Interdisciplinary Research on Climate and Energy Decision Making

Interdisciplinary Research on Climate and Energy Decision Making
Author: M. Granger Morgan
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2022-12-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1000810933

This book explores the role and importance of interdisciplinary research in addressing key issues in climate and energy decision making. For over 30 years, an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students anchored at Carnegie Mellon University, joined by investigators and students from a number of other collaborating institutions across North America, Europe, and Australia, have worked together to better understand the global changes that are being caused by both human activities and natural causes. This book tells the story of their successful interdisciplinary work. With each chapter written in the first person, the authors have three key objectives: (1) to document and provide an accessible account of how they have framed and addressed a range of the key problems that are posed by the human dimensions of global change; (2) to illustrate how investigators and graduate students have worked together productively across different disciplines and locations on common problems; and (3) to encourage funders and scholars across the world to undertake similar large- scale interdisciplinary research activities to meet the world’s largest challenges. Exploring topics such as energy efficiency, public health, and climate adaptation, and with a final chapter dedicated to lessons learned, this innovative volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, energy transitions and environmental studies more broadly.

Communicating Climate Change Information for Decision-Making

Communicating Climate Change Information for Decision-Making
Author: Silvia Serrao-Neumann
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2018-03-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3319746693

This book provides important insight on a range of issues focused on three themes; what new climate change information is being developed, how that knowledge is communicated and how it can be usefully applied across international, regional and local scales. There is increasing international investment and interest to develop and communicate updated climate change information to promote effective action. As change accelerates and planetary boundaries are crossed this information becomes particularly relevant to guide decisions and support both proactive adaptation and mitigation strategies. Developing new information addresses innovations in producing interdisciplinary climate change knowledge and overcoming issues of data quality, access and availability. This book examines effective information systems to guide decision-making for immediate and future action. Cases studies in developed and developing countries illustrate how climate change information promotes immediate and future actions across a range of sectors.

The Future of Electric Power in the United States

The Future of Electric Power in the United States
Author: National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021-11-25
Genre:
ISBN: 9780309684446

Electric power is essential for the lives and livelihoods of all Americans, and the need for electricity that is safe, clean, affordable, and reliable will only grow in the decades to come. At the request of Congress and the Department of Energy, the National Academies convened a committee of experts to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the U.S. grid and how it how it might evolve in response to advances in new energy technologies, changes in demand, and future innovation. The Future of Electric Power in the United States presents an extensive set of policy and funding recommendations aimed at modernizing the U.S. electric system. The report addresses technology development, operations, grid architectures, and business practices, as well as ways to make the electricity system safe, secure, sustainable, equitable, and resilient.

Energy Transition and Climate Change in Decision-making Processes

Energy Transition and Climate Change in Decision-making Processes
Author: Georgios Tsantopoulos
Publisher: Mdpi AG
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2022-01-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9783036527079

There is a growing concern about the climate; numerous voices stress that, in order to overcome the climate crisis, the transition to a low-carbon society is the most reasonable path to follow. In this type of society, individuals would be characterized by making mindful efforts to drastically decrease carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, and promote benign energy sources. In order to facilitate this transition, a social perspective in addition to technological, political and economic aspects must be integrated into the relevant decision-making processes. This is necessary because the public can strongly affect actions aimed at driving profound changes in traditional energy systems. To contribute to the effort of promoting energy transition, the Editors of this book invited scholars and practitioners conducting research in the areas of climate change and the energy transition to submit their work. This book includes studies that establish a valuable source of information which can be used to enhance decision-making processes which, in turn, can turn the energy transition into reality. Hopefully, efforts such as this collection of knowledge can help economies make a step towards a secure and sustainable energy future in which renewables will have replaced the centuries-long human dependence on fossil fuels.

Energy Justice in a Changing Climate

Energy Justice in a Changing Climate
Author: Karen Bickerstaff
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2013-10-10
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1780325800

Energy justice is one of the most critical, and yet least developed, concepts associated with sustainability. Much has been written about the sustainability of low-carbon energy systems and policies - with an emphasis on environmental, economic and geopolitical issues. However, less attention has been directed at the social and equity implications of these dynamic relations between energy and low-carbon objectives - the complexity of injustice associated with whole energy systems (from extractive industries, through to consumption and waste) that transcend national boundaries and the social, political-economic and material processes driving the experience of energy injustice and vulnerability. Drawing on a substantial body of original research from an international collaboration of experts this unique collection addresses energy poverty, just innovation, aesthetic justice and the justice implications of low-carbon energy systems and technologies. The book offers new thinking on how interactions between climate change, energy policy, and equity and social justice can be understood and develops a critical agenda for energy justice research.

