During the recently held Economic Summit at Cinnamon Grand, there was an interesting discussion on Sustainable Development attended by Dr. RaeKwon Chung, advisor to Ban Ki Moon and local experts.
After Dr. Prashanthi Gunawardena mentioned that cement kilns at Puttlam Cement generates very significant amounts of CO2, I sent a small note to the panel worded as follows: “According to the 'State of the Climate' published by USA every year, out of the three energy flow rates crossing the Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) boundary - Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), Reflected Short Wave radiation (RSW) and Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) - the only flow rate which has shown a statistically significant variation during the six years 2010-2015 was the Reflected Shortwave Radiation.
Does not this indicate that any change in earth’s climate is not due to anthropogenic carbondioxide?”
The panel did not give any response to the question. So, I rang up Dr. Gunawardane later and said that I had been the Deputy Works Manager of the Puttlam Cement Works as it was called then and that I had seen studies indicating that concrete would utilize the smallest amount of energy to provide a given structural strength out of all structural materials considered at that time in early 1980s.
That was a time when we did not worry about greenhouse gases. In fact, I was the person who prepared project feasibility studies for converting both Puttalam and Kankasanthurai cement factories into coal firing from oil firing. Of course, CO2 generated from decomposition of CaCO3 during cement manufacture is much more than the amount of CO2 generated during coal combustion in the kilns.
When I asked her about the note, she said that since the session was not on climate change per se they did not want to respond to it. I have no issue about it.
Since this issue has come into the domain of public knowledge now and this may be the first time this aspect being publicly expressed anywhere in the world, I want to be a bit more specific on it and thus this statement
Out of the three energy flow rates mentioned above, the only long wave radiation, due to it been generated at global temperatures is Outgoing Longwave Radiation(OLR). Any alien living in another planet could decide whether Planet Earth is warming or not by checking whether this OLR is increasing or not. And it has not shown a statistically significant change.
Both the other flowrates TSI and RSW are shortwave radiations due to having originated from the sun at 5800 K and their changes will not show whether earth is warming or not.
According to current climate change pronouncements, RSW should be decreasing due to anthropogenic CO2 increasing global temperature and melting icecaps.
Furthermore, such decreases could be due to this ice cap melting, deforestation and also laying of tarred road surfaces.
On the other hand, RSW could increase due to cloud formation, volcanic eruptions and excessive dust particles in the air.
RSW has indicated the following three statistically significant variations during the last six years: 2010 + 0.6Wm - 2,2013 + 0.45Wm - 2 and 2015 - 0.45Wm - 2 and during the other three years 2011, 2012 and 2014, the changes had been statistically insignificant decreases.
If one looks at anthropogenic energy generation using fossil fuels, the only output from this energy generation which could both increase and decrease RSW is water vapour - Newly Formed Water - NFW as I call it.
When this water condenses to form clouds, it could lead to increases in RSW and when this water collects in the atmosphere as atmospheric rivers or Pineapple Express it would reduce RSW.
I strongly believe that anybody - any person, country or organization - interested in solving climate change should - it may be too late even now - start addressing this reduction in RSW and the solution I have proposed - Highway Solarisation linked with electrification of road transportation - will make the biggest contribution towards achievement of this out of all possible suggestions; at the rate of 1.4 KWhrs reduction in global warming per every kWhr of electricity generated.
(The writer is Managing Director of Somaratna Consultants)
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