Energy and Climate: Vision for the Future

by Michael B. McElroy

The climate of our planet is changing at a rate unprecedented in recent human history. The energy absorbed from the sun exceeds what is returned to space. The planet as a whole is gaining energy. The heat content of the ocean is increasing; the surface and atmosphere are warming; mid-latitude glaciers are melting; sea level is rising. The Arctic Ocean is losing its ice cover. None of these assertions are based on theory but on hard scientific fact. Given the science-heavy nature of climate change, debates and discussions have not played as big a role in the public sphere as they should, and instead are relegated to often misinformed political discussions and inaccessible scientific conferences. Michael B. McElroy, an eminent Harvard scholar of environmental studies, combines both his research chops and pedagogical expertise to present a book that will appeal to the lay reader but still be grounded in scientific fact.

In Energy and Vision for the Future , McElroy provides a broad and comprehensive introduction to the issue of energy and climate change intended to be accessible for the general reader. The book includes chapters on energy basics, a discussion of the contemporary energy systems of the US and China, and two chapters that engage the debate regarding climate change. The perspective is global but with a specific focus on the US and China recognizing the critical role these countries must play in addressing the challenge of global climate change. The book concludes with a discussion of initiatives now underway to at least reduce the rate of increase of greenhouse gas emissions, together with a vision for a low carbon energy future that could in principle minimize the long-term impact of energy systems on global climate.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2016

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a useful compendium of current knowledge about the production of climate-altering gases and the contribution of different energy sources to the problem. Its main outline can be summed up in a few words: yes, carbon dioxide, methane, etc, trap energy in the atmosphere and therefore are changing the temperature of the earth; oil & coal & cows are the worst contributors, but the attractive renewables (solar/wind/geothermal/tidal forces) are unlikely to meet energy demands; nuclear fission is politically unpopular and fusion is a "pipe dream." (Regarding this last point, I would direct anyone who hasn't read it to the New Yorker piece on the facility in southern France:http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201... ). Each of these topics gets a thorough review in its own chapter with lots of charts, graphs and scholarly footnotes; the intended audience appears to be college students trapped in a course on climate change. The least successful chapter, in my view, is when the author tries to refute a number of arguments by skeptics; alas, it reads like a bunch of strawman arguments that end with the conclusion "the criticism is without merit." Personally I think he should just explain why we think it's happening and ignore refutations of arguments that are "without merit." Then, perhaps, he could spend more time on the arguments with merit, such as the uncertainty surrounding our predictions. In sum, it's a useful reference book, but I doubt it will make anyone's Christmas list.

[Nicholas A Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise explanations

I have been school taught in climatology and resource policy so this book is right in my wheelhouse of favorite material. Regarding the writing in the book itself, the concepts and explanations are not unwieldy and are accessible to the unwitting reader as well as the more experienced. At the time of my reading some of the references were a bit dated, resulting from an evolving and sometimes confusing political climate. Some of the technologies presented are new to me, particularly those offered as solutions to the GHG problem in the final pages of the book. I have read extensively on renewable energy technology and policy. Still, I feel like this book pointed me in some new directions. I recommend it.