|
|
| Fig. 1: World consumption in Exajoules. There is a noticeable decrease in overall global energy consumption amongst all six of the most commonly used forms of energy. [2] (Courtesy of British Petroleum.) |
Today, climate change stands as one of the most significant and gravest global concerns. A global reduction of fossil fuel consumption and the corresponding lowering of greenhouse gasses would be a significant factor in combating climate change. Oil consumption is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions. An unintended consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic was a decrease in global energy consumption due to the worldwide shutdown in response to the substantial number of deaths attributed to COVID-19. [1] Specifically, this energy decrease was primarily due to the decrease in global oil consumption as a result of the decrease in jet fuel and transportation fuel demand. As a result of travel restrictions, people were not traveling as much, whether by plane, train, or automobile. [1] The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that altering one aspect of our lives, albeit significantly, namely travel, can significantly combat climate change.
From an overall standpoint, global energy consumption decreased substantially during the pandemic. As shown by the graph in Fig. 1, there was a clear decrease in global energy consumption overall around the period of time when lockdowns were enforced (the time period spanning March 2020 to August 2020). Over this period, the decrease in global energy consumption was around 5%. [2] As shown in Fig. 1, the bulk of the decrease in energy consumption was caused by the decrease in global oil consumption. [2] Specifically, as shown by Fig. 1, the majority of the decrease in global oil consumption during 2020 was caused by the decrease in demand for gasoline, diesel gasoline, and jet/kero fuel. [2] This finding is expected since the lockdown measures and policies restricted travel and forced people to work remotely, which reduced automobile travel and air travel.
The pandemic demonstrated that enacting policies that lower travel will be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Enacting policies that encourage efficient use of travel, such as electric cars, carpooling, public transportation, smart cities, and remote work (similar to what was done during the pandemic) appears to be a promising method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As shown by the very large decrease in jet fuel consumption during the pandemic, we can see that enacting policies that would reduce nonessential flight travel will be effective in reducing jet fuel consumption and, thus, greenhouse gas emissions.
© Ian Park Barrow. The author warrants that the work is the author's own and that Stanford University provided no input other than typesetting and referencing guidelines. The author grants permission to copy, distribute and display this work in unaltered form, with attribution to the author, for noncommercial purposes only. All other rights, including commercial rights, are reserved to the author.
[1] "How Covid-19 Is Changing the World: A Statistical Perspective Volume II," Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities, 2020.
[2] "BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022," British Petroleum, June 2022.