Emerging Technologies and Solutions for the Sustainable Climate Change Challenges


Book Description

The Special Issue/book introduces advanced techniques and research that have helped to reduce CO2 emissions and to use CO2 for the manufacturing of valuable products. This book refers the research trends and emerging technologies contributing to the mitigation of current climate change. It covers multidisciplinary research topics such as carbon mineralization, solid waste management, and convergence technologies for sustainable solutions for climate change.




Global Climate Change - The Technology Challenge


Book Description

In order to avoid the potentially catastrophic impacts of global warming, the current 3% CO2 global emission growth rate must be transformed to a 1 to 3% declining rate, as soon as possible. This will require a rapid and radical transformation of the world’s energy production and end use systems. The current generation of energy technologies are not capable of achieving the level of mitigation required. Next generations of renewable, low carbon generation and end use technologies will be needed. This book quantifies the mitigation challenge. It then considers the status of key technologies needed to protect the planet from serious climate change impact. Current and emerging technologies are characterized for their mitigation potential, status of development and potential environmental impacts. Power generation, mobile sources, industrial and building sectors are evaluated in detail. The importance and unique challenges for rapidly developing countries, such as China and India are discussed. Current global research and development efforts for key technologies are discussed. It is concluded that it will be necessary to substantially upgrade and accelerate the current worldwide RDD&D effort on both emerging energy technologies and those enabling technologies needed to improve mitigation effectiveness and economics. It will also be necessary to carefully evaluate the potential environmental characteristics of next generation technologies to avoid unacceptable health and ecological impacts. Finally, given the monumental technological challenge associated with transforming the world’s energy system, geoengineering options are evaluated, since if successfully deployed, they have the potential to allow more time for the necessary energy system transformation. ‘This book on Climate Change not only gives a clear picture of the problem but suggests many of the pitfalls in solving it and recommends strongly, a research program to fill the gaps in our knowledge. It is a most useful reference book for all aspects of the problem.’ William D. Ruckelshaus, Madrona Venture Group/Evergreen Venture




Climate Preservation in Urban Communities Case Studies


Book Description

Climate Preservation in Urban Communities Case Studies delivers a firsthand, applied perspective on the challenges and solutions of creating urban communities that are adaptable and resilient to climate change. The book presents valuable insights into the real-life challenges and solutions of designing, planning and constructing urban sustainable communities, providing real world examples of innovative technologies that contribute to the creation of sustainable, healthy and livable cities. Examples of successes, failures and solutions are presented based on a cross disciplinary approach for infrastructural systems, including discussions of drinking water, wastewater, power systems, broadband, Wi-Fi, transportation and green buildings technologies. - Presents a cross-disciplinary approach for anticipating, mitigating and designing effective infrastructure solutions - Includes practical and project-proven best practices in applying climate preservation tools to maintain healthy cities - Covers green practices, from architecture, to construction, also including international codes, methods and legal frameworks




A Better Planet


Book Description

A practical, bipartisan call to action from the world’s leading thinkers on the environment and sustainability Sustainability has emerged as a global priority over the past several years. The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and the adoption of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals through the United Nations have highlighted the need to address critical challenges such as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water shortages, and air pollution. But in the United States, partisan divides, regional disputes, and deep disagreements over core principles have made it nearly impossible to chart a course toward a sustainable future. This timely new book, edited by celebrated scholar Daniel C. Esty, offers fresh thinking and forward-looking solutions from environmental thought leaders across the political spectrum. The book’s forty essays cover such subjects as ecology, environmental justice, Big Data, public health, and climate change, all with an emphasis on sustainability. The book focuses on moving toward sustainability through actionable, bipartisan approaches based on rigorous analytical research.




Solutions for Climate Change Challenges in the Built Environment


Book Description

The multi-disciplinary perspective provided here offers a strategic view on built environment issues and improve understanding of how built environment activities potentially induce global warming and climate change. It also highlights solutions to these challenges. Solutions to Climate change Challenges in the Built Environment helps develop an appreciation of the diverse themes of the climate change debate across the built environment continuum. A wide perspective is provided through contributions from physical, environmental, social, economic and political scientists. This strategic view on built environment issues will be useful to researchers as well as policy experts and construction practitioners wanting a holistic view. This book clarifies complex issues around climate change and follows five main themes: climate change experiences; urban landscape development; urban management issues; measurement of impact; and the future. Chapters are written by eminent specialists from both academic and professional backgrounds. The main context for chapters is the developed world but the discussion is widened to incorporate regional issues. The book will be valuable to researchers and students in all the built environment disciplines, as well as to practitioners involved with the design, construction and maintenance of buildings, and government organisations developing and implementing climate change policy.




