Monthly Archives: January 2021

The year 2020 was a lot more cleaner than the previous years with air and water bodies clearing up for a few months; it was also the warmest since 2016.

Pandemic driven lockdowns across the world were one of the reasons for this record, majorly due to increase of greenhouse gasses (GHG) released into the atmosphere.

Air-conditioners are the single most household contributors to the GHGs. AC units funnel heat outside, exacerbating the ‘urban heat island’ effect.

The organic compound Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) is the primary refrigerant used in air conditioning and refrigeration units. HFCs are a much more potent GHG than carbon dioxide and are leaked anywhere from manufacturing air conditioning equipment, to installation, to the disposal of old units.

Additionally, ~20% of energy produced is used up by the ACs and electric fans accounting for ~70% of peak electricity consumption. Much of the energy used for cooling is generated by burning more carbon-emitting coal and oil.

Prior to the widespread use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used extensively in refrigeration and other applications. It was later linked to ozone depletion. When decomposed by UV radiation in the stratosphere, CFCs released inorganic chlorine, which then destroyed O3 (ozone) compounds. Though phasing out CFCs ensured that the ozone layer is in the process of restoration, the HFCs continue to warm our climate.

The HFC compounds used in AC systems, such as R-410A and R-407C, are over a thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide, establishing them as a significant climate concern.

US and China account for 38% of the world’s ACs; Indian AC market which is a tenth of China’s, is growing at a pace of ~15% yoy and is expected to explode in the next decade – despite fragmented attempts at alternate methods of cooling and adopting vernacular architecture for natural cooling of buildings.

NASA’s article below sheds light on the globally warming climate, with its image of the day on January 16.

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2020 Tied for Warmest Year on Record

Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 for the warmest year on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

Continuing the planet’s long-term warming trend, the globally averaged temperature in 2020 was 1.02 degrees Celsius (1.84 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the baseline 1951–1980 mean, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). The year was slightly warmer than 2016 but within the margin of error of the analysis, making the years effectively tied.

“The last seven years have been the warmest seven years on record, typifying the ongoing and dramatic warming trend,” said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt. “Whether one year is a record or not is not really that important; the important things are long-term trends. With these trends, and as the human impact on the climate increases, we have to expect that records will continue to be broken.” The map above depicts global temperature anomalies in 2020. It does not show absolute temperatures; instead, it shows how much warmer or cooler each region of Earth was compared to the baseline average from 1951 to 1980. The bar chart below shows this year in the context of the past 140 years in the modern temperature record. The values represent surface temperatures averaged over the entire globe for the year.

Like all scientific data, these temperature findings contain a small amount of uncertainty—in this case, mainly due to changes in weather station locations and temperature measurement methods over time. The GISS temperature analysis (GISTEMP) is accurate to within 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit, with a 95 percent confidence level for the most recent period.

While the long-term trend of warming continues, a variety of events and factors contribute to any particular year’s average temperature. The largest source of year-to-year variability in global temperatures typically comes from the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a naturally occurring cycle of heat exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. While the year ended in a La Niña (cool) phase of ENSO, it started in a slightly positive (warm) phase, which marginally increased the average overall temperature. The cooling from the negative phase is expected to have greater influence on 2021.

“The previous record warm year, 2016, received a significant boost from a strong El Niño,” Schmidt said. “The lack of a similar assist from El Niño this year is evidence that the background climate continues to warm due to greenhouse gases.”

Parts of Earth are warming faster than others, with warming trends most pronounced in the Arctic. According to Schmidt, the region has been warming more than three times as fast as the rest of the globe over the past 30 years. At the same time Arctic sea ice has been declining by about 13% per decade, which causes the region to reflect less sunlight (lower albedo). In turn, the Arctic Ocean absorbs more heat and causes temperatures to rise further still. This phenomenon is known as Arctic amplification.

Warmer Earth means more instances of erratic seasons with extreme swings leading to swelling or drying up of rivers and rising ocean levels, severely impacting agriculture and displacing millions worldwide.

All is still not lost; attempts at mitigating climate change is in the hands of people who caused it, though damage-repair is gradual and may take decades.

Incremental, but decisive efforts by individuals adopting a sustainable lifestyle is just one of the means towards a better Earth for now and for future.

– From the NASA, Climate.org and other known sources