Climate Change and Technological Options (eBook)

Table of contents 5
List of Abbreviations 10
1 Introduction 13
2 The Climate System 14
2.1 Climate System Components 14
2.2 Observed Climate Variability and Change 15
2.3 The Greenhouse Effect of the Atmosphere 18
2.4 Greenhouse Gases 18
2.5 The Carbon Cycle and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide 21
2.6 Aerosols, their Direct and Indirect Climate Effects 23
2.7 Radiative Forcing of Climate Change 26
2.8 Physical Climate Processes and Feedbacks 28
2.9 Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate 35
2.10 Climate Change and Vegetation 37
3 Climate Modelling 39
3.1 Model Basics and Structure 39
3.2 Climate Model Evaluation 41
3.3 Emission Scenarios 42
3.4 Projections of Climate Change 43
3.5 Regional Climate Change Information 48
4 Consequences of Mean Global Warming 52
4.1 Shrinking of the Cryosphere 52
4.2 Changes in Sea Level 53
4.3 Changed Precipitation Distribution 54
4.4 Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes 55
5 Impacts of and Adaptation to Climate Change 59
5.1 Vulnerability 59
5.2 What is a Climate Change Impact? 60
6 Sustainable Development and Climate Change 67
6.1 The Enhanced Greenhouse Effect without Analogues in Climate History 67
6.2 Carbon Cycle Feedbacks 68
6.3 Sequestration of Carbon 69
6.4 Barriers, Opportunities and Market Potential for New Technologies and Practices 70
6.5 Costs of Adaptation 74
6.6 Mitigation of Climate Change as the Prerequisite for Sustainable Development 74
6.7 A Sustainable Energy Path 77
7 International Climate Policy Approaches 79
7.1 First Policies, Measures and Instruments 79
7.2 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 80
7.3 From Rio to Kyoto 81
7.4 Climate Protection Goals in Europe and Germany 83
7.5 Sustainable Development Strategy (of the EU) 86
8 Evaluation of Climate Effects 88
8.1 The General Evaluation Problem 88
8.2 Life Cycle Assessment for Climate Control 92
9 Climate Effects and Mitigation Potentials of Economic Sectors 103
9.1 Processes and Typical Emissions 105
9.2 General Mitigation Potentials 106
9.3 Mitigation Potential by Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) 109
10 Climate Impacts and Emission Mitigation of Industrial Production 112
10.1 Relevance and Trends of Industrial Sector Emissions 112
10.2 Conseqences of Climate Change for Industry 116
10.3 Climate Impacts and Emission Mitigation of Selected Industrial Processes 117
11 Climate Effects of Agricultural Processes 128
11.1 Overview on Agriculture and Climate Interaction 128
11.2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Livestock 131
11.3 Climate Effect of Manure Management and Biogas 132
11.4 Rice Cultivation 138
11.5 Agricultural Soils 139
12 Climate Effects of Waste Management 141
12.1 Background 141
12.2 Source Reduction and Waste Recycling 143
12.3 Composting 151
12.4 Climate Effects of Waste Deposition in Landfills 156
12.5 Climate Effects of Waste Combustion 162
12.6 Climate Effects of Mechanical-biological Waste Pre-treatment 165
12.7 WARM – a Tool for GHG Evaluation of Waste Management Strategies 173
13 Energy Related Climate Impacts 178
13.1 GHG emission overview 179
13.2 GHG Emissions by Extraction of Fossil Fuels 181
13.3 Climate Effects of Fossil Fuel Use 184
13.4 Climate Effects of Other Non-biomass Energy Sources 190
13.5 Climate Effects of Biomass Derived Fuels 192
14 Individual Activities to Reduce Climate Impacts 205
14.1 Climate Impacts of Production and Consumption of Goods 205
of Modern City Life Style 206
14.2 Climate Impacts 206
14.3 Climate Oriented Individual Behaviour 207
Literature 211
Indication of Sources in Subtitles of Figures 221