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California’s Proposed Climate Action Plan as per CARB is a Disappointment
Efforts of a Coalition and my comments and observations. Hari Lamba, Brighter Climate Futures & California Zero Emissions Group June 20, 2022 The California State Government has asked the state agency CARB (California Air Resources Board) to come up with a plan of how the entire state can achieve Carbon Neutrality (Greenhouse Gas Emissions equal to Greenhouse Gas Absorption) by the year 2045. As of this date (June 2022), CARB has proposed a scenario (Alternative 3) to do this by 2045 in their Draft Scoping Plan. As outlined in CARB’s Draft Scoping Plan, this proposed alternative will NOT achieve the emissions reductions expected. After describing the overall situation we face, I first present the online comments I formally submitted on June 18, 2022. I then describe in summary, the contents of the letter an informal “Coalition” sent to CARB, explaining what their disappointment is what CARB should not do and emphasizing in their letter what they would like CARB to do. I did sign this letter and added the name of my informal group, Brighter Climate Futures, and do fully support their efforts. OVERALL PICTURE 1.California Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be pulling back on promises he made regarding solutions to the climate crisis. His budget seems to be focusing on wildfires, resilience and some training but not addressing the central aspect of emissions reductions from fossil fuels. That is despite joining the global Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) at COP26 in Glasgow, November 2021. 2.There are some good bills or legislation in the California Legislature this year that are going through their process and many groups are trying to champion the ones they like. I am helping Sierra Club and 350 Bay Area in these activities. But, in my estimation, in terms of direct quantifiable emissions reductions and energy transition changes, these bills do not do more than about 5% of what is needed. My efforts to get the legislators to write more meaningful legislation failed (these are in about the same content as the comments I submitted to CARB – see below) – I am still learning how the whole process works. We need to organize mor effectively here. 3.Now CARB has watered down their strategy and is coming up with a proposed scenario that avoids doing the most important things like directly reducing fossil fuel emissions and is instead engaging in greenwashing. 4.On June 23, 2022, the informal coalition and other groups have organized a rally in the capital Sacramento outside the CARB headquarters, where CARB will decide what their final Scoping Plan 2022 will be. 5.It appears that we have no option but to organize more effectively at every level. I am open to suggestions and am willing to cooperate with others in doing so – please let me know. My proposal – Get fossil fuel emissions down to zero. Reducing Emissions from all fossil fuels to zero is the surest method. Counting on emissions absorptions through Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies or by Natural Working Lands (NWL) is a false hope that is only intended to prolong the use of fossil fuels. CCS technologies have FAILED nationally despite billions of dollars being spent and there is not ONE demonstration site that has been successful. CCS and Direct Air Capture (DAC) are technologies should only come into play AFTER fossil fuel emissions have been reduced to zero, to start reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. Even then, they should only use renewable energy to power them – no fossil fuels should be allowed that only add emissions of their own. My Online Comments on CARB Scoping Plan 2022 – submitted on June 18, 2022 Subject: Zero Fossil Fuel Emissions by 2045 – 40% down by 2030 Dear CARB, Your Draft Scoping Plan 2022 does not address the need for quantitative reductions in Greenhouse Gas emissions from fossil fuels by 2045. This the surest way to guarantee that California will meet its goals - other methods like natural working lands and even Carbon Capture and Storage will not get us to zero emissions with a high degree of reliability. Here is what I have proposed: As per California Goals Greenhouse Gas emissions need to be down 40% by 2030 and 100% down by 2045. From the current emissions of about 400 MMTCO2e (million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) we need to be at ZERO MMTCO2e by 2045. To meet these goals the approach should be simple (current percent % greenhouse gas emissions appear within parentheses for all sectors):
