Energy conservation is key to tackling climate change

Or perhaps you’ve seen statistics of soaring emissions of human-related carbon dioxide (CO2) responsible for the greenhouse effect.

Or maybe you’ve just noticed how much hotter it has gotten over the last few years in Taiwan.

Either way, we are all aware that climate change is a huge problem worldwide.

The evidence all points in the same direction: global temperatures are steadily increasing.

And it seems that we can’t do anything about it. Statistically, Taiwan is getting much hotter.

On August 8, 2013, Taipei’s temperature reached 39.3 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature in Taipei in 117 years.

Another indication of the magnitude of global warming is that hot weather resulting from summer heat attracts typhoons, like the three tropical cyclones that wandered in seas near Taiwan earlier this month. 

Living comfortably in our day to day lives, however, it is difficult to imagine how climate change can impact future generations.

But it is exactly all these things that allow us to live comfortably that are further deteriorating the climate.

Today, we are used to air-conditioning, convenient transportation and mass production of every product, for which we rely on the Earth’s resources.

Major developing countries such as India or mainland China are emitting huge volumes of carbon dioxide in order to continue developing their industries.

In this sense, climate change is no longer just an environmental or technological problem; it is also a political problem.

The world must together have the will to combat climate change. But how exactly do we achieve this feat?

Who will have to make some concessions? Maybe it is the problem of the public sector, the private sector or the ordinary people? 

Obviously it is everybody’s problem, with the exception of schoolchildren.

Human concentration slows significantly in a closed space with temperatures above 33 degrees Celsius, which leads us to the problem in most local schools.

Many Taiwanese local schools do not have air-conditioning, so students have been suffering through classes and tests in blistering weather for too long.

Besides lowering concentration and performance in school, the hot weather also results in high health risks, such as heat stroke.

Yet, city authorities across the country are not doing much to help the children get better quality education. 

There is only one option: Install air-conditioning in all public schools.

While it is important to lessen the damage from climate change, it is equally important that students be given a comfortable environment in which to study.

In order to protect students from outside threats and leave enough money to give students air-conditioning, the government should find the most cost-saving yet effective solution to the issue.

What is the use of protecting students from a few outside threats when they are suffering from the heat every day within school walls? In any case, the government should prioritise both giving classrooms proper air-conditioning and protecting the environment. City governments need to do a better job of clarifying their priorities. It is a vicious cycle.

Children need air-conditioning in schools, but global warming is increasing because of this simple yet crucial technology.

To move forward, to live comfortably, we must act carefully.

So what can we do about this cycle? For the government, there needs to be more emphasis on constructing energy-efficient buildings with green certifications such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and Ecology, Energy savings, Waste reduction, and Health.

A huge amount of air-conditioning is being wasted because buildings are not energy efficient. Currently there are only a few major energy-efficient buildings in Taipei, such as Taipei 101, Taipei American School and Farglory Financial Centre.

The government needs to create regulations for new buildings to be energy efficient.

Climate change cannot be solved overnight. But despite the cycles and drawbacks impeding us from stopping global warming, there is still a lot that we can do to solve these problems.

In order to protect our world, we must do all we can to stop climate change while also addressing the problems in our daily lives.