Energy Solutions to Air Pollution and Global Warming - Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions - page 309

Chapter 13

Energy Solutions to Air Pollution
and Global Warming

This topic addresses local to global atmospheric prob-
lems, including outdoor and indoor air pollution, acid
deposition, stratospheric ozone loss, and global warm-
ing. It also discusses historic regulatory actions aimed
at incrementally reducing emissions of gases and parti-
cles. In this chapter, the focus shifts to a different type
of solution to these problems, namely, the complete
and large-scale conversion of the current combustion-
based energy infrastructure to one based on electricity
and an energy carrier derived from electricity, hydro-
gen, with the simultaneous implementation of energy
efficiency measures. The electricity, in all cases, is pro-
duced by clean technologies that take advantage of the
natural and renewable resources of wind, water, and
sunlight (WWS) .Ananalysis is provided for replac-
ing current worldwide energy for all purposes (elec-
tric power, transportation, heating/cooling) with energy
from WWS. The analysis includes a presentation of
WWS energy characteristics, current and future energy
demand, and availability of WWS resources. It also dis-
cusses the number of WWS devices needed to power
the world, the physical land or ocean footprint and spac-
ing needed for such devices, and materials required
to build the devices. It then introduces methods of
addressing the variability of WWS energy to ensure
that power supply reliably matches demand, the direct
and social costs of WWS generation and transmission
versus the costs of fossil fuels, and policy measures
needed to enhance the viability of a WWS system. The
discussion draws primarily from Jacobson and Delucchi

(2011), Delucchi and Jacobson (2011), and references
therein.

13.1. Clean, Low-Risk, Sustainable
Energy Systems
Because it is not possible to eliminate all gas and
particle emissions from combustion of carbon-based
fuels, a solution to the problems of global warming,
air pollution, and energy insecurity requires a large-
scale conversion to clean, perpetual, and reliable energy,
together with improvements in energy efficiency. Here,
aproposed solution to these problems is discussed.
It involves the conversion, by 2030 to 2050, of all
sectors of the world's energy infrastructure, includ-
ing the electric power, transportation, industrial,
and heating/cooling sectors ,toenergy derived solely
from WWS.
The complete transformation of the energy infra-
structure would not be the first large-scale project under-
taken in world history. During World War II, the United
States transformed motor vehicle production facilities
to produce more than 300,000 aircraft , and the rest of
the world manufactured 486,000 more aircraft. In the
United States, production increased from about 2,000
units in 1939 to almost 100,000 units in 1944. In 1956,
the United States began work on the Interstate High-
way System ,which now extends for 47,000 miles and
is one of the largest public works project in history.
The Apollo program ,widely considered the world's