John Sterman pokes holes through some popular proposals for addressing climate change, with sobering case studies that demonstrate why "technological solutions are not enough to address the problem of creating a sustainable world."
Most efforts to address carbon emissions focus on preventing them from entering the atmosphere in the first place. But how to get rid of CO2 already there? Start-ups are developing prototype air-capture systems.
Proposed new emissions standards would limit carbon dioxide produced by new power plants, which would probably prohibit construction of any coal-fired facilities.
The Obama administration proposed rules limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, a move that could essentially bar new coal-fired electric generation facilities. Howard Herzog comments.
Last week, the new U.S. secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, pledged to continue his predecessor’s work in making the Department of Energy a “center of innovation,” while also highlighting projects he thought deserved more attention. Near the top of his list is a renewed emphasis on carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), a technology that could prove vital to combating climate change, but is developing far too slowly, according to the International Energy Agency.