3.Industry (21% down to 0.0 by 2045): Electrify all energy uses and what cannot be electrified, power that with green hydrogen produced mainly by solar. 4.Agriculture (8% down to 0.0 by 2045): Electrify all diesel tractors and harvesting machines and incentivize developing fuel cell tractors. 5.Commercial & Residential (9% down to 0 by 2045): All new homes and buildings to be 100% electric with rooftop solar and then each year retrofit all structures to replace all natural gas uses with electric and pure green hydrogen – produced onsite. 6.Green Hydrogen: Do the R&D and establish solar (plus wind and geothermal) energy based water electrolysis so as to produce green hydrogen for all sectors of the economy at a lower cost. 7.Other GHG emissions: Curtail methane emissions from all sources – fossil fuels, animal agriculture, kitchen bio-waste, off road engines and other sources. Curtail nitrous oxide emissions from all sources – fossil fuels, nitrogen fertilizer, off road engines and other sources. If you can schedule me, I can present to you a quantitative, actionable and time bound plan of how to do this. Thanks! Hari Lamba Brighter Climate Futures & California Zero Emissions Group (The above was submitted to CARB online on June 18, 2022)” Coalition’s Response to CARB’s Proposed Alternative 3 (An informal “Coalition” that signed onto a letter was of about 45 organizations including the Sierra Club, 350 Bay Area and Brighter Climate Futures) This response may be summarized in the following five points: 1. No Fossil Fuels: Phase Out Oil Drilling and Refining 2. Clean Our Power Sector: No New Gas Plants (not the added 10 GW, or Giga Wats of new natural gas power plants being proposed by CARB) 3. Clean, healthy transportation for all 4. Electrify our buildings 5. No Climate Dead Ends - Stop Over-Relying on CCS and Hydrogen To submit your own comments to CARB go to this link: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/applications/public-comments You can see all of the above information on the website established for this activity: https://www.brighterclimatefutures.com/california-action.html
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1.COP26 Glasgow Update
On YouTube, I watched the entire two hours of the opening ceremony of COP26 in Glasgow on November 1. There were very inspiring speeches by the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Sir Richard Attenborough, interspersed with eye opening messages from people around the world and the scope of worsening climate related disasters. I also listened to an inspiring ten minute speech by President Joe Biden about all of the exciting jobs and business opportunities up ahead for the US and the world if it engages in the climate transition. If inspiring speeches would do it we would have been home by now!! The big problem is that a major part of world is not at the table or not committing to reducing emissions immediately. This includes nations such as Russia, China, Australia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Canada. Some of these nations have done green policies within their nations but export fossil fuels (Big oil exporters like Saudi Arabia and small oil exporters like Norway). Russia is not even attending, even remotely. The four major things that COP26 needs are China to agree to start reducing emissions, a global agreement to start transitioning out of coal, enough financing to help developing nations and an increase in the INDCs by nations (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions – started at Paris – only 110 nations have submitted these). All of these look highly unlikely. On Day 2 (November 2), India surprised by announcing that it would achieve net zero by 2070. However, Prime Minister Modi did announce that for 2030 the targets were 500 GW (Giga watts) of non-fossil fuel energy, 50% renewable energy use, carbon emissions down significantly and carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP, Gross Development Product) down by 45%. Espen BarthHeide, the Norway Minister of Climate & Environment (of the new government that was less than three weeks in place), while talking to Bloomberg, stated that Norway was committed to a future “Sustainable and Circular Economy”. Norway will strive to do everything internally to achieve a green, 100% renewable energy economy. Norway’s oil exports were driven by external demand, but that Norway would do everything it can to help its oil customers also transition. Although renewable energy was the lowest in cost, it did need an up-front investment, and that that is what developing nations needed. Then, about 80 nations signed up to a “Methane Pact” to reduce their methane gas emissions (that come from livestock, rice, landfills and oil and gas production. This is significant since we all know that methane gas has a global warming potential (GWP) that is 80 times that of carbon dioxide or CO2 (over a 20 year period) – or it traps 80 times more heat than CO2. Also, noteworthy was the announcement that about 100 nations (including Brazil) had signed up to a pledge to halt deforestation by 2030. Past agreements to do this have not worked, but this time it was said that there was going to be action to reduce the incentives for deforestation -which came from cattle, soya beans, cocoa and palm oil. Here is my assessment of what the outlook looks like at the start of the meeting.
