ERIC Number: EJ1287401
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Feb-10
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1938-5978
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Addressing Climate Change the Smart Way
Jorling, Thomas C.
New England Journal of Higher Education, Feb 2021
Climate change is real and accelerating. It requires an urgent response that focuses all the strategies and tactics necessary to stabilize the Earth's temperature regime. According to Thomas Jorling, the objective to guide research, development and implementation is straightforward: Achieve an all-electric economy. Simply put, all sectors of energy use--agriculture, transportation, industrial, residential, business, etc.--must transition to electricity. Where liquid fuels are necessary, such as aviation, they must be produced from biological processes. This objective, however, can be satisfied only by transforming electricity generation to alternative--non-combustion--sources that convert into electricity the energy from the inexhaustible clean supply provided by the sun and ecosystem, primarily wind and solar. Another grossly underutilized resource is the extensive areas of roofs on structures, especially flat-roofed structures and the parking areas adjacent to the structures, that now cover extensive areas of the landscape. Before human settlement and the expansion of builtup land, these areas captured the energy of the sun in what ecologists call primary productivity: that is, plant photosynthesis converting sunlight into biomass in complex ecosystems. These areas can once again be used to capture the sun's energy and convert it to electricity. These achievable, cost-effective steps can result in the production of large amounts of electricity and contribute significantly to achieving an economy without fossil fuels.
Descriptors: Climate, Change, Energy, Energy Conservation, Fuels, Building Design, Land Settlement, Cost Effectiveness, Conservation (Environment), Economic Development
New England Board of Higher Education. 45 Temple Place, Boston, MA 02111. Tel: 617-357-9620; Fax: 617-338-1577; e-mail: nejhe@nebhe.org; Web site: https://nebhe.org/nejhe/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
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