Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora's Box?

by Edited by Brian Launder , J. Michael T. Thompson

• ISBN13: 9780521198035
• ISBN10: 0521198038
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-01-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is the first to present a detailed and critical appraisal of the geo-scale engineering interventions that have been proposed as potential measures to counter the devastation of run-away global warming. Early chapters set the scene with a discussion of projections of future CO2 emissions and techniques for predicting climate tipping points. Subsequent chapters then review proposals to limit CO2 concentrations through improved energy technologies, removal of CO2 from the atmosphere, and stimulated uptake by the oceans. Schemes for solar radiation management involving the reflection of sunlight back into space and using artificially brightened clouds and stratospheric aerosols are also assessed. Pros and cons of the various schemes are thoroughly examined - throwing light on the passionate public debate about their safety. Written by a group of the world's leading authorities on the subject, this comprehensive reference is essential reading for researchers and government policy makers at Copenhagen and beyond.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	p. vii
Preface	p. xv
Scene setting	p. 1
Geo-engineering: could we or should we make it work?	p. 3
Reframing the climate change challenge in light of post-2000 emission trends	p. 27
Predicting climate tipping points	p. 50
A geophysiologist's thoughts on geo-engineering	p. 84
Coping with carbon: a near-term strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power stations	p. 93
Carbon dioxide reduction	p. 105
Capturing Co2 from the atmosphere: rationale and process design considerations	p. 107
Carbon neutral hydrocarbons	p. 127
Ocean fertilization: a potential means of geo-engineering?	p. 149
The next generation of iron fertilization experiments in the Southern Ocean	p. 181
Solar radiation management	p. 205
Global temperature stabilization via controlled albedo enhancement of low-level maritime clouds	p. 207
Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming	p. 229
An overview of geo-engineering of climate using stratospheric sulphate aerosols	p. 250
Global and Arctic climate engineering: numerical model studies	p. 286
Index	p. 307
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