Download or read book Electricity Humanity s Low carbon Future Safeguarding Our Ecological Niche written by Hans B (Teddy) Puttgen and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2021-06-24 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is no longer deniable. Neither is the fact that greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities need to be mitigated. The question is how to rapidly transit to an increasingly low-carbon world while essentially sustaining the quality of life of the fortunate and providing better lives for the less fortunate.The challenge is to decarbonize both energy consumption and production with electricity at the core of energy systems.Perhaps Energia, a fictitious country whose 50 million inhabitants endorse climate change objectives and that embodies the energy mutations proposed by the authors, has the answers. Along with Energia, four families living in Africa, America, Asia and Europe who represent us, the consumer, set the stage for the book's discussions.On the user front, the presentation primarily focuses on energy consumption at home and for transport. On the energy production front, the focus shifts to the integration of renewables with fossil and nuclear energy. The book's coverage includes crucial systemic issues related to energy storage, electric power systems and multi-energy systems. In a dedicated chapter, the authors put forward their energy and environmental public policy observations and proposals, including a carbon fee scheme.Electricity is written for readers interested and concerned by the environmental and energy challenges we face, and who seek to participate, as well-informed citizens, in discussions on future energy-related options. The book provides a balanced, factual and unemotional presentation of readily available energy systems and technologies which, when widely deployed, can contribute, both short and long term, toward a low-carbon and electricity-centered world.

Download or read book Energy and Behaviour written by Marta Lopes and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2019-11-25 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changes to energy behaviour - the role of people and organisations in energy production, use and efficiency - are critical to supporting a societal transition towards a low carbon and more sustainable future. However, which changes need to be made, by whom, and with what technologies are still very much under discussion. This book, developed by a diverse range of experts, presents an international and multi-faceted approach to the sociotechnical challenge of engaging people in energy systems and vice versa. By providing a multidisciplinary view of this field, it encourages critical thinking about core theories, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and policy challenges. It concludes by addressing new areas where additional evidence is required for interventions and policy-making. It is designed to appeal to new entrants in the energy-efficiency and behaviour field, particularly those taking a quantitative approach to the topic. Concurrently, it recognizes ecological economist Herman Daly's insight: what really counts is often not countable.

Download or read book Empowering the Great Energy Transition written by Scott Valentine and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-12-17 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a time when climate-change deniers hold the reins of power in the United States and international greenhouse gas negotiations continue at a slow crawl, what options are available to cities, companies, and consumers around the world who seek a cleaner future? Scott Victor Valentine, Marilyn A. Brown, and Benjamin K. Sovacool explore developments and strategies that will help fast-track the transition to renewable energy. They provide an expert analysis of the achievable steps that citizens, organizational leaders, and policy makers can take to put their commitments to sustainability into practice. Empowering the Great Energy Transition examines trends that suggest a transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources is inevitable—there are too many forces for change at work to stop a shift to clean energy. Yet under the status quo, change will be too slow to avert the worst consequences of climate change. Humanity is on a path to incur avoidable social, environmental, and economic costs. Valentine, Brown, and Sovacool argue that new policies and business models are needed to surmount the hurdles separating the current consumption model from a sustainable energy future. Empowering the Great Energy Transition shows that with well-placed efforts, we can set humanity on a course that supports entrepreneurs and communities in mitigating the environmental harm caused by technologies whose time has come and gone.

Download or read book Smart Power Anniversary Edition written by Peter Fox-Penner and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few industries in the U.S. are as stuck in the past as our utilities are. In the face of growing challenges from climate change and the need for energy security, a system and a business model that each took more than a century to evolve must now be extensively retooled in the span of a few decades. Despite the need, many of the technologies and institutions needed are still being designed or tested. It is like rebuilding our entire airplane fleet, along with our runways and air traffic control system, while the planes are all up in the air filled with passengers. In this accessible and insightful book, Peter Fox-Penner considers how utilities interact with customers and how the Smart Grid could revolutionize their relationship. Turning to the supply side, he considers the costs of, and tradeoffs between, large-scale power sources such as coal plants and small-scale power sources close to customers. Finally, he looks at how utilities can respond to all of these challenges and remain viable, while financing hundreds of billions of dollars of investment without much of an increase in sales. Upon publication, Smart Power was praised as an instant classic on the future of energy utilities. This Anniversary Edition includes up-to-date assessments of the industry by such leading energy experts as Daniel Estes and Jim Rogers, as well as a new afterword from the author. Anyone who is interested in our energy future will appreciate the clear explanations and the in-depth analysis it offers.

