Climate Change Q&A
Questions 1-5

Climate change is a topic of increasing interest in the energy industry. But what is climate change, how does it affect electric cooperatives, and what does it have to do with West Florida Electric Cooperative’s (WFEC) members? In an effort to clarify this issue, we have tackled some of the basic questions about climate change, and how it affects all of us.

Climate Change: The Top 10 Questions…Answered

 1.        What are climate and climate change? 

Climate refers to the average weather—temperature and precipitation, among other variables—over a long period of time. The Earth’s climate is always changing. Natural climatic changes may occur over seasons, decades and centuries. The periodic rapid warming trend in the eastern Pacific Ocean, known as El Niño, is an example of climate change on a shorter time scale.

2.         What causes climate change?

Natural factors and processes contribute to climate change and include changes in the Earth’s orbit and changes in the output of the sun. Human activities, such as fossil fuel consumption and deforestation, contribute to climate change.

3.         What are greenhouse gases and how are they produced?

Greenhouse gases are chemical compounds that trap heat from the sun in the Earth's atmosphere. This is known as the greenhouse effect, the natural phenomenon that warms the Earth’s surface. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor. These gases occur naturally and through human activity. Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere when forests and fossil fuels are burned. Fossil fuels include oil, natural gas and coal. Methane is released during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and from the decay of organic waste in municipal solid-waste landfills. Although water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, its atmospheric concentration is not directly affected by human activity.

4.         What do scientists think about climate change?

Scientists agree that greenhouse gases warm the Earth and are accumulating in the Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities. However, there is considerable uncertainty in scientists’ understanding about the impacts of greenhouse gases on the Earth’s climate.

5.         What does climate change have to do with electric cooperatives?

The process of generating electricity is the single largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, representing 40 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions from all sources in 2005. Electric cooperatives generate only about 5 percent of the nation’s electricity, and more than 80 percent of electric cooperatives’ generation is from fossil fuels. As a result, WFEC has a well-developed interest in technologies that reduce, avoid and store greenhouse gas emissions.