Ike Mowete, a professor of electrical and electronics engineering at the University of Lagos, said energy efficiency represents perhaps the single most important strategic consideration in the battle to minimise contributions of energy generation and utilisation to climate change.

“Though global warming is a very important component part of climate change, it is important to observe here that climate change is more than global warming,” Mr. Mowete said in Lagos on Wednesday at a two-day workshop on Energy Efficiency and Conservation, organised by the National Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conservation.

“Climate change as a matter of fact, encompasses all factors associated with shifts in climate, including temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and others.”

Mr. Mowete presented a paper, Influence of Energy Efficiency on the Environment and Climate Change, at the event.

Organisers say the workshop is targeted at enlightening participants on the effects of energy usage on the health of consumers, introducing the application of renewable energy sources in homes and industries, and highlighting the short and long term effects of energy efficiency and conservation on the climate.

Nigeria’s vulnerability

Mr. Mowete said that during the era from 1880 to 1935, global temperature anomaly remained consistently negative; “but from 1980 to 2005 the anomaly has remained consistently positive, it is also seen that global temperature has warmed since 1917, though the highest anomalies of +0.4 C/0.6 C were recorded in the last 120 years.”

Information from Nigeria’s environmental watch dog, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), indicates that more than 13 million Nigerians are currently at risk to the effects of climate change and may be relocated due to climate variations and sea level changes.

“With projected climate change and sea level rise of about 0.5m per annum, the number of people that may be relocated, assuming there is no development would increase to more than 27 million.

Nigeria’s climate change vulnerability analysis with respect to the Niger Delta, estimates that with an annual sea level rise of about 0.5, about 35 per cent of the delta could be lost. Similarly, the effects of both water and wind erosion will be very severe, as more than 50 per cent of the area will be affected.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that if nothing is done to stop emissions, global temperatures could rise to as much as six degrees Celsius by 2100, setting off droughts, floods and other natural disasters.

Energy efficiency as a solution

Climate change involves a multi-dimensional environmental degradation scenario, and participants at the workshop were unanimous that one simple way of addressing the complex issues is to adopt production and utilisation measures that increase energy efficiency and exploit the possibilities offered by renewable energy as a means of minimising the emissions of greenhouse gases, the primary cause of global warming.

“Building end-use efficiency, encourage use of efficient processes and technology in industries, and fund research and development of alternative to fossil fuels,” Mr. Mowete suggested.

“Electricity generation is arguably the single biggest source of energy-related GHG emissions. It follows therefore, that if research and development efforts are able to improve the efficiency of the generation process, such that regardless of the fuel source, fuel consumption per kWh is reduced, leading reductions in GHG emissions and influence on climate change of energy production and utilisation.”