Climate Smart & Energy Wise

Climate Smart & Energy Wise
Author: Mark S. McCaffrey
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2014-09-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1483353532

"Climate Smart & Energy Wise provides a roadmap to teachers to assist them in acquiring the background and resources to bring climate and energy education into their classrooms . . . It provides a wealth of information to help teachers find resources, including the very useful Climate Literacy and Energy Literacy frameworks, developed by scientists and master teachers. This book is packed with suggestions for where a teacher can find more information and classroom guidance for the teaching of global climate change." - From the Foreword by Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D., former Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc. and Jay B. Labov, Ph.D., Senior Advisor for Education and Communication for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council Today’s answers to our most urgent climate issues The twenty-first century ushered in a set of unmistakably urgent global challenges that are too important to be an afterthought in today’s classrooms. Just in time, here’s a resource to improve your students’ understanding of the intersection of science and social policy by making climate and energy literacy the centerpiece of your curriculum. What recommends Climate Smart & Energy Change in particular? That there’s no more informed expert on the subject than Mark McCaffrey. His book offers a virtual blueprint to climate and energy education, packed with resources and strategies, including: A high-level overview of where climate and energy topics fit (or don′t fit) in to your current curriculum A discussion of the new Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and how you can meet them with well-planned pedagogical strategies Proven methods to teach climate change and related topics in a grade-appropriate way Sample learning activities and high-quality online resources from the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) Students, educators, and parents must pool their diverse skills and abilities to ensure our schools produce graduates that are able to respond to the global imperative facing us all. Climate Smart & Energy Wise is the key to making a better future our reality.

Advancing the Science of Climate Change

Advancing the Science of Climate Change
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 526
Release: 2011-01-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309145880

Climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for-and in many cases is already affecting-a broad range of human and natural systems. The compelling case for these conclusions is provided in Advancing the Science of Climate Change, part of a congressionally requested suite of studies known as America's Climate Choices. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never closed, the book shows that hypotheses about climate change are supported by multiple lines of evidence and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. As decision makers respond to these risks, the nation's scientific enterprise can contribute through research that improves understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and also is useful to decision makers at the local, regional, national, and international levels. The book identifies decisions being made in 12 sectors, ranging from agriculture to transportation, to identify decisions being made in response to climate change. Advancing the Science of Climate Change calls for a single federal entity or program to coordinate a national, multidisciplinary research effort aimed at improving both understanding and responses to climate change. Seven cross-cutting research themes are identified to support this scientific enterprise. In addition, leaders of federal climate research should redouble efforts to deploy a comprehensive climate observing system, improve climate models and other analytical tools, invest in human capital, and improve linkages between research and decisions by forming partnerships with action-oriented programs.

The Material Basis of Energy Transitions

The Material Basis of Energy Transitions
Author: Alena Bleicher
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2020-08-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0128235543

The Material Basis of Energy Transitions explores the intersection between critical raw material provision and the energy system. Chapters draw on examples and case studies involving energy technologies (e.g., electric power, transport) and raw material provision (e.g., mining, recycling), and consider these in their regional and global contexts. The book critically discusses issues such as the notion of criticality in the context of a circular economy, approaches for estimating the need for raw materials, certification schemes for raw materials, the role of consumers, and the impact of renewable energy development on resource conflicts. Each chapter deals with a specific issue that characterizes the interdependency between critical raw materials and renewable energies by examining case studies from a particular conceptual perspective. The book is a resource for students and researchers from the social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering, as well as interdisciplinary scholars interested in the field of renewable energies, the circular economy, recycling, transport, and mining. The book is also of interest to policymakers in the fields of renewable energy, recycling, and mining, professionals from the energy and resource industries, as well as energy experts and consultants looking for an interdisciplinary assessment of critical materials. Provides a comprehensive overview of key issues related to the nexus between renewable energy and critical raw materials Explores interdisciplinary perspectives from the natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences Discusses critical strategies to address the nexus from a practitioner's perspective

Global Energy Supply and Emissions

Global Energy Supply and Emissions
Author: Carl Friedrich Gethmann
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2020-09-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030553558

This book offers an authoritative analysis of the state-of-the art in energy and climate research and policy. It starts by describing the current status of technologies that are expected to have an influence on the energy systems of the future. For an adequate evaluation, it presents the latest findings on the effects of energy supply and consumption as well as of the emissions on both the environment and people’s health. This is followed by an extensive discussion of the economic and social problems related to climate change, the need for energy transitions, and other issues that may require public investment and international agreements. The book reviews the problem of energy policy from a global perspective, providing readers with the technical, political, economic and ethical background needed to understand the current situation and work at better solutions for a sustainable, just and prospering world.