CLIMATE CHANGE and the road to NET-ZERO
There were two things that inspired me to start my blog: Show your work!, by Austin Kleon and the Net-Zero blog by Mathew Hampshire-Waugh. Moreover, reading through Matthew’s posts in social media and the different book blogs he publishes made me want to further explore the book, Climate Change and the road to Net-zero.
I am sharing now my take-aways and some concepts I learned.
A book full of science. It starts from the beginning, the very beginning of time. And it presents a whole spectrum of views, which can be overwhelming at first, nonetheless, the beautifully curated, packed with information and easy to understand figures help in following the argumentation.
For the first time in history, sustainably improved prosperity was made possible for an increasing number of people, just by unlocking the energy power of fossil fuels. Understanding how the carbon cycles control the climate, and how climate models work is not an easy process, but you get a comprehensive, guided explanation step by step. Additionally, realizing the scale of the social and economic costs of the climate change is eye opening, even more when you hit the Carbon Crunch versus the Credit Crunch.
From this point onwards, I started to navigate more familiar waters, diving into the emissions sources, in their full spectrum, and what can we do about them. Although, I was not aware of the Kaya Identity, an equation used to understand the greenhouse emissions mitigation strategies.
In the path to net-zero, renewable electricity with short term storage (energy storage technologies are key) must form the backbone of the zero-carbon energy supply.
By examining the energy usage across transport, industry, amenities and agriculture in length, the production of chemicals and plastics has its honourable mention. Of course, they must be re-engineered as well to run on a net-zero energy supply, even though it will mean a realignment of the industry´s economical model. In order to decarbonise the chemical industry the book focuses on electrification of heat and addresses the inevitable additional production cost. In the Net Zero Chemistry blog both topics are discussed in more detail if you follow the links.
Transitioning to a net-zero economy has better payback compared to remain bound to fossil fuels (8 to 14 years). It becomes a question of money, finding $3.5 trillion per year, overcoming the hurdles to action, and tapping on the will of the change agents.
If you are interested in the book yourself, the image redirects you to my associates link.