By Dr. Hari Lamba November 2, 2021 The global climate change meeting will happen in the first two weeks of November in Glasgow, Scotland. Officially this is called COP26 or the 26th meeting of the Conference of Parties, or the nations that signed the climate change treaty developed in 1992. What happens at this meeting is supremely important to see if the world will come to grips with climate change. The Paris Agreement had nations agree to each doing whatever they could voluntarily. But the sum total of commitments (Intended Nationally Determined Commitments) were not enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep the temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Then in 2018, the IPCC (the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), in its 1.5C Report told the world that in order to keep the global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius (to avoid the worst consequences of climate change), the world needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 50% by 2030 and to zero by 2050, along with significant reductions in methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Well, where do we stand at the start of the Glasgow meeting? At about 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions, China is at the top of the list. The main reason for its high emissions is that about 60% of its energy use (about 20% of global use) comes from coal. Chinese president Xi Jinping had earlier announced that China would peak its emissions by 2030. Then recently he had declared that China would peak its emissions before 2030 and become carbon neutral or be net zero in its emissions by 2060 (carbon emissions totally reduced by carbon absorption elsewhere). President Xi Jinping will deliver his address remotely but is not expected to change these goals. The next in line is the US, whose emissions currently are about half of China’s. Earlier in the year, President Joe Biden had declared that the US will aim to drastically reduce carbon emissions by 2030 and be net zero in emissions by 2050. However, because of recent legislative challenges, it has become clear that he will have to figure out as to how to meet these goals as he heads to Glasgow. Path breaking climate initiatives by California that are demonstrated to work could certainly help him in his plans. Then, the European Union and the UK are the next highest in emissions. They both have advanced very aggressive goals of greenhouse gas reductions of 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 (EU) and 78% below 1990 levels by year 2035 (UK). With its emissions about a third of the US, India still represents a big challenge for the world. So, even though it has announced big increases in solar energy, it announced on Day 2 that it would achieve net zero emissions by 2070. It also announced some significant renewable energy goals for 2030 and said it would reduce carbon emissions by that year. If India intends that like China, its increased energy use will be based on coal, then combined with China’s continued use of coal, there is no way that there can be a satisfactory outcome from Glasgow. Progress by all other nations will get wiped out. There are bound to be aggressive negotiations, and as in the past, US leadership may prove crucial. Then the whole question of how to help the other developing nations needs to be factored in. Donor nations have not even yet met the low target of $100 billion of financing of developing nations that they promised at Paris. As the prime minister of Barbados pointed out at the opening ceremony, the world needed more like $ 500 billion per year, and that if there are not effective solutions soon, this will amount to a death sentence for small island nations like theirs. What is certain is that the success of Glasgow will be judged on whether the world as a whole begins to agree to peak its greenhouse gas emissions soon or begins reducing emissions immediately. Mr. Alok Sharma, the president for COP26, who is a British member of parliament, has a big challenge negotiating the outcomes. Will he succeed in achieving a positive outcome? At the beginning of COP26, it looks tough!!" Climate Change Solutions & Video of talk about Sierra Club activities - Event April 6, 2021 Part 27/1/2021 NEWSLETTER JUNE 29, 2021
CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS – THE TIME IS NOW!! & VIDEO OF SIERRA CLUB’S CLIMATE EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION THIS WAS THE SECOND DAY OF OUR SAN FRANCISCO CLIMATE WEEK – VIDEO INCLUDES INTERESTING Q&A “Climate Change delay and denial need to become part of the past. World leaders need to move to solutions immediately. No more excuses, especially as things can be so much better!” “We can have plenty of clean renewable energy, keep our Earth cool, restore ecosystems, stem the extinction of species, and transform to a better life for all.” “The extreme heat haves in the US are telling us that the time for obstructing climate change solutions is over and the US needs to begin aggressively solving climate change and show leadership globally”. www.brighterclimatefutures.com VIDEO OF OUR APRIL 6, 2021 EVENT (SECOND PART) To begin with, here is the video of the second part of our Tuesday, April 6, 2021 San Francisco Climate Week event that includes a talk by Richard Rollins of the Sierra Club and an interesting Question and Answer session with attendees. Watch this very informative video!