Global Change, Energy Issues and Regulation Policies

This introductory chapter analyzes the deep interaction between the environmental crisis (climate change, urbanization/land use, exhaustion of resources, and degradation of ecosystems), energy production, conversion and use, and global regulation policies. It first recalls the main conclusions of the June 2010 Global Change Research II, Porquerolles Conference (environmental degradation related to energy production, links between energy and human needs, energy and environment, interface among technologies, science, and society). It explains the architecture of the book, which fairly faithfully follows the conference plan, including new contributions that were not presented at the conference. It brings some particular comments about climate change and exhaustion of resources, the relationship between basic science and the development of sustainable energy technologies, between global and local environmental policies: technologies, economy, law. The conclusions emphasize five technological keys (and their main issues) to the solution of the energy/environmental crisis: improvement of energy efficiency and savings, green electricity production (if new storage technologies are available), nuclear energy (if its sustainability is increased), carbon management, energy vector use optimization (biofuels if the planet alimentation is not threatened, emergence of the hydrogen society, smartgrids). Finally, last but not least, a sixth key is to be found in the domain of humanities and social sciences, law, politics (negotiations at international level, financial rules, etc.). It also emphasizes the need for basic science research for providing breakthroughs in the field of energy.

Earth climate is determined by the equilibrium between the amount and distribution of incoming radiation absorbed from the sun and the outgoing longwave radiation emitted at the top of the atmosphere. Several atmospheric trace gases, including water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, absorb far more efficiently the longwave radiation than solar radiation. These so-called greenhouse gases increase the amount of energy available to the earth and keep it much warmer than it would be otherwise. Although water vapor (and clouds that contribute both to the greenhouse effect and cooling through the back reflection of the incoming solar radiation) does not stay in the atmosphere more than ~2 weeks, most of the other greenhouse gases stay far more than 10 years. Anthropogenic use of fossil fuels, cement production, and deforestation already increased the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and human activities also created new synthetic and powerful ones such as chlorofluorocarbon. The corresponding positive radiative already contributed to the ~0.8 °C increase of the global surface temperature since 1850 and will act as the main climate driver for at least the next century. This chapter outlines the bases of the greenhouse effect and its impact on the earth climate from ~1850 to 2100.

Due to the current concern regarding the remaining reserve of oil and gas, there is a strong incentive for the innovative exploitation of fossil fuels occurring in unconventional situations. The latter include a wide variety of resources, some of them known for a long time, but set aside in deference to the profit of the more conventional oil and gas; others rely on more recent identification or on new production technologies; and some are already in the operational stage, with others in the pilot stage or even only prospective.

In this respect this chapter first briefly reviews the concept of the petroleum system and then tentatively extends this concept to the definition of the different hydrocarbon occurrences associated with “nonconventional” settings. These settings include: coal, oil shale, heavy oils and bitumens, primary and secondary biogenic gas, methane hydrate, shale gas, coal bed methane, tight oil/oil producing shale, tight gas, aquifer gas, and so on.

It does not pretend to address exhaustively all aspects of nonconventional hydrocarbons, but to provide a synthetic overview of the geological meaning of these new players in the energy domain.

The chapter discusses urban physical infrastructure (UPI) which is a complex set of systems and networks that provide vital services to a city. UPI is vulnerable to climate change (CC) impacts, and on the other hand can help cities to adapt to CC. The analysis focuses on CC adaptation options of physical components of infrastructure: sewer conduits, bridges, flood barriers, electricity poles, and the like. UPI characteristics and development trends (interconnectivity, interdependence, convergence, sustainability, efficiency, vulnerability, resilience, critical elements, evolution, and flexibility) have been considered in the CC adaptation context. The chapter concludes that extreme weather events represent a major threat to UPI worldwide in the short and long term. Key recommendations for UPI CC adaptation were identified as: (1) early consideration of UPI adaptation in spatial development plans; (2) allowing UPI flexibility and considering the infrastructure development trends during planning and design processes; (3) mainstreaming CC adaptation into relevant legislation, giving particular attention to revision of reliability coefficient values in building codes and norms; and (4) developing managerial measures in a wider context of UPI operational safety and reliability. Analysis of projections for world expenditure on infrastructure development and the global growth of built-up areas revealed a huge gap between needs and actual provision of UPI, which should be bridged for successful UPI adaptation to CC.

The European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP) now gathers more than 100 organizations (research organizations, utilities, vendors, technology providers, technical safety organizations, universities, consulting companies, and nongovernmental organizations). Its first Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was edited by a specific Task Group drawing on contributions from more than 160 scientists and engineers from more than 60 member organizations of SNETP and taking into account the feedback obtained from an open public consultation: the SRA provides the foundation for the establishment of joint research priorities that will enable European stakeholders, with the support of the European Commission, to transform a shared vision into reality, thus contributing to European energy policy and in particular, via the European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative (ESNII), to the objectives of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan).

