Archive for July, 2021

Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases but what about water vapour?

Saturday, July 24th, 2021

Photo by Guilherme Rossi

Written by Zeng Han Jun

 

I hesitated to write this… for about three weeks or so. In fact, there are always a lot of issues throughout the week for me to write about, but I usually let those issues seep in my brain for a while before I carefully pick one topic to write.  I almost dropped this topic but after weighing it, I decided to go ahead and write briefly about Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emission. I believe that we can bring about greater awareness on this topic if more people decides to step forward and share more information with one’s sphere of influence. 

 

So, you might think that it’s not a big deal to write about GHG emission. You know, the usual stuff like carbon emission that is covered under Scope 1, 2 and 3, other GHG emissions and ozone depleting substances. That is what most of the people have been harping on for quite some time but I want to go just a little bit further.

 

As you might already be aware, the race towards securing the next big idea of reducing carbon emission or extracting carbon content from the atmosphere, is very real. Big personalities are starting to showcase or have already showcased themselves, their organisations, their visions, their network in an attempt to attract the most pioneering ideas and the best talents. 

 

I imagine that some are howling at their staff over the phone or across the table and sending them to all corners of the globe to search for the next big idea or maybe also expecting them to squeeze their network dry. Like really dry, but somehow the same few ideas keep surfacing… from the same few groups of networks. Nah, it’s just my imagination. No one howls at anybody for such things right?

 

Right?

 

Anyway, a lot of companies have dead-locked their firing sights on carbon emission. I noted that a few companies have ventured to explore other ideas such as capturing methane and using the captured methane as fertilisers or fuel. 

 

Ok, before you yell at your staff over the phone to look for investments in methane capture technology. Please place your hand over your heart, take a few deep breaths, calm down and read about what I have to say further. 

 

There are many types of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and the typically known ones are: 

  1. Carbon Dioxide; 
  2. Methane; 
  3. Nitrous Oxide; and 
  4. Fluorinated Gases.

The first one and also the one that most industries are interested in reducing, is carbon dioxide. This gas accounted for roughly 80% of all human-caused GHG emissions in the United States in 2019. Some of the excess carbon dioxide will be quickly absorbed (for example, by the ocean surface), but some will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years, owing to the very slow process by which carbon is transferred to ocean sediments (Climate change, 2007). 

 

Next is methane, which has a much shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but methane is more efficient at trapping radiation than carbon dioxide. Over a hundred year period, the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide and this is why some companies have departed from the red ocean of carbon capture market and ventured into the blue ocean of methane capture market (Climate change, 2007). 

 

The third one is nitrous oxide, which accounted for approximately 7% of all human-caused GHG emissions in the United States in 2019. Nitrous oxide molecules linger in the atmosphere for an average of 114 years before being removed by a sink or destroyed chemically. One pound of Nitrous oxide has nearly 300 times the warming effect of one pound of carbon dioxide (Climate change, 2007). 

 

Finally, last but definitely not the least, fluorinated gases. Unlike many other greenhouse gases, this group of gases have no natural sources and are only produced by human activity. They are emitted as a result of their use as ozone-depleting substitutes (e.g., refrigerants) and a variety of industrial processes such as aluminum and semiconductor manufacturing. Because many fluorinated gases have extremely high global warming potentials (GWPs) in comparison to other greenhouse gases, small atmospheric concentrations can have disproportionately large effects on global temperatures. They can also have long atmospheric lifetimes, lasting thousands of years in some cases. Fluorinated gases, in general, are the most potent and long-lasting type of greenhouse gas emitted.

 

Precisely because these gases are emitted by the industrial sectors, it actually makes emission control much easier. We can track the emissions to its industrial sources, monitor the outputs, from there we would be able to understand what contributes to the outputs and then devise various methods to reduce or capture GHG. Additionally, regulators could make companies pay for the pollutive emissions and this encourages companies to invest and install emission control mechanisms to treat any industrial waste or air pollution before releasing these by-products into the ecosystem.

 

Companies should be willing to invest in these technologies as long as the total investment for the emission control mechanisms is less than what they need to fork out for any penalties or for as long as it makes financial sense. 

 

Ok, so that is all for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases. 

 

Now, I am going to talk about water. To be more precise, I am going to talk about water vapour. 

 

Water vapour is the most important gaseous source of infrared opacity in the atmosphere and an increasing number of works are showing that it is the dominant greenhouse gas. 

