In this post from NET-ZERO: What is the Anthropocene and why it may already be upon us? Given the changes we have already made to the planet, many experts believe the geological Epoch of humans has already arrived. How is human activity is disrupting the carbon cycle? Whilst annual human emissions may be ten times smaller than natural flows, they have no balancing flow in the short term - so CO2 is accumulating in the atmosphere and has already warmed the Earth by over 1⁰C. What is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum? The PETM occurred 56 million years ago when temperatures rapidly inc ..read more

In this post from NET-ZERO: How does the carbon cycle control CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere? The movement of carbon dioxide in and out of the atmosphere by natural processes. What are Milankovitch cycles? Changes to the spin, tilt, and orbit of the Earth and how this affects temperatures. What caused ices ages over the last million years? How the carbon cycle and Milankovitch cycles interacted to drive ice ages and warmer interglacial periods. The Carbon Cycle The greenhouse effect is the physical process whereby adding more carbon dioxide (or other greenhouse gases) to the atm ..read more

In this post from NET-ZERO: Who created the first mathematical basis for global warming? How the Swedish chemist, Svante Arrhenius, pieced together the climate maths. Who was the first person to link human CO2 emissions with increasing temperatures? The British Engineer, Guy Stewart Callendar and his early warnings of global warming nearly one century ago. How do computer based climate models work? Combining long established scientific principles and supercomputers. Have climate models correctly predicted global warming? Yes, even the earliest models (first run half a century ago) hav ..read more

In this post from the draft book NET-ZERO: What is the Levelised Cost of Energy (LCOE)? How we can compare the cost of energy from different sources with different upfront investment, running costs, and useful lives - comparing apples to apples. Why are learning curves important? The rate at which the cost of modular technologies decline with scale (not time). Net-Zero is about technology not geology. Which energy sources will be cheapest in the future? Why learning curves point to wind and solar as the cheapest form of electricity generation (and close to coal and gas direct heating) o ..read more

In this post from NET-ZERO: Which energy storage technologies are most promising for short-term energy storage? The physical and cost attributes of Lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro make them the leading candidates for short duration grid storage. Which other technologies might help with short-term grid electricity storage? Vanadium flow batteries, sodium sulphur batteries, gravity storage, thermal, and compressed air - the pros and cons. Is there enough lithium in the world to produce enough batteries for grid storage and electric cars? Why less than 1/3 of known lithium resources ..read more

In this post from NET-ZERO: What solutions do we have to address the variability of Wind and Solar Electricity Generation? From heat, gravity, and chemistry to demand response and interconnected networks - the solutions available for the energy storage challenge. What technologies can be used to store energy in the future? Pumped Hydro, Batteries, Compressed Air, Gravity, Hydrogen, and e-Fuels: the technology ready for energy storage. How much energy storage is required if Wind and Solar provide most of our future energy needs? From short-term energy storage to seasonal energy storage ..read more

In this post from NET-ZERO: What is Climate Engineering? The different strategies proposed to slow or halt global warming by direct intervention. How does Negative Emissions Technology work? Tree Planting, Rock Weathering, Ocean Nutrition, Direct Air Capture, and Biomass with Carbon Capture - the pros and cons of sucking CO2 from the air. Could Negative Emissions Technology solve climate change? Why Negative Emissions Technology is useful for slowing Global Warming and offsetting hard-to-abate emissions, but will likely be limited to 10-30% of the solution. Climate engineering refers ..read more

Buy the book In this post from NET-ZERO: How will climate change affect the availability of fresh water? Higher temperatures mean more rain, which will fall in less regular, intense bursts creating more run off over dry, hardened soils. Rising sea levels and extreme flooding further threaten the destruction of water points, sanitation facilities and the contamination of water sources. How much water does energy generation require? Why renewables require far less water use compared to biofuels or thermal power plants. Is the World running out of water? Continue burning fossil fuels and w ..read more

Buy the book In this post from NET-ZERO: Will Global Warming force global migration? The regions of the world most vulnerable to searing summer temperatures. How will Climate Change impact heat waves, wildfires, and drought? The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme heat-related events in a warmer world. Why has global annual forest burn declined despite a warmer Climate? How deliberate human-induced forest burning is down, but wildfires are up. Does Climate Change mean fewer winter deaths? Yes, but any reductions in cold-deaths will be overwhelmed by increased heat-deaths ..read more