Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy

Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy is a 2007 book by Australian academic Dr Mark Diesendorf. The book suggests that a mix of efficient energy use, renewable energy sources and natural gas (as a transitional fuel) offers a clean and feasible energy future for Australia.^[1]

Additional recommended knowledge

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Structure

The book is a comprehensive guide to sustainable energy systems^[2] and is structured in three sections:

• Introduction to the basic concepts and latest scientific evidence regarding global warming.
• Assessment of energy technologies, including coal, nuclear and more sustainable alternatives.
• Discussion of policies and strategies needed to overcome the non-technical barriers to renewable energies and energy efficiency.^[3]

Themes

Dr. Diesendorf argues that:

• Ecologically sustainable energy technologies based on energy efficiency, renewable energy and natural gas are commercially available today, and that their implementation could halve Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions within a few decades.
• To implement these technologies, new policies must be developed and implemented by all three levels of government.
• The main barriers are neither technical nor economic, but rather our social institutions and the political power of the big greenhouse gas emitting industries: coal, oil, aluminium, cement and motor vehicles.^[4]

Quotes

• "The enhanced greenhouse effect is arguably the most dangerous environmental problem and the most difficult political issue to be faced by the world in the 21st century." (p. 1)

• "The recent push for a revival of nuclear energy has been based on its claimed reduction in CO₂ emissions where it substitutes for coal-fired power stations. In reality, only reactor operation is CO₂-free. All other stages of the nuclear fuel chain -- mining, milling, fuel fabrication, enrichment, reactor construction, decommissioning, and waste management -- use fossil fuels and hence emit CO₂..." (p. 252)

• "Global wind-power capacity continues to expand and, apart from the blip in 2006, its costs continue to decline steadily. Wind power is one of the few energy supply technologies that are ready for wide dissemination today, unlike coal with CO₂ capture and sequestration and unlike nuclear power. Wind can deliver deep cuts in CO₂, while providing a hedge against fluctuating fossil fuel prices and reducing energy import dependence." (p. 126)

The author

Dr Diesendorf teaches and researches ecologically sustainable development and greenhouse solutions at the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of NSW. Previously he has been a Principle Research Scientist at CSIRO, Professor of Environmental Science at UTS and Vice-President of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics. ^[5]

See also

• Effects of global warming on Australia
• Renewable energy commercialization in Australia
• Sustainable development
• Wind power in Australia
• The Clean Tech Revolution
• Reaction Time (book)
• Anti-nuclear movement in Australia

References

1. ^ Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy -- Free symposium
2. ^ Review by Patrick O'Neill
3. ^ Scientific approach to an emotional – and political – issue
4. ^ Greenhouse solutions with sustainable energy
5. ^ Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy -- Free symposium

Bibliography

Diesendorf, Mark (2007). Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy, UNSW Press, 432 pages, ISBN 9-78086-840-9733