Emerging Technologies for Sustainable and Smart Energy


Book Description

Considering the alarming issue of global climate change and its drastic consequences, there is an urgent need to further develop smart and innovative solutions for the energy sector. The goal of sustainable and smart energy for present and future generations can be achieved by integrating emerging technologies into the existing energy infrastructure. This book focuses on the role and significance of emerging technologies in the energy sector and covers the various technological interventions for both conventional and unconventional energy resources and provides meaningful insights into smart and sustainable energy solutions. The book also discusses future directions for smart and sustainable developments in the energy sector.




Just Technology


Book Description

To address the complexity of today's global challenges requires new ways of thinking. The idea that technology is always the best, maybe only, approach worth taking needs to be reconsidered. Sustainable approaches must also draw from non technological areas. To that end, this book introduces the idea of just technology by rephrasing the idea of just war in order to include concepts of sustainability in future engineering design. The book begins by defining justice and relating these definitions to technology. This is followed by illustrating several notions of sustainability and the awareness that needs to be focused on societal challenges due to the finite resources available in the natural world. Four questions are enumerated to be addressed in order to qualify as a just use of technology: (1) Is the harm being inflicted by the problem on the community, the environment, or humanity, in general lasting, serious, and certain? (2) Have all alternative solutions been investigated first, including non-technology-based solutions? Technology is the last choice, not the first! (3) Do we have confidence in the successful implementation of this technological solution? and (4) Is the potential harm from the technological solution potentially worse than the issue being addressed? Have all unintended consequences been considered that could arise from the technological solution? The book ends with a description for implementing these questions into the traditional engineering design process. Examples are included for reflection and help to understand how the design process proceeds.




One Planet Is Enough


Book Description

The present book offers a compelling sketch of how technological advances have shaped humankind’s evolution and how they can unlock ways to combat climate change and environmental threats. It also reveals new perspectives on climate change and sustainable development by harnessing technology. Given today’s conditions, only a homeless vegan could achieve a sustainable ecological footprint. In reality, it would be impossible, and even destructive, to attempt to save the planet by discontinuing consumption. It would disrupt evolution and threaten the driving forces of the technology that is our hope for combating climate change and environmental threats in the future. This is the opinion of Rune Westergård, engineer, entrepreneur, and environmental debater, with several decades of experience from the field of environmental and energy technology. He challenges many established truths on consumption and sustainability and demonstrates how and why they are flawed. From his point of view, both continued global growth and increased welfare are entirely possible within the ecological limitations of our planet. Once we learn to put technology to our best advantage, one planet will be enough.




Rethinking Climate Change Research


Book Description

The problems and debates surrounding climate change possess closely intertwined social and scientific aspects. This book highlights the importance of researching climate change through a multi-disciplinary approach; namely through cultural studies, communication studies, and clean-technology studies. These three dimensions taken together have the ability to constitute a positive agenda for climate change science in its broader understanding. To cope with the climate change challenge, not only do we need new energy efficient technologies, other ways of living, and new ways to communicate but we especially need new ways to start thinking about climate change across disciplines and backgrounds. We need to begin thinking across engineering, cultural science and communication in order to create innovative solutions, as well as to generate optimistic and progressive narratives about the future. Accentuating these 'softer' scientific disciplines, their overlaps, and the positive discourses they can create, this book provides some more profoundly researched themes pertaining to climate change and by that, strengthening the analytical as well as the integrative approaches toward the fundamental questions at stake.




Smart Green Cities


Book Description

Smart Green Cities: is a comprehensive overview of what global cities are doing to become sustainable. Woodrow W. Clark II and Grant Cooke have produced a book that is both practical and visionary. They have examined the infrastructure needs - sustainable development, communications, energy, water, waste, and transportation to develop guidelines, processes and best practices. City leaders are key to mitigating climate change who must plan, design and implement solutions. Smart Green Cities (SGC) offers a global perspective that includes implementing the Green Industrial Revolution the title of their last book. SGC discusses innovative emerging technologies, and the new economics paradigm that move beyond the out-dated neo-classical economics. The authors present examples from around the world including Europe, the U.S, China and the Middle East, which discuss the best green technologies from renewable energy power generation to smart on-site grid development. The extraordinary shift from a rural to an urban world is described; national plans are analyzed; so that future cities will be designed, built and implemented now - not 50 years from now. The struggle for the planet’s survival is being waged by the world’s cities. Clark and Cooke argue that cities are the key to mitigating climate change and reducing toxic greenhouse gas emissions. SGC introduces sustainable technologies; discusses the economics for implementing the solutions; and offers numerous examples to serve as pathways for cities to become smart, green, and thus carbon neutral.