Innovative Energy Strategies for CO2 Stabilization

by Robert G. Watts

Overview

Many of the world's climate scientists believe that the build-up of heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to global warming unless we burn less fossil fuels. At the same time, energy must be supplied in increasing amounts for the developing world to continue its growth. This work discusses the feasibility of increasingly efficient energy use and the potential for supplying energy from sources that do not introduce CO2. The book analyzes the prospects for Earth-based renewables: solar, wind, biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal and ocean energy. It then discusses nuclear fission and fusion, and the relatively new idea of harvesting solar energy on satellites or lunar bases. It will be essential reading for all those interested in energy issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521087827
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/11/2008
Pages:	468
Product dimensions:	6.60(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Robert G. Watts is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tulane University in Louisiana. His current research interests are in climate modeling, the socio-economic and political aspects of energy policy, and the physics of sea ice. His publications on these and other topics have appeared in Climatic Change, the Journal of Geophysical Research and Nature as well as the mechanical engineering literature. Professor Watts is the author of Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Curveballs, Knuckleballs, and Fallacies of Baseball (with A. Terry Bahill, 1991, 2000) and is editor of Engineering Response to Global Climate Change (1997). He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and has been an ASME Distinguished Lecturer. Recently, he gave the prestigious George Hawkins Memorial Lecture at Purdue University.

Table of Contents

1. Concerns about climate change and global warming Donald J. Wuebbles, Atul K. Jain and Robert G. Watts; 2. Posing the problem Robert G. Watts; 3. Adaptive strategies for climate change Robert J. Lempert and Michael E. Schlesinger; 4. Energy efficiency: a little goes a long way Susan J. Hassol, Neil D. Strachan and Hadi Dowlatabadi; 5. The potential of renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions Walter Short and Patrick Keegan; 6. Carbonless transportation and energy storage in future energy systems Gene D. Berry and Alan D. Lamont; 7. What can nuclear power accomplish to reduce carbon dioxide emissions? Robert Krakowski and Richard Wilson; 8. Nuclear fusion energy Arthur W. Molvik and John L. Perkins; 9. Energy prosperity within the twenty-first century and beyond: options and the unique roles of the Sun and the Moon David R. Criswell; 10. Geoengineering the climate: history and prospect David W. Keith; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Inovative Strategies for CO2 Stabilization describes a broad range of approaches to stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations and the technologies that might make those approaches possible. Its greatest strength is in its systematic organization of the basic information about the technologies and the issues that may affect their adoption." Gerald M. Stokes, Joint Global Change Research Institute, College Park, Md

From the Publisher

Contains ten contributions addressing the feasibility of increasingly efficient energy use for limiting energy requirements as well as the potential for supplying energy from sources that do not introduce carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It discusses global warming, analyzes prospects for Earth-based renewables; addresses problems of transmission and storage of renewable energy; evaluates energy from nuclear fission; reviews the potential of fusion reactors; examines the harvesting of solar energy on satellites or lunar bases and beaming it to Earth using microwaves; and looks at the possibility of geoengineering. Of likely interest to engineers and physicists, industrial leaders and politicians interested in energy, and for students in advanced courses on energy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR