from:
http://climateprogress.org/2008/10/22/an-introduction-to-the-core-climate-solutions/Many people have asked me to write some introductory pieces. This post will serve as an introduction to climate solutions as well as a gateway to my ongoing series on the core solutions. For ease of access, I will place this in the “most popular posts” list (in this blog’s right-hand column) and constantly update it.
By core climate solution, I mean a technology-based strategy that can provide at least one half of a “stabilization wedge” by mid-century. Even half a wedge is huge — some 350 Gigawatts baseload power (~2.8 billion Megawatt-hours a year) or 160 billion gallons of gasoline. For the record, the U.S. consumed about 3.7 billion MW-hrs in 2005 and about 140 billion gallons of motor gasoline.
The world needs to deploy 12 to 14 wedges by 2050 if we want to keep total global warming at or below 2°C and avoid crossing the carbon cycle tipping points that would drive us inexorably toward catastrophic climate impacts (see “IEA report: Climate Progress has the 450-ppm solution about right“). The core climate solutions I have been detailing are the ones put forward in “Is 450 ppm politically possible? Part 2: The Solution.” They include:
Energy efficiency is THE core climate solution, Part 1: The biggest low-carbon resource by far
Plug-in hybrids and electric cars — a core climate solution
Is coal with carbon capture and storage a core climate solution?
Recycled Energy — A core climate solution
Are biofuels a core climate solution?
Hot rocks are a rockin’ hot climate solution
Wind Power — A core climate solution
The Self-Limiting Future of Nuclear Power, Part 1
Concentrated solar thermal power Solar Baseload — a core climate solution.
more at link
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