from Fossil Fuel Combustion. Transportation and Electric Power Industries account for more than 2/3 of U.S. CO2 Emissions in 2020.

Agricultural emissions are mostly methane and nitrous oxide

Status Quo

Column

Temperature

Column

Precipitations

Response Options

column 1

How Americans respond to climate change?

  • Adaptation: Actions to prepare for and adjust to changing climate conditions—thereby reducing negative impacts or taking advantage of new opportunities

  • Mitigation: Efforts to reduce the amount and speed of future climate change by limiting emissions or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Reference: https://www.globalchange.gov/climate-change

Insights

In the chart shown here we look at the breakdown of renewable technologies by their individual components – hydropower, solar, wind, and others.

We see that in the US, hydropower had been consistently the largest modern renewable source until 2018. Wind since then exceeds hydropower and becomes the is the largest modern renewable source by far. But we also see solar power is growing rapidly.

Source: Our World in Data based on BP Statistical Review of World Energy & Ember
OurWorldInData.org/renewable-energy

column 2

Mitigation