 

Water vapour concentrations are not directly influenced by human activities and vary regionally. However, human activities could increase global temperatures and water vapour formation indirectly, amplifying the warming in a process known as water vapour feedback (Soden, Jackson, Ramaswamy, Schwarzkopf, Huang, 2005).

 

Water vapour feedback can in turn amplify the warming effect of other greenhouse gases, such that the warming brought about by increased carbon dioxide allows more water vapour to enter the atmosphere. As the concentrations of other greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, rise due to human activity, it is critical to forecast how the water vapour distribution will change. 

 

The contribution of water vapour to the greenhouse effect in the Earth’s atmosphere far exceeds that from other gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, etc. Calculations estimate that water vapour and clouds are responsible for 49% and 25%, respectively, for heat absorption (longwave absorption to be more precise but I will elaborate on this later). Carbon dioxide is responsible for about 20% of the heat absorption. Please note that the percentages of the greenhouse gases in our environment is not fixed and varies daily, seasonally, and annually (Schmidt, Ruedy, Miller, Lacis, 2010).

 

It is important to note that the difference between tropical and polar latitudes, for example, is determined not only by the difference in air temperature, but also by the difference in atmospheric water vapour (Chesnokova, Firsov, Razmolov, 2019). This goes to highlight the impact that water vapour has on the entire Earth’s atmospheric condition. 

 

Let me just briefly explain about the scientific model that is generally accepted by most of the scientific community at the moment.  

 

Electromagnetic radiation is emitted by everything that has a temperature. Shortwave radiation contains more energy, while longwave radiation contains less. For example, the sun emits shortwave radiation because it is extremely hot and has a lot of energy to give. The radiation that is emitted by Earth, on the other hand, is longwave because it is much cooler, but it still emits radiation.

 

FIGURE 1

Simplified scheme showing greenhouse gasses (GHG) and their effects on plants. GHG (H2O vapour, clouds, CO2, CH4, N2O, and NO) have both natural and human origin, contributing to the greenhouse effect. Short-term effects of GHG increase is mainly CO2 rise, which activates photosynthesis (PS) and inhibits stomatal opening (SO). Long-term effects of GHG increase are extreme climate changes such as floods, droughts, and heat. All of them induce the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress in plants. Nitric oxide (NO) could alleviate oxidative stress by scavenging ROS and/or regulating the antioxidant system (AS). GHG and volatile organic compounds (VOC) react in presence of sunlight (E#) to give tropospheric O3. Although tropospheric O3 is prejudicial for life, stratospheric O3 is beneficial, because it filters harmful UV-B radiation. The size of arrows are representative of the GHG concentration.

 

Clouds and the Earth’s surface absorb solar energy once it enters the atmosphere. The ground heats up and re-emits energy in the form of infrared rays and this is known as longwave radiation. Simply put, the Earth is cooler than the sun and has less energy to give off, it emits longwave radiation.

 

The radiation balance and atmospheric circulation are determined by the fluxes and inflows of shortwave and longwave radiation within the Earth’s atmosphere. Radiative processes, such as cooling or heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and surface, are actually heavily influenced by cloud parameters. 

 

A growing body of studies are pointing to the link between the formation of cirrus clouds and its potential impact on climate change. Cirrus clouds condense and nucleate on very specific mineral and metal particles high in the atmosphere. Although it is known that only a small percentage of atmospheric aerosols are efficient ice nuclei, the critical ingredients that make those aerosols so effective have yet to be established (Cziczo, Froyd, Hoose, Jensen, Diao, Zondlo, Murphy, 2013).

 

For us, we just have to note that several observations are showing that these clouds can roughly cover up to about 20% to 30% of the Earth’s atmosphere at any given time. Depending on their location in the atmosphere, they can either help cool the Earth or warm it up. Unlike liquid water clouds, which generally cool the Earth by reflecting sunlight, ice clouds might help warm it up by absorbing reflected heat (LiveScience, 2009). The contribution of cirrus clouds to the downward flux at the surface level is small, and the flux is determined by the emission of the gas components of the atmosphere, whereas the contribution of cirrus clouds is decisive at the top of the atmosphere. 

 

Cirrus clouds with small optical thickness enhance the greenhouse effect. Current research showed that the crystal particles within the cirrus clouds can emit more energy than water vapour, in that they cool the atmosphere by absorbing and scattering shortwave solar radiation while increasing longwave radiation. Water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gases absorb and trap this longwave radiation, causing the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere to warm naturally. It is critical to understand that greenhouse gases do not trap incoming shortwave radiation, but rather longwave radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface and other mediums (Pacific Islander Council on Climate Change). 

