UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE UK 2021

The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on 31 October – 12 November 2021.

The COP26 summit will bring parties together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

For nearly three decades the UN has been bringing together almost every country on earth for global climate summits – called COPs – which stands for ‘Conference of the Parties’. ‘In that time climate change has gone from being a fringe issue to a global priority. This year will be the 26th annual summit – giving it the name COP26. With the UK as President, COP26 takes place in Glasgow. In the run up to COP26 the UK is working with every nation to reach agreement on how to tackle climate change. More than 190 world leaders are expected to arrive in Scotland. Together with tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses and citizens for twelve days of talks. Not only is it a huge task but it is also not just yet another international summit. Most experts believe COP26 has a particular urgency.

CLEAN COOK

People in middle income and low income countries still make use of open fires and simple stoves to cook their food. These methods of cooking can produce high level of dangerous cooking smoke which has been known to cause injury or death overtime especially to women and children who are often the primary cooks and fuel gathers for their families in the developing world. According to World Health Organization (WHO), household air pollution from cooking smoke kills four million people worldwide.  In Africa, Nigeria experiences the highest number of household air pollution.

Series of chronic illnesses associated with breathing such as emphysema, bronchitis, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases can all be acquired from the smoke exposure produced from this method of cooking. This unsuitable method of cooking also contributes to climate change through emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and aerosols such as black carbon invariably giving rise to about 4% annual greenhouse emission worldwide.

Clean cooking is the method of application of cleaner, more modern cook stoves and fuels to lead a healthy and productive life. This helps in reduction of exposure to harmful smoke and beneficial to the environment and climate change. This method of practice can be divided into three main categories-through the use of electric stove, by the use of a cook stove based clean fuels(biogas, methane, ethanol, solar) and by the use of cook stove designed to burn biomass input(wood, charcoal, other biomass).

The clean cooking stoves are always applicable anywhere that unsuitable and polluting cooking means are being used. It comes in different types and sizes depending on factors such as the availability of materials, the climate, and the method of supply in the region. The benefits of this method include changing lives by improving health, protecting the climate and environment, empowering women and helping consumers save their time and money.

THE WORLD EARTH DAY

The world earth day which is celebrated every 22nd April of the year serves the purpose as a significant reminder that environmental protection is of utmost importance in creating a healthy environment.

The energy sector has for years played its role in the promotion of clean energy all around the world and continues to do so by providing clean energy which includes renewable energy amongst others which gives us to the benefit of enjoying;

 

  • A decrease in air pollution
  • Lower consumer energy bills
  • Greenhouse gas emission
  • Enhanced energy system reliability

Investing in clean energy around your environment to the best thing that you can do for the environment as the electricity gotten from these renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal do not in any way promote climate change considering that no fuels are combusted.

PRODUCTIVE USE OF ENERGY AND ITS BENEFITS

Productive use can be said to be the productive uses of electricity through means of agricultural, commercial and industrial activities involving electricity services as a straight source to the production of goods or service provisions.

This also gives a clear context of measuring energy that is productive in monetary terms Education, health, and other welfare related activities can be said to be included in the use of productive use of energy.

In small village businesses where we have the agricultural sector the use of productive energy through appliances such as the rice miller can increase quality of products and generate more income. 

Productive use can be used in rural areas to exponentially generate income for those aiming to amplify income generation opportunities, this invariably helps to improve quality of life and increase local resilience and self-reliance.

A clear scenario of where productive use was implemented to generate income was in the case of the owner of a small farm at Gwagwalada, Abuja Nigeria, who sells her Rice paddy at a giveaway price but with the use of a Rice Thresher that is connected to the solar mini-grid in her area, she has added value to her products and now generates more revenue which in time has improved the livelihood of her family.

Similarly, a man who simultaneously run a game center and a barbing salon and rely on the unstable source of power provided by the national gird electricity distributing company decided to invest in the energy excell solar panels. 

The social economic focus is a vital part for the growth of any community and if in the rural areas it is given the attention that it deserves will thrive, on the basis of the productive use of energy this can be achieved as we can expect an increase in rural productivity, high economic growth, and a high rise in employment, this would subsequently reduce the migration of the rural poor to the urban areas as well as generate income.

An instant would be the use of electricity as a derivation of lighting and power suitable for rural industries. If the productive use of energy is made available in these rural industries, it would expand and the quality of rural production would improve in such cases of welding, carpentry.

For agricultural production purposes, energy would be provided to power agricultural based industries and farm machinery as well such as water pumps, grinders and dryers resulting in the agricultural modernization products. The overall output of these modernized farms would provide input to large commercial enterprises.