On Beyond Sweet Nothings: An Empirical Plan for Addressing Climate Change
We actually have a plan!
We wring our hands. We mumble hollow platitudes and take insincere vows. We feign fear.
Excuse me for asking, but – don’t we need some sort of comprehensive master plan to blunt climate change?
Well, guess what. We actually have one!
It’s called the United States Mid-Century Strategy for Deep Decarbonization. (1)
Like so many other well-intended and visionary studies and reports and papers, it seemingly dropped into a figurative sinkhole upon publication in 2016.
An excerpt from the executive summary:
“Achieving deep economy-wide net GHG (green house gas) emissions reductions will require three major categories of action:
“I. Transitioning to a low-carbon energy system, by cutting energy waste, decarbonizing the electricity system and deploying clean electricity and low carbon fuels in the transportation, buildings, and industrial sectors;
“II. Sequestering carbon through forests, soils, and CO2 removal technologies, by bolstering the amount of carbon stored and sequestered in U.S. lands (“the land sink”) and deploying CO2 removal technologies like carbon beneficial bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), 1 which can provide “negative emissions”; and
“III. Reducing non-CO2 emissions, such as methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases, which result mainly from fossil fuel production, agriculture, waste, and refrigerants.”
So what does this portend for individuals? Here’s my take:
(a) All-electric heating and cooling, using heat pumps and baseboards in our residences and places of work. That means an end to gas/oil/propane furnaces and stoves and water heaters and clothes dryers. New buildings and dwellings will dramatically change in construction techniques and materials, and generate their own power. (See my post on “Urban Sequoias”.)
(b) Electric and hydrogen cars – and, for that matter, trucks and trains and ships. (I posted elsewhere my idea of cargo ships under partial sail that will use artificial intelligence for navigation.)
(c) Changes in air transport – to the point of minimizing it. Biofuels are a possibility. There are prototypical electric planes, but those will be useful only for light loads and short ranges. For overseas and transcontinental flights, I think that liquid hydrogen somehow must be harnessed. I also foresee a return to propeller passenger planes, in that they use less fuel than jets. (So, okay, your trip between Chicago and New York will take an additional forty-five or so minutes. Have a nice day.)
(d) Bye-bye to petroplastics. ‘Nuff said. (Limited exceptions: medical uses, etc.)
(e) I don’t think much of carbon capture technology: it’s way too expensive relative to amounts removed and stored. Nothing sequesters carbon as thoroughly and efficiently and inexpensively as Mother Nature. See my post about mid-ocean kelp farms made possible by biodegradable buoys.
I conclude with my regular observation: there is absolutely no substitute for us as individuals taking the initiative. (Examples: when your gas furnace gets beyond repair, take a look at heat pumps. They’re double duty: heating in the winter, cooling in the summer. Also, consider replacing your gas or propane clothes dryer and water heater and range with electrical models.)
Source:
(1) https://unfccc.int/files/focus/long-term_strategies/application/pdf/mid_century_strategy_report-final_red.pdf