Low-carbon economy is an economic model based on low energy consumption, low pollution and low emission, and it is another great progress of human society after agricultural civilization and industrial civilization. The essence of low-carbon economy is to use energy efficiently, develop clean energy and pursue green GDP. The core is the innovation of energy technology and emission reduction technology, the innovation of industrial structure and system, and the fundamental change of human survival and development concept.
The background of "low-carbon economy" is the severe challenge of global warming to human survival and development. With the continuous growth of global population and economic scale, environmental problems caused by energy use and their causes have been continuously recognized by people, not only the harm of smog, photochemical smog and acid rain, but also the global climate change caused by the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has been confirmed as an indisputable fact.
In this context, a series of new concepts and policies have emerged, such as carbon footprint, low-carbon economy, low-carbon technology, low-carbon development, low-carbon lifestyle, low-carbon society, low-carbon city and low-carbon world. The result of great changes in energy, economy and even values may be a new way to gradually move towards ecological civilization, that is, abandoning the traditional growth model of the 20th century, directly applying innovative technologies and mechanisms in the new century, and realizing social sustainable development through a low-carbon economic model and a low-carbon lifestyle.
As a frontier economic concept with extensive sociality, low-carbon economy has no conventional definition. Low-carbon economy also involves a wide range of industrial fields and management fields.
The ideal form of low carbon economy is to fully develop sunshine economy, wind energy economy, hydrogen energy economy and biomass energy economy. But at present, the cost of solar power generation is 5- 10 times that of coal-fired hydropower, and the price of wind power generation in some areas is higher than that of coal-fired hydropower; As a secondary energy, hydrogen energy is far from the commercialization goal of extracting clean energy such as wind energy and solar energy. Developing biofuels at the expense of consuming a large number of grain and oil crops has caused the prices of grain, meat and edible oil to rise to some extent. Globally, it is estimated that solar power generation will only reach 65,438+00% of the world's electricity supply by 2030, and the world's proven oil, natural gas and coal reserves will be exhausted in the next 40 years, 60 years and 65,438+000 years respectively. Therefore, one of the important meanings of "low-carbon economy" and "low-carbon life" is to save fossil energy consumption and provide time guarantee for the popularization and utilization of new energy in the next few decades when "carbon fuel civilization era" is in transition to "solar energy civilization era" (wind energy and biomass energy are both conversion forms of solar energy). Especially from the energy structure of China, low carbon means energy saving, and low carbon economy is based on low energy consumption and low pollution.
One of the important ways to turn to low-carbon economy and low-carbon lifestyle is to get rid of the hobby of "convenient consumption" at the expense of high energy consumption. Convenience is a universal value in modern commercial marketing and consumer life. Many convenient consumption methods are inadvertently wasting huge energy. For example, according to the estimation of refrigeration technology experts, 70% of the electricity consumption of supermarkets is used for freezers, while the electricity consumption of open freezers is 20% higher than that of glass door freezers. Based on this calculation, an open freezer in a medium-sized supermarket consumes about 4% more than a year. 80,000 kWh, equivalent to consuming about 19 tons of standard coal, emitting about 48 tons of carbon dioxide and consuming about190,000 liters of clean water. There are about 800 large and medium-sized supermarkets and 6000 supermarket convenience stores in Shanghai. If glass door freezers are widely used in large and medium-sized supermarkets, customers can save about 452 10000 kWh a year, which is equivalent to saving about 1. 80,000 tons of standard coal, reducing emissions by about 4. Fifty thousand tons of carbon dioxide.
The second important way to turn to low-carbon economy and low-carbon lifestyle is to get rid of the consumption hobby of using "disposable" products with "relevant awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection". In June this year, the "plastic restriction order" was implemented nationwide. The unrestrained use of plastic bags is one of the most typical hobbies that people have enjoyed for many years. It is necessary to make quitting this hobby become people's conscious behavior, and let the public understand that the significance of "limiting plastics" lies in curbing white pollution, which is only a "one-dimensional" environmental science consciousness. In fact, the significance of "limiting plastics" lies in saving the source of plastics-petroleum resources and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. This is a "related" awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection. According to the calculation in the National Handbook of Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, reducing plastic bags 10% nationwide can save about 1. 20,000 tons of standard coal, reducing emissions by 365,438+0,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Relevant environmental awareness can not only guide the public to understand that "limiting plastics is fuel-saving and energy-saving", but also guide the public to realize that "saving water is also energy-saving" (that is, saving the electricity consumption of urban water production and water supply), and realize the relationship between changing the consumption hobby of using disposable products and energy saving, reducing carbon emissions and coping with climate change.
