United States 2009 Global Climate Change Summit Environmental Debriefing

1. United States 2009Global Climate Change SummitEnvironmental Debriefing Presented by Peter McNeary, Adam Hawkins, and Andy Kwok

2. Current Trends in Global Climate • Due to the increase in the global climate’s temperature, the polar icecaps are melting and sea levels are consequently rising. • Rising sea levels will erode coast lines and contaminate estuaries with high-salinity water. • Industrialization of developing nations will contribute to atmospheric pollutants. • CFCs and industrial technologies are depleting the world’s supply of stratospheric ozone.

3. The Wedge • Environmentalists recommend the use of the “wedge” approach to combating global warming. • The wedge tactic, proposed by Princeton University's Carbon Mitigation Initiative, takes into account the necessity of population growth and industrial expansion by neutralizing the predicted carbon emissions over the next fifty years. • The “wedges” themselves are technologies that can be used advantageously to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. • As each wedge technology is researched, developed, and improved, each wedge will be able to reduce more and more carbon, keeping up with industry and population growth’s demand.

4. Here are some wedges for your consideration:

5. Photovoltaic (Solar) Power • Solar power is 100% carbon dioxide free once it is established and is usable anywhere in the world. It is also four times as expensive as coal. • Solar power must be coupled with energy storage because solar panels generate no energy during the night or on cloudy days.

6. Wind Power • Wind turbines, once erected, are 100% carbon dioxide free. • Wind turbines requires open areas where winds are unimpeded by geological barriers. • Wind power is intermittent depending on weather patterns. This makes it essential to have some way of storing the electricity generated by the turbines. • Wind turbines can interfere with the migratory patterns of birds. It is important to place them where they will not disrupt migration.

7. Gas Power • Natural gas can be extracted from underground gas pockets, bogs, marshes, and landfills. • Natural gas produces 45% less carbon dioxide than coal when combusted.

8. Biofuels • Biofuels, such as ethanol, are produced from grains. In the United States, subsidies from the government make ethanol production profitable even though corn-based ethanol is far from the most efficient method of producing ethanol. • The environmental community recommends the use of algae in ethanol production. Ethanol is twenty times as efficient as corn in energy production.

9. Nuclear Power • Nuclear energy is a non-renewable resource that yields tremendous amounts of energy when it is refined and consumed in a chain reaction. • Nuclear power, while it is carbon dioxide free, still emits waste in the form of depleted uranium, which is radioactive. • Nuclear technology is inexpensive and easy to establish.

10. Fuel Cells and Vehicular Efficiency • Cars can be improved by recapturing energy that would otherwise be wasted. The recapture is make possible through hybrid technology, which takes energy created by breaking and stores it in batteries. • Compressed liquid hydrogen can be used in vehicles. It is combined with oxygen in fuel cells to produce water vapor, which is released into the atmosphere. Water vapor, while it is still a greenhouse gas, exits the atmosphere much more quickly than carbon dioxide. • Liquid hydrogen is made with purified water and electricity, which can be produced by renewable energy sources. Liquid hydrogen is extremely compact and efficient to transport, much like gasoline.

11. Building Efficiency • The energy efficiency of buildings can be improved by upgrading insulation, designing buildings to be compatible with their geographic locations, and minimizing energy requirements. • One method of improving insulation is to include a thin layer of glass in a building’s walls.

12. Reforestation • Tropical forests contain about 7-10 wedges worth of carbon in living trees and 5-9 wedges worth of carbon in the soil. When forests are logged, all of the carbon dioxide in the trees is given up to the atmosphere, and one third of the carbon dioxide in the soil enters the atmosphere. • If the world’s net amount of trees goes up, however, forests can become greater carbon dioxide sinks. • Reforestation is cheap and possible to enact through policies and practices.

13. Carbon Capture and Storage • Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the process of trapping atmospheric carbon and storing it where it cannot mix with the atmosphere. • Carbon dioxide, after being captured, is pumped to another location. • The captured carbon dioxide is then pumped into the ground where it is trapped at a high pressure underneath a layer of rock or dissolved underneath the ocean floor.

14. Black Soot Reduction • Black soot, or black carbon, is the product of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. • The primary causes for atmospheric black soot are open biomass burning for clearing farmland or construction sites, traditional domestic technologies (biomass stoves), and diesel engines. • In order to cease the addition of black soot to the atmosphere, outdated technologies have to be replaced by modern ones. • The U.S. can reduce the amount of black carbon it produces primarily by getting rid of diesel engines or upgrading diesel engine efficiency so that the combustion reactions taking place are more complete or by using wood from forest clearing for constructive purposes.

15. The Best Wedges for the United States • Best Wedges • Photovoltaic Power (Available funds) • Wind Power (Available funds and geographic locations) • Gas Power (Available reservoirs) • Biofuels (Appropriate agricultural means and capacity) • Nuclear Power (Appropriate technology and storage capabilities) • Fuel Cells and Vehicular Efficiency (Available technology) • Building Efficiency (Available funds) • Reforestation (Necessary preservation of U.S. wildlife) • Acceptable Wedges • Black Soot Reduction (The United States already does a lot to reduce its black soot and U.S. citizens do not use biomass fuels domestically for the most part) • Carbon Sequestration (Carbon sequestration is a difficult technology to use that has not been researched fully, and it requires its own infrastructure)

16. Clean Development Mechanisms (CDMs) • We suggest that the United States partner with Mexico and other Latin American countries because these countries have more rainforests and threatened biodiversity. The United States can play a role in preserving biodiversity by funding reforestation projects and helping developing countries in Latin America meet energy needs without destroying forests.