Description
Could the race to de-carbonize our energy systems be leading us closer to environmental disaster?Why did biology choose carbon, in a variety of compounds, as its energy carrier and storage substance? From the smallest life forms, through multicellular organisms, and up to whole ecosystems, this economy of carbon compounds is fundamentally sustainable. Yet today, many are working to expunge carbon-based energy carriers from human economies, replacing them with solutions based on other elements and minerals. In The Decarbonization Delusion, independent scientist and writer Andrew Moore shows that the race to decarbonize is leading us further down the road to environmental degradation. Instead of banishing carbon, Moore argues that we should look to life on Earth, which has used carbon in highly sustainable ways for 3.5 billion years, as a model for how humans can use carbon sustainably.The Decarbonization Delusion begins by discussing carbon's role in the inception of the universe and its critical importance in biology. Moore identifies many intriguing features of biology's use of carbon that are crucial to creating sustainable human economies on Earth. Throughout, Moore draws on extensive research and original calculations to disprove common fallacies about carbon-based energy carriers and their alternatives. For example, he shows that the widely perceived superiority of battery technology over carbon-based fuels is, in most regards, a serious misconception that, if not corrected, could have grave environmental consequences.Politicians, industrial leaders, and even some scientists have contributed to the widespread belief that carbon should have no place in our energy economies. In The Decarbonization Delusion, Moore argues against this idea, asking us to re-think our assumptions and approach sustainable energy development in a more scientific and dispassionate fashion.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsForewordChapter 1: What carbon "does" in the universe - From the first stars to life on EarthChapter 2: The carbon economy of nutrition and food production - Getting out of control in most respectsChapter 3: Sources and sinks - Where carbon compounds accumulate on Earth, and what they do thereChapter 4: Fuels, efficiency, and emissions - Understanding carbon-based energy carriers in the larger picture of sustainabilityChapter 5: The call to "decarbonize" - Public perception, hard-to-abate carbon-positives, and hard-to-achieve carbon-negativesChapter 6: Decarbonizing the car - Trading off CO2 against larger environmental problems?Chapter 7: A carbonaceous, biology-inspired recipe for sensible and environmentally-conscious energy economiesList of figuresReferencesIndex of topics
