As you and your team pitch up on site in the middle of yet another a winter storm, it’s hard to see how your choice of generator hire could have played any part in creating the awful weather that’s battering your workforce, but it has. After all, it’s called climate change for a reason.

There is growing evidence that greenhouse gas emissions are making extreme weather events, such as the recent Storm Darragh, both more frequent and more intense. But exactly how is this happening and is there anything we can do to stop it, or at the very least, slow it down?

How do emissions create extra rain?

The link between the emissions from equipment like generator hire and rainfall is scientifically proven. For every 1°C increase in temperature, the air can hold 7% more moisture, and with the global temperature rise now passing the 1.5°C mark, things will only get wetter.

Warmer oceans also giving storms more energy, increasing winds and causing greater damage. A report by the Royal Society says that ‘Earth’s lower atmosphere is becoming warmer and moister as a result of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. This gives the potential for more energy for storms and certain extreme weather events.’ One study, quoted by the BBC, found that global warming has made storms 20% more intense.

Attribution studies silence the climate deniers

While there are still a few people who deny the link between climate change and extreme weather events, computer models have proved the link. Scientists use what are called attribution studies to compare the current situation with a theoretical world in which global temperatures have not risen as a result of human activity.

A review of over 600 of these attribution studies by Carbon Brief, found that no less than 74% of the weather systems studied were made ‘more likely or more severe by climate change’. Using this type of computer modelling, the Met Office predicts that in the next 50 years, UK winters will become up to 30% wetter, while summers will become 60% drier with crop damaging heatwaves 30 times more likely.

What can we do?

When you arrive on site on a cold, wet, windy day, global warming is probably the last thing on your mind. You just want to fire up your generator and get some warmth into your welfare units. But this doesn’t mean that you have to emit greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere to achieve this.

With Think Hire’s Solartainer Versatile solar powered generator hire, you can get all the power you need to heat and light your site, as well as power your electric vehicles and plant, without creating any CO2 emissions. What’s more, thanks to our state of the art battery packs, that power can be ready and waiting for you whenever you need it, even if you’re on site in winter before sunrise.

Will it make any difference?

It’s easy to wonder whether our individual actions, like choosing generator hire, make any difference on a global scale, but as the figures above show, every increase in global temperatures means more humidity and more power in every storm. Anything that any of us can do to avoid adding to the problem, becomes part of the solution.

As the Met Office says: ‘Even if we were to stop all emissions today, we would not prevent some changes. However, the sooner we cut emissions, the smaller the changes will be.’

To find out how your site can play its part in reducing the impact of climate change and stop extreme weather events like Storm Darragh from becoming a regular feature of our winter weather, talk to Think Hire about solar powered generator hire today.