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_sPGmAV1rQ Description of the Video Talk by Richard Rollins (Team Manager, Sierra Club’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Team) “Building a Movement to Respond to Our Climate Emergency”. After providing a snapshot of where California is with Greenhouse Gas emissions and where it needs to go, Richard gave very informative talk about the educational resources and videos that their Team has put on the website. He also displayed the website page that has a spreadsheet with about 15 tabs and about 75 different action areas where people can go for status and ideas on what needs doing next. Also, described several links including how a city can publish a good and strong Climate Emergency declaration, and information on about a thousand pieces of US national level legislative action that can be taken. Website of Team: https://content.sierraclub.org/grassrootsnetwork/teams/climate-emergency-mobilization-team Email: climateemergency@sfbaysc.org CONTENTS 1.Video of our event and description - above 2.Climate Change News 3.Other climate actions by the Sierra Club 2. Some Tough News on Climate Change Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate deniers have long criticized the IPCC (intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports since 1991 for being scare mongering. In 2018, it had made the world sit up and say what the world needed to do to keep the global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius (“Global Warming of 1.5C” report). Well, it turns out that the IPCC was all along conservative and cautious in what it said. Now it’s being leaked that what the IPCC is about to say is, “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot.” Their upcoming reports may tell it more like it is. Several tipping points may lead to a runaway greenhouse effect where increasing temperature themselves lead to more greenhouse gas releases even though not directly emitted by human actions (Like emissions from wildfires and methane emissions from the Arctic). So, we need to proceed to solutions immediately – no time to lose!! See the article from The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/23/climate-change-dangerous-thresholds-un-report Peter Wadhams – Professor University of Cambridge “Warming of the Arctic” In a recent seminar by the Sierra Club, he educated us on what is going on in the Arctic at the North Pole. The white ice and snow there acts to reflect solar radiation out to space because of what is called the albedo effect – so one gets cooling from. Decrease in Arctic ice area and snow cover in nearby land areas is adding to the warming. Also, with warming of the Arctic ocean water, the methane buried in the sea bed is being released leading to increased warming. Watch the video of his talk courtesy of the Sierra Club Climate Emergency Mobilization Team. https://drive.google.com/file/d/18EjLRiLlLYqeujd2w1A2KBJNolC5HJK8/view
The Beyond Coal Campaign In the US, the Beyond Coal Campaign is engaging in actions aimed at replacing coal and gas with clean energy. They are working towards retiring coal plants, stopping new fossil fuel plants form being built, and working on stopping the expansion of fracked gas. They also attempt to stop the use of fossil fuels in buildings, and fossil fuel exports. https://coal.sierraclub.org/campaign Dr. Hari Lamba San Francisco Area, California Global Zero Emissions by 2050 Website: www.brighterclimatefutures.com Author of the recent book titled, “Brighter Climate Futures – A Global Energy, Climate & Ecosystem Transformation” by Dr. Hari Lamba, Regent Press, Berkeley, California. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON DR. LAMBA & BRIGHTER CLIMATE FUTURES Bio: Dr. Lamba is an expert on energy and climate change, with a record of activism, a record of working in industry as an engineer, has a Ph.D. in engineering, and is the author of several books (visible on Amazon – Hari Lamba). Dr. Lamba is frequently interviewed on KPFA Radio’s program, “A Rude Awakening” by Sabrina Jacobs, 94.1 FM, San Francisco area. Recordings are available on the KPFA website. Sample of April 9, 2021 interview: https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=354803. The next major interview was on April 23, 2021, where we discussed the Biden Global Climate Summit, the Green New Deal and the plan I have proposed. https://archives.kpfa.org/data/20210423-Fri0800.mp3 YouTube Playlist : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGvVnyAycYNuVtuLKazxxy-Av3_jDpxd Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/brighterclimatefutures (An incredible number of postings and articles) Amazon Book Ordering Information: https://www.amazon.com/Brighter-Climate-Futures-Ecosystem-Transformation/dp/1587905280/ref=sr_1_3?crid=24BIVKYKOF3T7&dchild=1&keywords=brighter+climate+futures&qid=1622392959&sprefix=brighter+cli%2Caps%2C296&sr=8-3 Website: www.brighterclimatefutures.com OUR CLIMATE FUTURES CAN BE BRIGHTER!! Our climate futures can be brighter if we begin to act towards solutions that get us to zero greenhouse gas emissions so that the whole world economy becomes carbon neutral. The second part of the video is a very interesting Question & Answer session on a host of climate change and environmental issues, including the resource challenges for batteries, that was moderated by Dr. Hari Lamba. This video is part of an educational series brought to you by Brighter Climate Futures. Let’s do it! To watch all of YouTube videos of Brighter Climate Futures, please click on the following playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGvVnyAycYNuVtuLKazxxy-Av3_jDpxd Next - Report on the San Francisco Climate Week (April 5-10, 2021) We had a great week with many events and attendees. Here's a Summary Report. “There is very little excuse for the world to not begin reducing emissions immediately, especially when there can be plenty of renewable energy” The foremost objective of our week’s events were to convince beyond a shadow of doubt that there were quantitative actionable time bound solutions so that there was NO EXCUSE for the nations and people of the world to not begin to act towards solutions and start reducing their emissions IMMEDIATELY. Next, it was to highlight the efforts of activists, authors and green champions, to celebrate their efforts through dance, art and poetry, to follow their leadership in activism, and to build alliances. For this the San Francisco Climate Week (April 5-10) was organized by Brighter Climate Futures and Authors, Large & Small, We are on our way to apply