 

Water vapour will increasingly play a significant role in the coming centuries. Climate models, backed up by satellite data, predict that as temperatures rise, the amount of water vapour in the upper troposphere (about 5 to 10 kilometres up) will double by the end of the century (Soden, Jackson, Ramaswamy, Schwarzkopf, Huang, 2005).

 

This will produce roughly twice the amount of warming as if water vapour remained constant. Cloud changes could amplify or reduce warming but there is a lot of uncertainty about this. Currently, we still cannot directly control the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere because water is found everywhere on our planet. It covers roughly about 70% of the Earth’s surface. To control the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere and the temperature of the Earth, we can only limit the greenhouse gases that we can actually control at the moment.

 

Anyway, when things become more stable, I would like to go back to Dubai again and try those new water dispensing machines that are placed outside their shopping malls. These new water dispending machines distill water directly from air and is safe to drink on the spot!

 

References

(n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases

Account, S. (2013, June 03). The origins of cirrus: Earth’s highest clouds have dusty core. Retrieved from https://research.noaa.gov/article/ArtMID/587/ArticleID/1503/The-origins-of-cirrus-Earth’s-highest-clouds-have-dusty-core

Cassia, R., Nocioni, M., Correa-Aragunde, N., & Lamattina, L. (2018, March 01). Climate Change and the Impact of Greenhouse Gasses: CO2 and NO, Friends and Foes of Plant Oxidative Stress. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837998/figure/F1/

Climate and Water Resource Case Study. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/mguidry/Unnamed_Site_2/Chapter 2/Chapter2B2.html

Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. (2007). Cambridge University Press.

Contribution of the water vapor continuum absorption to radiative balance of the atmosphere with cirrus clouds. (2018). Оптика атмосферы и океана, (9). doi:10.15372/aoo20180908

Cziczo, D. J., Froyd, K. D., Hoose, C., Jensen, E. J., Diao, M., Zondlo, M. A., . . . Murphy, D. M. (2013). Clarifying the Dominant Sources and Mechanisms of Cirrus Cloud Formation. Science, 340(6138), 1320-1324. doi:10.1126/science.1234145

Ingram, W. J. (2012). Water vapor feedback in a small ensemble of GCMs: Two approaches. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 117(D12). doi:10.1029/2011jd017221

Main, D. (2013, May 09). How Cirrus Clouds Form – And Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/29472-how-cirrus-clouds-form.html

Schmidt, G. A., Ruedy, R. A., Miller, R. L., & Lacis, A. A. (2010). Attribution of the present-day total greenhouse effect. Journal of Geophysical Research, 115(D20). doi:10.1029/2010jd014287

Soden, B. J., Jackson, D. L., Ramaswamy, V., Schwarzkopf, M. D., & Huang, X. (2005). The Radiative Signature of Upper Tropospheric Moistening. Science, 310(5749), 841-844. doi:10.1126/science.1115602

Soden, B. J., Jackson, D. L., Ramaswamy, V., Schwarzkopf, M. D., & Huang, X. (2005). The Radiative Signature of Upper Tropospheric Moistening. Science, 310(5749), 841-844. doi:10.1126/science.1115602

 

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Social issues caused by loan sharks and how it could be combated by cooperatives supported by technology, in addition to an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-focused supplier management programme

Tuesday, July 13th, 2021

 

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

 

Written by Zeng Han Jun

The pandemic has left many people without proper means of survival in many countries. Several countries have turned to borrowings so that they could extend handouts to businesses and people. Some countries have begun to study the possibility of tendering out large construction projects to create new infrastructures and jobs. Massive reorganisations are taking place at the international and domestic levels. 

 

A few cities are focussing their efforts on international trade through online platforms and repositioning with a blue and green economy because their traditional means of livelihoods might be disrupted in the near future. A small number are readying some of their industries as if preparing to pounce on new opportunities. In short, it is dizzying to see so much action within such a short period, more so when the pandemic has exposed weaknesses of many personal decisions, sectors and governance systems. 

 

One particular issue stood out glaringly for me during the pandemic, i.e. Loan Sharks.  Loan sharks usually provide financing services to those from the lower-income group. These people usually do not have stable income and also do not have proper documentation to obtain loan from a traditional bank. This is where loan sharks will step in to value-add. 