Download or read book Building a Low carbon Economy written by Great Britain. Committee on Climate Change and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2008 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change resulting from CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions poses a huge threat to human welfare. To contain that threat, the world needs to cut emissions by about 50 per cent by 2050, and to start cutting emissions now. A global agreement to take action is vital. A fair global deal will require the UK to cut emissions by at least 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050. In this report, the Committee on Climate Change explains why the UK should aim for an 80 per cent reduction by 2050 and how that is attainable, and then recommends the first three budgets that will define the path to 2022. But the path is attainable at manageable cost, and following it is essential if the UK is to play its fair part in avoiding the far higher costs of harmful climate change. Part 1 of the report addresses the 2050 target. The 80 per cent target should apply to the sum of all sectors of the UK economy, including international aviation and shipping. The costs to the UK from this level of emissions reduction can be made affordable - estimated at between 1-2 per cent of GDP in 2050. In part 2, the Committee sets out the first three carbon budgets covering the period 2008-22, and examines the feasible reductions possible in various sectors: decarbonising the power sector; energy use in buildings and industry; reducing domestic transport emissions; reducing emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases; economy wide emissions reductions to meet budgets. The third part of the report examines wider economic and social impacts from budgets including competitiveness, fuel poverty, security of supply, and differences in circumstances between the regions of the UK.

Download or read book Decarbonizing Development written by Marianne Fay and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-06-09 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The science is unequivocal: stabilizing climate change implies bringing net carbon emissions to zero. This must be done by 2100 if we are to keep climate change anywhere near the 2oC warming that world leaders have set as the maximum acceptable limit. Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero-Carbon Future looks at what it would take to decarbonize the world economy by 2100 in a way that is compatible with countries' broader development goals. Here is what needs to be done: -Act early with an eye on the end-goal. To best achieve a given reduction in emissions in 2030 depends on whether this is the final target or a step towards zero net emissions. -Go beyond prices with a policy package that triggers changes in investment patterns, technologies and behaviors. Carbon pricing is necessary for an efficient transition toward decarbonization. It is an efficient way to raise revenue, which can be used to support poverty reduction or reduce other taxes. Policymakers need to adopt measures that trigger the required changes in investment patterns, behaviors, and technologies - and if carbon pricing is temporarily impossible, use these measures as a substitute. -Mind the political economy and smooth the transition for those who stand to be most affected. Reforms live or die based on the political economy. A climate policy package must be attractive to a majority of voters and avoid impacts that appear unfair or are concentrated on a region, sector or community. Reforms have to smooth the transition for those who stand to be affected, by protecting vulnerable people but also sometimes compensating powerful lobbies.

Download or read book Moving Towards Transition written by Peter Adey and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on an innovative project exploring current mobility transition policies and practices in 14 countries around the world, including key institutions such as the European Union and the United Nations, this book provides a critique of current transitions, mobility and transport policies. The authors consider how our mobility futures have been imagined, what they will potentially look and feel like, what lives we might live in them and what choices we might have to make to get there.

Download or read book The Citizen s Guide to Climate Success written by Mark Jaccard and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-06 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows readers how we can all help solve the climate crisis by focusing on a few key, achievable actions.

Download or read book Low Carbon Development written by Raffaello Cervigni and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2013-08-05 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Federal Government of Nigeria has adopted an ambitious strategy to make Nigeria the world’s 20th largest economy by 2020. Sustaining such a pace of growth will entail rapid expansion of the level of activity in key carbon-emitting sectors, such as power, oil and gas, agriculture and transport. In the absence of policies to accompany economic growth with a reduced carbon foot-print, emissions of greenhouse gases could more than double in the next two decades. This study finds that there are several options for Nigeria to achieve the development objectives of vision 20:2020 and beyond, but stabilizing emissions at 2010 levels, and with domestic benefits in the order of 2 percent of GDP. These benefits include cheaper and more diversified electricity sources; more efficient operation of the oil and gas industry; more productive and climate –resilient agriculture; and better transport services, resulting in fuel economies, better air quality, and reduced congestion. The study outlines several actions that the Federal Government could undertake to facilitate the transition towards a low carbon economy, including enhanced governance for climate action, integration of climate consideration in the Agriculture Transformation Agenda, promotion of energy efficiency programs, scale-up of low carbon technologies in power generation (such as renewables an combined cycle gas turbines), and enhance vehicle fuel efficiency.

Download or read book Future of solar photovoltaic written by International Renewable Energy Agency IRENA and published by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This book was released on 2019-11-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study presents options to fully unlock the world’s vast solar PV potential over the period until 2050. It builds on IRENA’s global roadmap to scale up renewables and meet climate goals.

