African Climes

Energy is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing over two thirds of the share. This is from industry, electricity production, transport and heating/cooling. When combined, all these sectors using energy in one form or the other produce over 75% of emissions from the global tally. When we talk of energy and the emissions produced, it refers to fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) which are the main source of energy used in the planet. In the year 2018, 81% of all energy used was fossil fuels. Energy is necessary for economic development, and so fossil fuels have been used since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to power economic growth. Of note is that these emissions largely come from the developed world, the west, with 75% of current emissions from the G20 countries. In the EU, energy produced 78% of carbon emissions in the year 2015. Energy security is defined as the constant supply of energy at inexpensive prices. Long term energy security is the abilit...

According to the IPCC, the industrial sector produces slightly over 30% of global emissions. While the sector is a necessary part of economic development, it is a big climate polluter. The five biggest industrial emitters of greenhouse gases are chemicals, steel, cement, shipping and aviation. In this article, we are going to focus on three sectors: cement, steel and chemicals. A manufacturing plant     The cement and concrete industry make up about 8% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal gas causing climate change. In terms of ranking, when viewed as a country, it would be number three globally after China and the USA. The cement and concrete industry add up to 15% of all emissions from the industrial sector. Cement is mixed with other substances i.e. water, sand and gravel to make concrete which is the main construction material used globally. It closely follows water as the most used substance worldwide. About 12 billion tons of concrete and 1.6 bill...