Ten ways to save the world

14:42 02 December 2008 by Tamsin Osborne
For similar stories, visit the Energy and Fuels and Climate Change Topic Guides
Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, a new book by businessman and climate-change commentator Chris Goodall, says climate change can be overcome if we adopt the following energy sources and technologies:
1. Wind power
Despite a reputation for being unreliable, wind power has the potential to provide more than 30% of the world's electricity. The wind does not blow constantly, of course, so we will need to develop better ways of storing the energy we generate with it. And rather than being used purely locally, wind energy will have to be distributed between different states and countries.
2. Solar energy
The sun provides more than enough energy to power the world many times over - we just need to come up with an effective way of capturing this energy. Current solar panels are relatively inefficient, but increasing investment in solar cells is producing better models which capture more energy and cost less to produce.
3. Power from the oceans
Tides, waves and currents possess huge potential for low-carbon energy generation, but efforts to harness them have been hampered by the difficulty of designing devices that can tolerate harsh oceanic conditions. This year, however, power-generating buoys that harness wave energy 50 metres underwater were put to the test in the UK, and the world's first commercial-scale tidal turbine delivered electricity to the UK national grid.
4. Combined heat and power
Waste heat accounts for about 40% of the energy produced by power stations. One way to avoid this is to bring the power station into the home, by installingdomestic microgenerators. These miniature power plants are almost as efficient as huge generators and the heat they produce can be used to heat our homes and water.
5. Super-efficient homes
Instead of building new houses that are "zero carbon", a better - and cheaper - way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from domestic housing is to eco-renovate existing buildings. Germany is leading the way with the PassivHaus movement, which aims to reduce emissions by 80-90% through measures such as insulating walls and windows and using improved ventilation methods that don't lose heat.
6. Electric cars
Electric cars have a bad reputation when it comes to style and speed, two factors that matter to car enthusiasts. But electric sports cars like the Tesla Roadster can give petrol-powered models a run for their money. Though they're not cheap at the moment, prices are likely to come down as batteries improve.
And with running costs as little as 5% those of diesel models, electric cars will soon start to look like a more viable option. Recent research has even suggested that electric cars could act as energy stores for the power grid when not being driven.
7. Second-generation biofuels
Making fuel from food crops is now almost universally regarded as a bad idea, encouraging deforestation and potentially leading to food shortages. But the next generation of biofuels made from agricultural waste shows real promise. Using new cellulose-cracking technologies, waste wood can be broken down into liquid fuel, and with US venture capitalists investing heavily in these technologies, it won't be long until this idea becomes a reality. However, with the global appetite for fuel on the increase, careful management of cellulose production will be vital.
8. Carbon capture
With the growth of renewable energy sources failing to keep up with world demand for electricity, finding an effective way of capturing and storing the carbon dioxide produced by power stations is one of the most important challenges we face. Investment in carbon-capture technologies has been slow to pick up, but governments around the world are starting to understand the importance of funding this research, and promising new technologies are already emerging.
9. Biochar
With predictions of climate change getting increasingly urgent, we desperately need cheap, simple and fast ways of reducing greenhouse emissions. One idea is to sequester carbon as biochar, a charcoal made from burning agricultural waste in the absence of air. Biochar is exceptionally stable and can be stored underground for hundreds of years without releasing its carbon into the atmosphere - and it improves the fertility of the soil.
10. Biogas stoves
Deforestation is a complex issue, and it's looking more and more likely that we will have to pay people to maintain forest lands. But until such a system is up and running, we will need to focus on technologies that reduce the need to cut down trees. One such technology is biogas stoves, powered by methane released from rotting organic waste, which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. Leading the way is China, which is heavily promoting the use of biogas technologies.
If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, pleasecontact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.