This chapter summarizes the contents of the agenda and presents the prospects for the need for hot labs and their application to the different generations of reactors. The implications of the Fukushima accident for SNETP is discussed and the imperative necessity of increased research, education, and training, to reinforce nuclear energy sustainability is also emphasized.

On a world-scale basis, fossil fuels are likely to remain the main sources for electricity generation in the twenty-first century, and many industrial processes that are also large CO₂ emitters will still be active for many decades. Therefore, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is generally considered a necessary option for reducing CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere. This chapter introduces the concept, which consists in the separation of CO₂ from energy-related and industrial gas streams, and its transport to a geological storage location where it is permanently and safely stored. The characteristics of the main capture processes: postcombustion, oxycombustion, and precombustion are summarized in terms of energy consumption and costs. Some other possible technological options are briefly described. The methods utilized for CO₂ transport are also presented with some cost estimates. The main formation for geological storage—depleted oil and gas fields, deep saline aquifers, and nonexploitable coal seams—are briefly described, with the mechanisms involved in storage operations. Storage capacity evaluations, methodologies for risk assessment and management, are also briefly summarized. The chapter discusses the 14 large-scale integrated CCS projects which are in operation or under construction today, with a rough total storage capacity of 33 million tons a year. This could indicate that provided public awareness, social acceptance, and economic drivers evolve favorably, CCS could play a very significant role in the transition to a future low emission energy use.

The conversion of CO₂ through the use of renewable energy sources offers new possibilities to develop innovative new approaches to improve sustainability of chemical and energy production. After introducing the topic, this chapter discusses the reuse of CO₂ as a valuable carbon source and an effective way to introduce renewable energy in the chemical industry value chain, to improve resource efficiency, and to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The specific challenge of using CO₂ for the production of light olefins (ethylene, propylene) is discussed. The recycling of CO₂ back to fuels using sunlight (solar fuels) is also briefly analyzed to demonstrate a relevant opportunity to develop effective energy vectors for the storage of solar energy integrated into the existing energy infrastructure and allowing a smooth but fast transition to a more sustainable energy future. The role of these topics for the future strategies of chemical and energy industries, especially in terms of resource efficiency, is also highlighted.

Research and development of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are motivated by the same drivers as for other new energy production/conversion/storage options, in particular the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and in sea and land mass temperatures, and peaking of oil production capacity and the technical difficulties and safety issues associated with extracting oil from offshore deep drilling below the seabed, which together lead towards a global requirement for use of lower fossil carbon energy sources. In this context, this chapter outlines actual and potential roles for hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. It provides a short historical perspective of fuel cells and describes fuel cell types and their applications, in particular automotive and stationary fuel cell uses. Directions in fuel cell materials research on electrocatalysts and their supports and electrolyte membranes are described in a final section.

Transportation is 94 % dependent on oil, represents around 20 % of global consumption of energy, and is responsible for 23 % of total emissions from fossil fuels. For several years, progress has been made to enhance the energy efficiency of the systems, but increasing the part of biofuel still seems irremediable both for environmental, economic, and energy independence reasons. Fuel production from biomass is clearly considered as an important substitute for liquid fossil fuels such as bioethanol for motor gasoline, biodiesel for diesel, jet fuel for biokerosene, and for gaseous fuels (hydrogen, natural gas for vehicles, biomethane, etc.). This chapter presents the main pathways for the production of biofuels, and classifies their degree of maturity:

Petroleum fuels used in motor vehicles are a major source of local air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which already has poor air quality. Lack of their own oil resources also presents a major challenge to the policymakers regarding the sustainability of the transportation system. Under this circumstance, conversion of petroleum vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) offers multiple benefits to the country. This chapter quantifies the social benefits due to a government initiative that led to widespread conversion of petroleum motor vehicles to CNG vehicles. An impact-pathway model has been developed to relate the changes in emissions resulting from the policy to changes in ambient air quality and resulting number of avoided premature deaths. It is estimated that around 11,100 premature deaths can be avoided in Dhaka annually as a result of a complete switch from petroleum to CNG vehicles. This amounts to a saving of USD 1.33 billion a year, which is around 1.3 % of the GDP of the country. For climate benefits, impacts of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and SO₂ have been considered, in addition to the traditional greenhouse gases (GHG), CO₂ and methane. Although CNG conversion was detrimental from a climate change perspective using the changes in CO₂ and methane only (methane emissions increased), after considering all the global pollutants (especially the reduction in black carbon) the conversion strategy was beneficial. Considering the damage costs of CO₂, we find a benefit of around USD 25 million in a year, which is small compared to the health benefits. The strategy also helps the country save around USD 620 million worth of foreign currency a year. This indicates that policies focusing on individual country’s strengths can have large benefits in securing a sustainable energy future in the transportation sector.

