The decarbonization delusion : what 3.5 billion years of biological sustainability can teach us /
"We take carbon for granted so much that we rarely consider how carbon's amazing properties lead to its ubiquity in the energy and fabric of life and human civilization. And yet we are now trying to decarbonize. This book gives an overview and analysis of some of the most pressing challeng...
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Main Authors: | |
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Published: |
Oxford University Press,
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Publisher Address: | New York, NY, United States America : |
Publication Dates: | [2023] |
Literature type: | Book |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Summary: |
"We take carbon for granted so much that we rarely consider how carbon's amazing properties lead to its ubiquity in the energy and fabric of life and human civilization. And yet we are now trying to decarbonize. This book gives an overview and analysis of some of the most pressing challenges and considerations in the area of decarbonization of economies. It does so from the perspective of chemistry and biology, and comes to the conclusion that we are likely to do more environmental damage by breaking free from carbon than if we embrace the impressive capacity that carbon-based energy-carriers and materials have for creating circular economies with zero net CO2 emissions. Biology has done this sustainably for 3.5 billion years, and we must learn from that enormous lesson"-- |
Carrier Form: | xx, 351 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [309]-340) and index. |
ISBN: |
9780197664834 0197664830 |
Index Number: | TD885 |
CLC: | X511 |
Call Number: | X511/M821 |
Contents: | What carbon "does" in the universe : from the first stars to life on Earth -- The carbon economy of nutrition and food production : getting out of control in most respects -- Sources and sinks : where carbon compounds accumulate on Earth, and what they do there -- Fuels, efficiency, and emissions : understanding carbon-based energy-carriers in the larger picture of sustainability -- The call to "decarbonize" : public perception, hard-to-abate carbon-positives and hard-to-achieve carbon-negatives -- Decarbonizing the car : trading off CO2 against larger environmental problems? -- A carbonaceous, biology-inspired recipe for sensible and environmentally-conscious energy economies. |