Beyond Smoke And Mirrors: Climate Change And Energy In The 21st Century

Beyond Smoke and Mirrors Climate Change and Energy in the 21st Century What are the practical options for addressing global climate change? How do we provide sustainable energy and electricity for a rapidly growing world population? Which energy provision options are good, bad, and indifferent? One of the most important issues facing humanity today is the prospect of global climate change, brought about primarily by our prolific energy use and heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Continuing on our present course using the present mix of fuels as the world economy and population grow will lead to very serious consequences. There are many claims and counterclaims about what to do to avert such potentially dire consequences. This has generated a fog of truths, half-truths, and exaggerations, and many people are understandably confused about these issues. The aim of this book is to help dispel the fog, and allow citizens to come to their own conclusions concerning the best options to avert dangerous climate change by switching to more sustainable energy provision. The book begins with a composed and balanced discussion of the basics of climate change: what we know, how we know it, what the uncertainties are, and what causes it. There is no doubt that global warming is real; the question is how bad we will allow things to get. The main part of the book discusses how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit the global temperature rise, including what the upper limit on greenhouse gases should be, how fast we should go to cut emissions, and all of the energy options being advocated to reduce those emissions. The many sensible, senseless, and self-serving proposals are assessed. Beyond Smoke and Mirrors provides an accessible and concise overview of climate change science and current energy demand and supply patterns. It presents a balanced view of how our heavy reliance on fossil fuels can be changed over time so that we have a much more sustainable energy system going forward into the twenty-first century and beyond. The book is written in a non-technical style so that it is accessible to a wide range of readers without scientific backgrounds: students, policymakers, and the concerned citizen. BURTON RICHTER is Paul Pigott Professor in the Physical Sciences Emeritus, and Director Emeritus, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University. He is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist for his pioneering work in the discovery of a heavy elementary particle. He received the Lawrence Medal from the US Department of Energy and the Abelson Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over the past decade, he has turned his attention from high-energy physics to climate change and energy issues, and has earned a strong reputation in this field as well. He has served on many national and international review committees, but his most dire