African Climes

2022 has been quite the eventful year in climate. There have been new developments in terms of policies and laws, several steps forward, but climate impacts continue throughout the whole world and emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest ever, and have yet to peak so as to start falling. Let’s begin with January which came hot on the heels of the Glasgow Pact, birthed at COP26 in the same city. A UN agency raised concern about drought in the Horn of Africa as Somalia in particular, which is one of the countries hard hit by climate change; this also worsens conflict in the area. Extreme weather connected to climate change continues as Tropical storm Ana hits the Southern African nations of Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in January causing untold damage, forcing displacements and taking 171 valuable African lives. The Amazon faces a bad run of deforestation losing about 360 kilometers of forest. Australia faces high extremes of temperature. The Global Risks Report fin

Energy efficiency refers to the excellent, total and complete utilization of lesser amounts of energy to perform a particular task. In simple terms, it’s wholly using less energy to do more. Energy efficiency is one of the solutions used in climate change mitigation, alongside nature based solutions, carbon capture and storage and renewable energy. First, energy efficiency ensures that lesser amounts of energy are used and therefore lesser amounts of energy are generated. Given that fossil fuels contribute to slightly more than three quarters of energy used in the world, being energy efficient would reduce the amount of carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. This is effectively climate action. Using energy efficiently can be applied everywhere but the main focus is industries, household use, transport and buildings In households, a lot of the energy consumed is by appliances. Using newer and more modern versions of appliances reduces the amount