Renewable Energy Capability vs. Climate Necessity

A 450-ppm equivalent CO 2 target by 2050 is an often-proposed goal under a future global emissions agreement, but there is considerable high side risk in global-warming models due to cloud formation, feedbacks in dissolved organic carbon from peat bogs in polar regions, and unaccounted solar dimming by particulates. The 450-ppm figure is predicated on absorption of some CO 2 by oceans, but increasing acidification may dictate that CO 2 produced during the next 50 years may have to be reduced further to preserve species diversity in the oceans. By consideration of industry capability, a 400-ppm target is shown to be affordable and achievable by renewables using 2/3 direct solar electricity by 2050 with technology currently being proven, together with aggressive energy efficiency. Sequestration of liquid CO 2 under pressure in enormous continually excavated caverns at 2-km depth is technically much less certain and later in development

Atmospheric sciences · Bog · Climate change · Climate change mitigation · Electricity · Global warming · Greenhouse gas · Particulates · Peat · Renewable energy · Solar energy · Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics · Engineering · Environmental Science · Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena · Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology · Ecology · Environmental Engineering · Geology · Oceanography