The third important way to turn to a low-carbon economy and low-carbon lifestyle is to get rid of the hobbies of "face consumption" and "luxury consumption" at the expense of consuming a lot of energy and emitting a lot of greenhouse gases. In the first quarter of this year, the fastest-growing car sales in the national auto market were luxury cars, among which high-end large-displacement BMW imported cars increased by more than 82% year-on-year, and large-displacement multi-functional sports car SUVs increased by 48% year-on-year. 8%。 In contrast, many developed countries are willing to use small cars and small displacement cars. Advocating a low-carbon lifestyle does not oppose cars entering the family, but advocates the moderate use of private cars. The penetration rate of private cars in Japan is 80%, but travel is not entirely dependent on private cars. In Tokyo, private cars generally travel 3000 to 5000 kilometers a year, while private cars in Shanghai generally travel 1 a year. 80,000 kilometers. The unrestrained use of private cars by domestic people has become a hobby of conspicuous consumption life. In front of key schools in some cities, one or two hundred private cars pick up and drop off children, blocking the surrounding roads. Because people unilaterally understand the meaning of "modern lifestyle" as "enjoying more convenience provided by electrification and automation", daily life is increasingly dependent on power technology systems with high energy consumption. Often the short distance of several hundred meters or the stairs of several floors are driven by motor vehicles and elevators. On the other hand, at the expense of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, people consume more and more high-calorie foods such as livestock meat and oil, and the incidence of obesity also increases. However, some weight-loss groups in cities prefer to consume their weight in artificial environments that consume electricity, such as air-conditioned gyms and electric treadmills. The environmental cost is to increase greenhouse gas emissions.
The fourth important way to turn to low-carbon economy and low-carbon lifestyle is to comprehensively strengthen the scientific dietary balance based on low-carbon diet. Low-carbon diet, that is, low carbohydrate, mainly focuses on limiting carbohydrate intake and increasing protein and fat intake. At present, China people's daily diet is mainly rice, wheat and other food crops, which is the diet structure of "rice in the south and rice in the north". Low-carbon diet can control the drastic changes of human blood sugar, thus improving the body's antioxidant capacity and inhibiting the production of free radicals. In the long run, it will also have the benefits of strengthening the body, preventing diseases and delaying aging. However, due to the limited cognitive ability and acceptance of the people, it cannot be changed immediately. Therefore, low-carbon diet will be a long-term and arduous task. However, I believe that with the improvement of people's general awareness, low-carbon diet will change China people's eating habits and lifestyles.
To realize the grand strategy of saving energy and reducing consumption, people may rely on many nuances. People should see that this "nuance" is not only the details of many energy-saving technical improvements such as manufacturing and construction, but also many energy-saving details in daily life habits. For the most populous country in the world, everyone's living habits seem to waste little energy and carbon emissions. Once calculated by many population multipliers, it is a huge amount. Science and technology workers and social science workers have the responsibility to carry out creative activities and popularization of low-carbon economy and low-carbon life to the public from all aspects of daily life, so that the scientific development decisions of "energy saving and emission reduction", "building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society" and "strengthening the ability to cope with climate change and making new contributions to protecting the global climate" put forward by the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China can be transformed into practical actions of the whole people. Developing low-carbon economy is China's responsibility as a "citizen of the world", and it is also a rare opportunity for China's sustainable development and transformation of its economic development model. To promote low-carbon economy, we need the government's leadership, including formulating long-term strategies, introducing policies to encourage scientific and technological innovation, energy conservation and emission reduction, and renewable energy utilization, and leading and boosting the development of low-carbon economy through measures such as tax reduction, financial subsidies, government procurement, and green credit; However, it also requires enterprises to make a clear direction, consciously follow up and promote the "collective action" of low-carbon economy development. Only when more enterprises change their passive state and consciously follow the development pace of low-carbon economy can China have a realistic foundation and hope for the future.