Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction to the First Edition
- Introduction to the Second Edition
- 1 Global Warming and Climate Change
- 2 The Greenhouse Effect
- 3 The Greenhouse Gases
- 4 Climates of the Past
- 5 Modelling the Climate
- 6 Climate Change Under Business-as-usual
- 7 The Impacts of Climate Change
- 8 Why Should We Be Concerned?
- 9 Weighing the Uncertainty
- 10 Strategy for Action to Slow and Stabilize Climate Change
- 11 Energy and Transport for the Future
- 12 The Global Village
- Glossary
- Index
11 - Energy and Transport for the Future
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction to the First Edition
- Introduction to the Second Edition
- 1 Global Warming and Climate Change
- 2 The Greenhouse Effect
- 3 The Greenhouse Gases
- 4 Climates of the Past
- 5 Modelling the Climate
- 6 Climate Change Under Business-as-usual
- 7 The Impacts of Climate Change
- 8 Why Should We Be Concerned?
- 9 Weighing the Uncertainty
- 10 Strategy for Action to Slow and Stabilize Climate Change
- 11 Energy and Transport for the Future
- 12 The Global Village
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
We flick a switch and energy flows. Energy is provided so easily for the developed world that thought is rarely given to where it comes from, whether it will ever run out or whether it is harming the environment. Energy is also cheap enough that little serious attention is given to conserving it. However, most of the world's energy comes from the burning of fossil fuels which generates a large proportion of the greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere If these emissions are to be reduced, a large proportion of the reduction will have to occur in the energy sector. There is a need, therefore, to concentrate the minds of policymakers and indeed of everyone on our energy requirements and usage. This chapter looks at how future energy might be provided in a sustainable manner.
World energy demand and supply
Most of the energy we use can be traced back to the sun. In the case of fossil fuels it has been stored away over millions of years in the past. If wood (or other biomass including animal and vegetable oils), hydro-power, wind or solar energy itself is used, the energy has either been converted from sunlight almost immediately or has been stored for at most a few years. These latter sources of energy are renewable; they will be considered in more detail later in the chapter. The only common form of energy that does not originate with the sun is nuclear energy; this comes from radioactive elements which were present in the Earth when it was formed.
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- Information
- Global WarmingThe Complete Briefing, pp. 189 - 228Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997