The chapter discusses the political results of the Copenhagen Conference and the evolutions in the international climate arena including geopolitical shifts, new issues on the agenda, and a changing cartography of the main actors. As recent attacks on the climate regime concern both its political governance and the peculiar relationship between science and politics that developed through its main institutions (IPCC and the Conference of the Parties), the first part retraces the construction of the climate arena and the second part analyzes the framing of the problem among climate science, expertise, and politics. Drawing on this historical sketch, we suggest the years 2000 were characterized by a convergence of top-down approaches in climate expertise and policies, structuring action and discourse around quantified reduction targets, temperature and concentration thresholds, and carbon budgets. The bottom-up character of the voluntary reduction commitments in the Copenhagen Accord—confirmed at Cancun and Durban—is a serious setback to this approach. We conclude by discussing several contributions coming from social scientists to the post-Copenhagen debate. These well-known intellectual figures shift the focus from the links between science and politics toward the relationships between science and societies.

Discussed at the international level since the 1980s, climate change is from now on at the top of the international political and diplomatic agenda. The urgency to act has been shown over the last years in many aspects. Climate change policies fit into the scheme of what political scientists call “multilevel governance,” which emphasizes the role of international negotiations but also the multiplicity of public and private stakeholders—NGOs, businesses, unions—either with a global, regional, domestic, or local basis, and the diversity of on-going processes at different levels from global to local and from local to global. Because stakes are global, the international climate change regime nevertheless plays a pivotal and decisive role. The international climate change regime is, however, shaped slowly and step by step. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) has 193 parties but the United States, the primary GHG emitter in 1997 and second nowadays, did not ratify it. Major developing emitters are not bound by any GHG emissions reduction commitment under the Protocol. The first commitment period will expire at the end of 2012. For effectiveness reasons, the “post-2012” system must include the United States and major developing emitters, and drastically reinforce the reduction targets. One cannot help but notice that the post-2012 regime is still in the process of, and far from, being drafted. The adoption of the Copenhagen Accord (2009) did not stop the negotiation process, which is still going on. The Cancún conference (2010), although much less the focus of media attention, led to the adoption of a “Copenhagen Accord-Plus,” revived a process that had almost come to a standstill, and made the content of the Copenhagen Accord integrate the heart of the UNFCCC. These evolutions give rise to many issues concerning the level of ambition, the nature and content of differentiation between parties, and the legal architecture of the whole regime.

One of the key issues in the post-Kyoto climate regime is to reach consensus on how to finance actions needed in fast-growing economies that will enable altering their business-as-usual emission pathways. Specifically, cities in developing countries will play a significant role in climate mitigation and adaption given their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and inherent vulnerability to induced global change (e.g., sea-level rise, increased water scarcity and drought, forced migration, etc.). Changing their pathways and increasing climate resilience in these countries requires significant incremental investments in urban infrastructures today. However, financial and institutional capacities are much lower as compared to the developed world. International financial and technology transfer are bound to bridge the gap under a well-designed institutional framework. This chapter discusses different climate finance mechanisms, possible improvement and instrumentalization in light of enhancing urban infrastructure governance in developing cities, in conjunction with their policy relevance, implementability, and economic and environmental effectiveness. Also, we posit institutional implications for using carbon finance to facilitate the development of climate-resilient urban infrastructure in fast-growing cities in developing countries.

The triple A issue is discussed with, as its starting point, the analysis of present agricultural output and its projection on to 2050, so as to place it in the context of the major evolutions required between now and 2050 with growing populations, energy needs, alimentation needs, and agricultural production, the unprecedented growth of carbon-free energy needs in a context where emerging countries enjoy strong economic growth, thus increasing the need for energy by a factor of two at the world level. The environmental impact of large-scale farming and its capacity to produce energy are reviewed quantitatively on a world scale. A rational appreciation of the uncertainties and of the risks concerning our future ability to satisfy human alimentation needs is put forward. From this analysis, we conclude that the concerns expressed by some are not entirely unfounded but that the problem of human alimentation today is not due to insufficient foodstuff output on a world scale. Moreover, it appears that there is the potential for significantly increased output from large-scale farming. The risk of competition between foodstuff production and that of agrofuels is not as imminent as has been said, for simple economical reasons and also because of the location of production. The impact of large-scale farming on greenhouse gas emissions or on the world energy supply is evaluated and appears small, or very small relative to overall needs and emissions. Still, the principal cause for concern about alimentation needs, could well be that states or world governance bodies abandon their obligation to ensure that populations’ alimentation needs are covered decently, a mandatory ethical priority.