Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
such a transition mesh seamlessly with the need to respond assertively to
abate global warming.
In the Stern Review—the oft-quoted economic impact assessment of cli-
mate change—climate change was called “the greatest and widest-ranging
market failure ever seen.” he review concluded that “the beneits of strong,
early action (to abate global warming) considerably outweigh the costs.” In
emphasizing the importance of expedience in facilitating a transition away
from fossil fuel dependence, the report declared:
he efects of our actions now on future changes in the climate have long lead times.
What we do now can have only a limited efect on the climate over the next 40 or
50 years. On the other hand, what we do in the next 10 or 20 years can have a pro-
found efect on the climate in the second half of this century and in the next.
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he IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change also echoed the
appeal made in the Stern Review that expediency in developing and imple-
menting mitigation measures is of utmost importance. he report stated:
Many impacts can be reduced, delayed or avoided by mitigation. Mitigation
eforts and investments over the next two to three decades will have a large
impact on opportunities to achieve lower stabilisation levels. Delayed emission
reductions signiicantly constrain the opportunities to achieve lower stabilisa-
tion levels and increase the risk of more severe climate change impacts.
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In fact, in November 2011, the IEA released a statement in the lead up
to the COP17 Climate Change talks in Durban, South Africa, which warned
that the window for taking action was rapidly closing and that failure to make
efective decisions to alter the trajectory of CO
2
emissions within the next ive
years will lead to a technological lock-in, whereby the chance to avoid danger-
ous climate change will be lost forever.
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herefore, it is promising that the
forces which justify an expedient transition to alternative energy are amass-
ing during a period of time when just such expediency is required.
1.7 THE DICHOTOMY OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
Yet the pace of alternative energy development has been phlegmatic
despite
emergent levelized cost data such as the data presented earlier (Figure 1.8),
which indicate that wind power, hydro power, geothermal power, and bio-
mass combustion are all economically competitive with all forms of fos-
sil fuel power (with or without carbon capture and sequestration);
despite
