INTERACTIVE NOTEBOOK  Title: Solutions to Climate Change  Date: Check the board!

Directions:  1. Move through the slides and read them all.  2. Make a tree map on the right side of your notebook to put the ideas into categories. All the solutions need to be somewhere on the map.

Improved vehicle efficiency  Using less gas = fewer combustion pollutants  Hybrids use friction from breaking to charge electric battery “regenerative breaking”  Computer switches engine from gas to electricity.

Electric vehicles – Volt, Tesla, Leaf

Technology solution: fuel choices  Burn low-sulfur coal (anthracite)  Gasification turns solid coal to gas before it is burned – fewer particulates, SOx  Natural gas creates ½ CO 2 of coal!!

Fuel choices  Using natural gas to produce electricity instead of coal produces ½ the CO2

Fracking....  Major source of CH4 leaks.  Flaring – when CH4 can’t be sold profitably, it is flared off.  Eagle Ford – since 2009 burned billions of cubic feet of CH4 – enough to heat 335,000 homes/yr  Need for pipelines/storage?

Switch to alternative energies!  Wind power  Solar power  Hydro power  Tidal power  Geothermal heating and cooling

Energy Star appliances

HOW appliances and electronics are used  Wash full loads  Wash coolest, quickest setting possible  Shutting off appliances when not in use  Avoiding ghost/vampire charges

Lighting options: Incandescent  CFL  LED!

Carbon sequestration  CO 2 can be injected to enhance oil production, leaving CO 2 underground  Does not have to be part of secondary oil production – can just be done to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration.

NRG plans to cut 90% of its carbon emissions  Petra Nova project at WA Parrish:  Post-combustion carbon capture project.  CO2 will travel 80 miles through a pipeline for use in secondary oil recovery  “A response to pressure from consumers and investors, and cheaper wind and solar plants.”

The divestment movement  Individuals, universities and companies are dropping their investments in fossil fuels to send an economic message. An incentive for energy companies to move towards sustainables.

Three policy options  Cap and Trade  Carbon Tax  Carbon offsets

Government actions  Cap and Trade  EPA sets total emissions for an area (cap)  Divides total by number of sources  Each source has permits to emit their fair share  Extra permits can be sold or saved (trade)

Carbon Tax  Adding tax to gasoline or other fossil fuels would reduce their use and bring in money to invest in cleaner technologies Sustainability. It’s worth it.

Carbon Credits/Carbon offsets  Individual or company pays extra money when they create CO2. The money goes to a third company which plants trees or invests in clean technology

Which country is producing the most CO2? Check out the interactive map on this site!

International cooperation  Kyoto Protocol  1997 – 161 nations  Required developed nations to reduce GHG by 5% by 2012  Developing nations not required to cut  Emissions trading created (carbon offsets)  US, Australia, and Russia declined to participate  Has now officially expired

International cooperation  Last Fall – talks in Peru.  2015 Paris – next international meeting  November 2014 – US/China agreement to get serious about climate change  Committed to working out 2015 plan  US by 2025 will be 25% below 2005 CO2 levels  China – peak fossil fuel emissions by 2030 and will derive 20% of energy from sustainables by that point

From the US/China agreement:  At the same time, economic evidence makes increasingly clear that smart action on climate change now can drive innovation, strengthen economic growth and bring broad benefits – from sustainable development to increased energy security, improved public health and a better quality of life. Tackling climate change will also strengthen national and international security.  Technological innovation is essential for reducing the cost of current mitigation technologies, leading to the invention and dissemination of new zero and low-carbon technologies and enhancing the capacity of countries to reduce their emissions. The United States and China are two of the world’s largest investors in clean energy and already have a robust program of energy technology cooperation.  Check out details in #8 in link from title!