[SustainableTompkins] Carbon Wedges Redux

[Katie Quinn-Jacobs]

Below is an article from Co-op America that reworks the Princeton Carbon 
Mitigation Initiative (posted to & discussed at ST a couple of months 
ago).  The Princeton wedges we're graphically powerful, but had some 
troubling proposals, including nuclear solutions.

For more on the original CMI wedge proposal & a flash movie illustrating 
the concept see:  http://www.princeton.edu/~cmi/resources/stabwedge.htm  
There's even a stablilization wedge game, which might make for a strong 
hands-on demo at Earth Day or other sustainability fairs/conferences.

-- Katie Q-J





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697                                                                                                            
                                                NOVEMBER 22, 2006

12-STEP PLAN FOR CLIMATE ACTION - by Alisa Gravitz 

With the movie "An Inconvenient Truth" drawing record audiences, and 
groups as diverse as the Evangelical Climate Initiative and the Pentagon 
sounding the alarm on the coming climate catastrophe, our country could 
be on the cusp of taking real action on a very real danger.

But how large a scale of action for a solution is needed to match the 
enormous scale of the problem? Based on the data -- such as rapidly 
melting polar icecaps -- showing that climate change is happening faster 
than anyone thought, it is increasingly clear: Baby steps won't do it. 
We need a bold proposal that can beef up corporate, government, 
community, and household plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - 
especially carbon emissions -- to lower levels we can live with. 
Scientists at the Princeton's Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) have 
taken up this challenge, and propose stabilizing carbon emissions by 
dividing this huge task into smaller, doable action "wedges" of equal 
size--each with the capacity to reduce those emissions by 1 billion tons 
per year by 2054. CMI lists 15 possible "wedges," out of which we need 
to achieve just seven to reach equilibrium.

At my organization, Co-op America, we added our own filters to this 
building-block approach. We screened out measures that are too 
dangerous, costly, and slow (like nuclear power plants, synfuels, and 
"clean" coal), and we beefed up those that are safe and cost-effective. 
(Wind energy is cost-competitive at utility scale, and has beaten 
natural gas in certain markets. Solar energy will be cost-competitive 
within five years.) With these filters, we developed a plan that uses 
current technologies; is safe, clean, and cost-effective; and is big 
enough to meet the climate challenge--12 "wedges" when we only need 
seven. Each of the following could reduce dreaded emissions by at least 
1 billion tons per year by 2054:

Here's our 12-step scheme:

1. Increase fuel economy for the world's 2 billion cars from an average 
of 30 mpg to 60 mpg.

2. Cut back on driving. Decrease car travel for 2 billion 30-mpg cars 
from 10,000 to 5,000 miles per year, through increased use of mass 
transit, telecommuting, walking and biking.

3. Increase energy efficiency by one-quarter in existing buildings and 
appliances. Move to zero-emissions plans for new buildings.

4. Decrease tropical deforestation to zero, and double the rate of new 
tree plantings.

5. Stop soil erosion. Apply "conservation tillage" techniques to 
cropland at 10 times the current usage. Encourage local, organic 
agriculture.

6. Increase wind power. Add 3 million 1-megawatt windmills, 75 times the 
current capacity.

7. Expand solar power. Add 3,000 gigawatt-peak solar photovoltaic units, 
1,000 times current capacity.

8. Increase efficiency of coal plants from an average of 32 percent 
efficiency to 60 percent, and shut down plants that don't meet the 
standard. No net new coal plants, for new plants built, an equal number 
should close.

9. Replace 1,400 gigawatts of coal with natural gas, a four-fold 
increase in natural gas usage over current levels--a short-term step 
until zero-emissions renewable technologies can replace natural gas.

10. Sequester CO2 at existing coal plants. Sequestration involves 
storing carbon dioxide underground, an unproven technology that may, 
nonetheless, be better than nothing.

11. Develop zero-emissions vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and 
electric vehicles powered by renewable energy.

12. Develop biomass as a short-term replacement for fossil fuel until 
better carbon-free technologies are developed -- but only biofuels made 
from waste, and made without displacing farmland and rainforests.

This framework can help us think big and fast enough to avoid the worst 
consequences of climate change. If we are to achieve each wedge by 2054, 
the next 10 years must see major action. Anything less and we're kidding 
ourselves. The good news? We can do this. We have the technologies and 
the know-how. We can take many of these steps today, on our own. For the 
rest, we need to persuade our elected officials, contact our power 
companies and auto manufacturers, and demand action from those with 
decision-making power. The best news? Beating climate change opens the 
door to more jobs, energy security, progress against poverty, a cleaner 
environment, and a safer world -- a better future for all of us.

--

Alisa Gravitz is the executive director of Co-op America, a nonprofit 
consumer organization advocating socially and environmentally 
responsible purchasing -- www.coopamerica.org 
<http://www.coopamerica.org/>. A photo of Alisa Graviz  is available at: 
CLICK HERE <http://www.minutemanmedia.org/AUTHORS%20PHOTOS.htm>

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Source: http://www.minutemanmedia.org/GRAVITZ%20112206.htm


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