Book Blog
Excerpts from the book ‘CLIMATE CHANGE and the road to NET-ZERO’ covering the science, technology, economics, and politics of climate change.
by Mathew Hampshire-Waugh
Long-Term Energy Storage in a Net-Zero Future
The technologies which enable long-term energy storage - from heat, to pumping water to manufacturing hydrogen. How will long term storage work and what will it cost?
Short-Term Energy Storage in a Net-Zero Future
Why Lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro are the leading candidates for short duration grid energy storage. And why renewables electricity generation plus storage will be cheaper than fossil fuel electricity in a Net-Zero future.
Net-Zero and the role of Energy Storage
From short-term energy storage to seasonal energy storage - how do we balance supply and demand in a Net-Zero future. Pumped Hydro, Batteries, Compressed Air, Gravity, Demand Response, Hydrogen and e-Fuels: the technology ready to take on the energy storage challenge.
Climate Engineering & Negative Emissions Technology
Tree Planting, Rock Weathering, Ocean Nutrition, Direct Air Capture, and Biomass with Carbon Capture - the pros and cons of sucking CO2 from the air. Why Negative Emissions Technology is useful for slowing Global Warming and offsetting hard-to-abate emissions, but will likely be limited to 10-30% of the solution.
Water Supply, Climate Change, & Net-Zero
Climate change will reduce the availability of fresh water due to rising heat, dry soils, more extreme downpours and flooding. Continue burning fossil fuels and we risk running dry this century. Switch to Net-Zero and the World can better manage natural resources.
The Nuts and Bolts of Climate Modelling
How climate scientists use General Circulation Models to calculate future CO2-led temperature increases and amplifying feedback mechanisms. And why the next generation of Earth System Models may find further temperature amplifying effects and dangerous tipping points.
Air Pollution, Climate Change, and Co-Benefits
Fossil fuel combustion is responsible for more than 90% of all air pollutants. It generates invisible particulate matter which heightens the risk of respiratory disease and heart failure, leading to the premature deaths of 4-9 million people each year (15% of all deaths). Shift the global energy system to NET-ZERO and we can eliminate most air pollution issues.
Climate Change Damages - Heat, Fire, and Drought
The regions of the world most vulnerable to searing summer temperatures. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme heat-related events in a warmer world. How deliberate human-induced forest burning is down, but wildfires are up. And why fewer winter deaths will be overwhelmed by increasing heat-deaths.
Climate Change Damages - Rising Seas, Storms, and Flooding
The countries and cities around the World most at risk from rising seas and more frequent and/or more intense extreme wet weather.
Climate Engineering & Solar Radiation Management
Mirrors in space, manipulating clouds, or painting the Earth white to slow or halt global warming. Why solar radiation management techniques appear a cheap and quick fix, but don’t offer a complete solution to climate change and run a seriously high risk of going badly wrong.
A Short History of Climate Models
The Swedish chemist who first pieced together the maths of global warming, the British Engineer who first warned of climate change, and how even the earliest climate models have proven highly accurate.
The Human Epoch: How we are destabilising the Earth
Why CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere and has already warmed the Earth by over 1⁰C and how we are emitting CO2 ten times faster than the fastest warming event in 60 million years of Earth’s history.
Understanding Greenhouse Gases
The major greenhouse gases and where they come from. Why different greenhouse gases have different warming impacts on the planet. How each greenhouse gas has contributed to warming so far and why CO2 is centre stage.
A Brief History of Climate Progress
Over 100 years of climate science and predictions. Global frameworks for climate action and what they mean, how the Paris Accord and NDCs work, and why we are still heading for 3 degrees warming.
The Carbon Cycle and Ice Ages
The carbon cycle, Milankovitch cycles, and human emissions - how planet Earth has gone from Icebox to Greenhouse.
The Limits of Carbon Capture for Energy
Why carbon capture technology could prove useful in reaching net-zero but limitations on distribution, storage, and costs mean that it will likely be limited to less than 10% of emissions and should be reserved for hard-to-abate areas of the economy like cement, chemicals, and fertilisers.
Energy Supply Options for a Net-Zero Future
From fossil fuels, to nuclear, to renewables - how do we choose the energy mix for a sustainable future with safe, reliable, low-cost, and zero-carbon energy?
Understanding Energy
Why the sun provides enough energy to power the economy 7,000 times over. And how burning coal, oil, and gas over the last 200 years has provided the surplus energy, knowledge, and innovation required to unleash the net-zero technologies for a sustainable future.
How much will zero carbon energy cost?
Net-Zero is about technology not geology. Learning curves describe the rate at which the cost of modular technologies decline with scale (not time) and point to wind and solar becoming by far the cheapest form of electricity generation once fully scaled.
Net-Zero Industry
The economics of shifting steel, cement, and chemicals to zero carbon. And how sustainable wood products & the fourth industrial revolution could help us reach net-zero.