 

Just to share a little about my undergrad experience; I worked as a part-time credit officer at Standard Chartered Bank throughout my university days and my work involved performing credit analysis for the consumer branch and later I helped out with the administrative work for the credit risk covering the industries. At the end of that stint, I found out that money lending is not really that easy because it is a challenge for the money lender to ensure that the borrower is able to pay up. 

 

To this, the credit officers might have to ensure that they have liens over some form of assets that are held by the business or individual. In case the business or individual is unable to cover the loan payments over a certain period (usually three months – we used to refer to it as three buckets), the bank will be able to exercise their rights to claim these assets and recover at least a part of the debt. Additionally, we were also instructed to pore over the cash flow records of the businesses or individuals and ensure that only borrowers with healthy cash flows are eligible for loans. Naturally, loan applicants who are working in certain stable professions, were the safe ones to endorse for lending. 

 

I used to think that credit officers are at the short end of the stick. Later I found out that somehow or rather everyone is at the short end of the stick because ultimately, private enterprises are not charities and every department has bottom lines to meet and positions to secure. Even charities have KPIs, returns and positions to secure! Some loan applications seem like “there’s more than meets the eyes” so we need to call up the frontline sales officer to explain about the situation and maybe get them to obtain more documents from the customers. 

 

We often get back an earful from those front-office lots, about how they are bringing in the business to the bank and sustaining the salaries of those like us.  And that we are just sitting by the phone, mouthing no to everything without a single idea of how the real world works. At the other end of the table, my supervisor will warn that if we let a bad apple in, our head will be on the chopping boards, not her fault and also not the front-line sales officer’s fault. I was just an undergrad part-timer! Luckily back in those days, we had vending machines that provided free drinks to cool us off from these ordeals. 

 

So the lesson from this experience (for myself) is that; getting a loan from a bank is not as easy as one might have expected, and this is even when the loan applicant already has the full set of proper records. A lot of effort is spent on verifying the sources of income, assets and existing debts, all of which depends first on having proper documents. 

 

So what about those without proper records or from lower-income groups?

 

Well, they mostly turn to loan sharks. 

 

When I was serving my national conscription as a law enforcement officer, I spent about one year as a uniformed patrol officer and later had to be transferred away to assist with the plainclothes operations for another year. We supported very deep operations against anti-vice activities, illegal immigrants, gambling activities and also, loan sharks activities. At that time, I already thought that loan sharks are a very troublesome group of people. 

 

Loan sharks.  

 

The fact is; these loan sharks provide financing service to those without proper cash flow records and usually to those who belong to the lower income group or maybe even illegal immigrants. They charge interest rates beyond what the banks offer because the risk that they undertake is very high. In some instances, borrowers often have nothing else to their names except their lives. Sometimes, the borrowers have to borrow even more money to pay off the interest incurred from the earlier debts and this might trap the borrower in the debt cycle forever. 

 

Depending on the situation, some borrowers might end up becoming labour for the loan sharks, as a means to pay off the debt. In others, a few borrowers end up committing suicide. For example, in some societies, farmers borrow money to buy seeds in hope that they can sell the produce for a profit later. However, the resulting crops might be paltry because of poor weather conditions, poor farming techniques, poor soil condition or maybe a mixture of these conditions. Unable to pay their debts and stuck in an infinite debt cycle, some hang themselves and sadly, a few turn to selling their children to finance a little of their debts in order to survive. 

 

It’s heart-breaking. 

 

Companies could unknowingly tap onto this pool of workforce or exacerbate this problem in some ways when they procure products and services, which is why it is very important to include responsible sourcing as part of a Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) – focused supplier management programme. Responsible sourcing is a method of approaching sourcing and supply chains. It occurs when a company actively and consciously sources and procures products and services for its operations in an ethical, sustainable, and socially-conscious manner. This means that an organisation must ensure that its business practices – both within its own corporate walls and throughout its supply chain – have no negative impact on the environment AND the people. 

 

Working through the supplier management programme is one way to lessen the social effects from loan shark lending. 

 

Other than that, I am suggesting another approach, a more hands-on and albeit more difficult one. It’s more like a long-term Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project that underpins its approach with support from right-sized technology and the idea of setting up a cooperative ecosystem. 