Download or read book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster written by Bill Gates and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Download or read book How Solar Energy Became Cheap written by Gregory F. Nemet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-05-20 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solar energy is a substantial global industry, one that has generated trade disputes among superpowers, threatened the solvency of large energy companies, and prompted serious reconsideration of electric utility regulation rooted in the 1930s. One of the biggest payoffs from solar’s success is not the clean inexpensive electricity it can produce, but the lessons it provides for innovation in other technologies needed to address climate change. Despite the large literature on solar, including analyses of increasingly detailed datasets, the question as to how solar became inexpensive and why it took so long still remains unanswered. Drawing on developments in the US, Japan, Germany, Australia, and China, this book provides a truly comprehensive and international explanation for how solar has become inexpensive. Understanding the reasons for solar’s success enables us to take full advantage of solar’s potential. It can also teach us how to support other low-carbon technologies with analogous properties, including small modular nuclear reactors and direct air capture. However, the urgency of addressing climate change means that a key challenge in applying the solar model is in finding ways to speed up innovation. Offering suggestions and policy recommendations for accelerated innovation is another key contribution of this book. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of energy technology and innovation, climate change and energy analysis and policy, as well as practitioners and policymakers working in the existing and emerging energy industries.

Download or read book Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation written by Ottmar Edenhofer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 1088 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report (IPCC-SRREN) assesses the potential role of renewable energy in the mitigation of climate change. It covers the six most important renewable energy sources - bioenergy, solar, geothermal, hydropower, ocean and wind energy - as well as their integration into present and future energy systems. It considers the environmental and social consequences associated with the deployment of these technologies, and presents strategies to overcome technical as well as non-technical obstacles to their application and diffusion. SRREN brings a broad spectrum of technology-specific experts together with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. Prepared following strict IPCC procedures, it presents an impartial assessment of the current state of knowledge: it is policy relevant but not policy prescriptive. SRREN is an invaluable assessment of the potential role of renewable energy for the mitigation of climate change for policymakers, the private sector, and academic researchers.

Download or read book Low Energy Low Carbon Architecture written by Khaled Al-Sallal and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a complete and in-depth overview of the available knowledge in the area of low energy and low carbon architecture. The scope of this edited book includes several important topics ranging from chapters giving a broad view of the progressing models in ecologically responsible environments to other chapters focussing on recent advances in design strategies and building technologies in low energy heating, cooling, daylighting, materials, and building sustainable systems. The book will give the readers insight to the future of low energy and low carbon architecture in the beyond-green era and discussed in the broader context of the progressing theories of regenerative design.

Download or read book Visions of Energy Futures written by Benjamin K. Sovacool and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-04 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the visions, fantasies, frames, discourses, imaginaries, and expectations associated with six state-of-the-art energy systems—nuclear power, hydrogen fuel cells, shale gas, clean coal, smart meters, and electric vehicles—playing a key role in current deliberations about low-carbon energy supply and use. Visions of Energy Futures: Imagining and Innovating Low-Carbon Transitions unveils what the future of energy systems could look like, and how their meanings are produced, often alongside moments of contestation. Theoretically, it analyzes these technological case studies with emerging concepts from various disciplines: utopianism (history of technology), symbolic convergence (communication studies), technological frames (social construction of technology), discursive coalitions (discourse analysis and linguistics), sociotechnical imaginaries (science and technology studies), and the sociology of expectations (innovation studies, future studies). It draws from these cases to create a synthetic set of dichotomies and frameworks for energy futures based on original data collected across two global epistemic communities— nuclear physicists and hydrogen engineers—and experts in Eastern Europe and the Nordic region, stakeholders in South Africa, and newspapers in the United Kingdom. This book is motivated by the premise that tackling climate change via low-carbon energy systems and practices is one of the most significant challenges of the twenty-first century, and that success will require not only new energy technologies, but also new ways of understanding language, visions, and discursive politics. The discursive creation of the energy systems of tomorrow are propagated in polity, hoping to be realized as the material fact of the future, but processed in conflicting ways with underlying tensions as to how contemporary societies ought to be ordered. This book will be essential reading for students and scholars of energy policy, energy and environment, and technology assessment.

Download or read book The Poverty and Distributional Impacts of Carbon Pricing Channels and Policy Implications written by Baoping Shang and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing the poverty and distributional impacts of carbon pricing reforms is critical for the success of ambitious actions in the fight against climate change. This paper uses a simple framework to systematically review the channels through which carbon pricing can potentially affect poverty and inequality. It finds that the channels differ in important ways along several dimensions. The paper also identifies several key gaps in the current literature and discusses some considerations on how policy designs could take into account the attributes of the channels in mitigating the impacts of carbon pricing reforms on households.

Download or read book Ending Fossil Fuels written by Holly Jean Buck and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ending the fossil fuel industry is the only credible path for climate policy Around the world, countries and companies are setting net-zero carbon emissions targets. But what will it mean if those targets are achieved? One possibility is that fossil fuel companies will continue to produce billions of tons of atmospheric CO2 while relying on a symbiotic industry to scrub the air clean. Focusing on emissions draws our attention away from the real problem: the point of production. The fossil fuel industry must come to an end but will not depart willingly; governments must intervene. By embracing a politics of rural-urban coalitions and platform governance, climate advocates can build the political power needed to nationalize the fossil fuel industry and use its resources to draw carbon out of the atmosphere.