Geo-engineering climate change
Subtitle: environmental necessity or Pandora's box?
By: edited by Brian Launder, Michael Thompson.
Contributors: Launder, B. E.; Thompson, Michael T.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9780521198035
Subjects: Carbon dioxide mitigation; Green technology; Geological carbon sequestration; Global warming
Other titles: Geo-Engineering Climate Change: Environmental Necessity or Pandora's Box?
Description: "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"--Provided by publisher.

"If anthropogenic carbon emissions continue unabated and global temperatures continue to rise, large-scale geo-engineering projects may prove our last hope for controlling the Earth's climate. 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 defeat the devastation of runaway global warming. Early chapters set the scene by presenting a historical and philosophical overview of global warming and by discussing 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, direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and stimulation of enhanced CO2 uptake by the oceans. Schemes for solar radiation management involving the reflection of sunlight back into space and using artificially brightened, low-level marine stratus clouds and stratospheric aerosols are also described and assessed. With some technologies already at prototype-testing stage, the 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"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: Preface Brian Launder and J. Michael T. Thompson; Part I. Scene Setting: 1. Geo-engineering: could we or should we make it work? Stephen H. Schneider; 2. Reframing the climate change challenge in light of post-2000 emission trends Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows; 3. Predicting climate tipping points J. Michael T. Thompson and Jan Sieber; 4. A geo-physiologist's thoughts on geo-engineering James Lovelock; 5. Coping with carbon: a near term strategy to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power stations Paul Breeze; Part II. Carbon Dioxide Reduction: 6. Capturing CO2 from the atmosphere David W. Keith, Kenton Heidel and Robert Cherry; 7. Carbon neutral hydrocarbons Frank S. Zeman and David W. Keith; 8. Ocean fertilisation: a potential means of geo-engineering? R. S. Lampitt, E. P. Achterberg, T. R. Anderson, J. A. Hughes, M. D. Iglesias-Rodriguez, B. A. Kelly-Gerreyn, M. Lucas, E. E. Popova, R. Sanders, J. G. Shepherd, D. Smythe-Wright and A. Yool; 9. The next generation of iron fertilisation experiments in the Southern Ocean V. Smetacek, and S. W. A. Naqvi; Part III. Solar Radiation Management: 10. Global temperature stabilization via controlled albedo enhancement of low-level maritime clouds John Latham, Philip J. Rasch, Chih-Chieh (Jack) Chen, Laura Kettles, Alan Gadian, Andrew Gettleman, Hugh Morrison, Keith Bower and Tom Choularton; 11. Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming Stephen Salter, Graham Sortino and John Latham; 12. An overview of geo-engineering of climate using stratospheric sulfate aerosols Philip J. Rasch, Simone Tilmes, Richard P. Turco, Alan Robock, Luke Oman, Chih-Chieh (Jack) Chen, Georgiy L. Stenchikov and Rolando R. Garcia; 13. Global and Arctic climate engineering: numerical model studies Ken Caldeira and Lowell Wood; Index.