 

As written on Wikipedia, it stated that cooperatives are:

“A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned enterprise”. Cooperatives are democratically owned by their members, with each member having one vote in electing the board of directors. Cooperatives may include:

1. businesses owned and managed by the people who use their services (a consumer cooperative)

2. organizations managed by the people who work there (worker cooperatives)

3. multi-stakeholder or hybrid cooperatives that share ownership between different stakeholder groups. For example, care cooperatives where ownership is shared between both care-givers and receivers. Stakeholders might also include non-profits or investors.

4. second- and third-tier cooperatives whose members are other cooperatives

5. platform cooperatives that use a cooperatively owned and governed website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services.”

 

In the case of farming, a farming cooperative manages a number of interconnected activities such as production planning, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, food processing, distribution, and sale. This type of cooperative can also be formed to promote specific commodities such as various types of spices, vegetables or shrimps, etc. It is better to structure cooperatives according to the range of commodities that are being farmed within a region. This so that the farmers who are better at producing certain products, could share their best practices with the rest who may not be performing as well. 

 

When farmers band together like this, they also enjoy synergies such as having the ability to promote their product together which in turn improves their bargaining power and hopefully leads to better profits. Farming cooperatives can also be formed by small businesses to pool their savings and gain access to capital, acquire supplies and services, or market their products and services.

 

Members could contribute to the cooperative’s operations and growth by:

  1. Membership fees that are paid once or on an annual basis; 
  2. Service fees, for example, are member contributions with no individual ownership attached; 
  3. Capital contributed by members; 
  4. Individual members make deposits with the cooperative that can be used for business purposes; and
  5. Members can receive deferred payment for a portion or all of their produce delivered to the cooperative.

 

Cooperatives also frequently use external sources of funds to run their operations or finance investments, in addition to institutional and member capital. Non-member sources of funds could include other cooperatives or commercial banks, suppliers, government or donor agencies, and so on. External funding can be provided in a variety of ways, including grants, short-term loans, long-term loans or trade credit provided by a supplier. In fact, forming a cooperative and then using the pooled money to buy some assets, can improve its gearing ratio. This means that the cooperative might be able to borrow money at a lower interest than if one were to borrow directly from a bank.  

 

Once the cooperative is set up, they are in the best position to lend money because they understand the issues within the farming community. The members who are better at farming, could help to share best practices and also determine if a farming idea is viable for financing. Surely one would listen to those who have had more experience or performed better than oneself right?

 

Right?

 

On the technology front, I am not suggesting for even more advanced technology. On the contrary, I wished that technology companies could take a step back and cater to the rest who may not be able to catch up. I had the good fortune to visit a rural farming community in India before the pandemic started. From this experience, I learnt that the people who are living in the rural areas need simple 3G enabled phones, 3G internet network, software or online marketplaces that can be supported by 3G internet and a logistic ecosystem that would work with all these components. They need these systems in place so that they could communicate with the potential buyers who may be located out of town and receive payments for the service rendered. The technologies could be introduced through the cooperatives. 

 

Once they are able to receive money from new sources of buyers, they could again pool the money into the cooperatives. Cooperatives are also good training places to nurture the local people into administrative positions such as investment, finance, corporate development, marketing, and encourage the community to work together. All these work together to make the community a better supplier for most buyers. Also, buyers can also nurture new sources of supply through cooperative arrangements and mitigate any supply-side risks. 

 

With these options in place, people from the lower-income groups will have financing alternatives other than turning to loan sharks. To be honest, cooperatives are not new and have been used to extract lower-income communities and even public officials from the grasp of loan sharks in some societies. Together with technology, it could even uplift the lives of the vulnerable and help them to secure better livelihoods.   

 

References

Malay Mail. (2020, November 15). ‘Strangled by debt’: Coronavirus deepens Cambodia’s loan crisis: Malay Mail. Retrieved from https://www.malaymail.com/news/money/2020/11/15/strangled-by-debt-coronavirus-deepens-cambodias-loan-crisis/1922817

Naheed Ataulla & Anand J / TNN / Updated: Jul 27, 2. (n.d.). How loan sharks pull poor farmers into a debt trap: India News – Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/How-loan-sharks-pull-poor-farmers-into-a-debt-trap/articleshow/48230786.cms

Yasmina Hatem, L. D. (2021, January 07). India has a farmer suicide epidemic – and farmers are protesting new laws they fear will make things worse. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/india-farmers-protest-law-suicide-epidemic-2021-1?op=1

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