pressure locally and globally for the world to begin in 2021 the process to get to Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (or earlier)! The world has run out of excuses. We have the solutions - now let’s go and implement them! Here is a summary of how we have championed global, national and local solutions and have begun to strengthen coalitions from the local to global. We had four great events during the week and a grand finale on Saturday, April 10. I (Dr. Hari Lamba) gave talks on quantitative actionable time bound solutions for the whole world, the US, and for California, along with revolutionary concepts for green transportation, described in my recent book, “Brighter Climate Futures – A Global Energy, Climate & Ecosystem Transformation”, Regent Press, Berkeley, California. We had excellent talks from both local and national speakers (including those from the Sierra Club, 350 Bay Area (a group that is very active locally), Solar Rights Alliance, Marin Clean Energy, Local Power, and Climate Healers (on the need to reduce animal agriculture that gives 15% of global emissions), protect rooftop solar, define detailed emission reduction strategies (Sierra Club’s Climate Emergency Mobilization team website), clean and just transportation, the activism of local groups, and the effect of fossil fuel air pollution on human health. Our finale on Saturday April 10 evening, was an extravaganza of poetry, comics for climate, watercolors with poetry, and a dance video. Another major video shown came from Climate Stick for mass mobilization! We concluded with an inspiring vision of how we can have a more beautiful, cleaner and more prosperous world, with plenty of renewable energy, if we successfully implement the needed transformation. ALL of the events will be posted on YouTube under the playlist, “Brighter Climate Futures” where already about 10 videos have been posted. For descriptions, also keep visiting the Facebook page “Brighter Climate Futures” More detailed descriptions of the talks and events of the week, the websites of organizations and articles will be posted in the near future on this website “From the local to the global, we will persist until we succeed. Together, let’s keep at it” Dr. Hari Lamba San Francisco Bay Area Richmond, California SUMMARIES OF PAST EVENTS OF OUR GREAT CLIMATE WEEK! THESE EVENTS WILL ALL BE POSTED ON YOUTUBE AND LINKS PROVIDED. SUMMARY of the First Event, Monday, April 5 Our first event was great on Monday. I gave a summary of my global climate plan based on my book, Dr. Sailesh Rao of climate healers talked about damage by caused by animal agriculture and our civilizational crisis, and Dave Rosenfeld of the Solar Rights Alliance talked about protecting roof top solar from electric utilities. The benefits of a vegan diet would be good for us and planet, and so would going from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy. We had an excellent Q&A as follow up, and here is the video that was already posted on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZS2y41kQpw&t=12s SUMMARY of the Second Event, Tuesday, April 6 Our second event on Tuesday was great! Jenna Famular talked about their organization Marin Clean Energy (MCE) that provides and alternative to the local electric utility in supplying green renewable powers and which appears as an option on people’s electric bills. Hari Lamba presented a talk on the energy, climate and ecosystem transformation “Plan” for California, that included wildfire preparation and was based on his book, “Brighter Climate Futures”. Rand Wrobel of 350 Bay Area provided a very multi-dimensional effort for climate and energy activism in the San Francisco Bay Area, form rallies, to political advocacy and more. Richard Rollins presented the efforts of the Climate Emergency Mobilization team of the Sierra Club, and emphasized the need to get started NOW. He also showed the resources available on the website that folks should access and check out that cover many areas. We had a good Q&A session, and the video will be posted on YouTube. Summary of the Third Event, Wednesday, April 7 Our third event of the week was very informative. Paul Fenn, who was among the pioneers of the Community Choice Aggregation concepts, legislation and initiatives, early in the late 1990s and then in 2001, spoke about the need to transition to the third concept or CCA 3.0, which would more heavily favor the transition from fossil fuels to renewables and make the whole process more equitable to localities, communities and cities. Hari Lamba described his proposed quantitative actionable time bound climate action plan for the US, that included comparisons of what he has proposed with what Biden and Sanders had proposed during their presidential campaigns for the 2020 US elections, and the US Green New Deal (national federal legislation). Jessica Tovar of the Local Clean Energy Alliance gave a very spirited talk of how they were attempting to make sure the economic benefits of clean energy came to the communities most affected by the damaging effects of fossil fuel pollution, and their plans and mobilization for the future. The Q&A session extended into overtime, and the video will be posted on YouTube. Summary of the Fourth Event, Friday, April 9 Jack Lucero Fleck (350 Bay Area) “Clean & Just Transportation” Hari Lamba (Brighter Climate Futures): “Revolutionary Concepts for Green Transportation” Koami Hayibo (Michigan Tech. Univ.) “3 Things you should know about solar PV pricing” THE APRIL 10 EVENT ON ZOOM, 6-8 pm PST (US Pacific Standard Time) “Getting to Net Zero – Community Celebration” (Zoom) Jen Karetnick (Poet & Writer) Deidra Renkenberger (Comics for Climate) “Comics for Climate - Our Changing World” Pat Rice (Climate Stick) - A video on their mass mobilization for climate change - about 10 mins Lucille Lang Day (Poet & Writer) “Eco-Poetry” Dance Break with Giti of The Dance Floor Jan Kirsch (350 Bay Area) “Climate Change – Fossil Fuel Pollution & Health” Hari Lamba (Brighter Climate Futures) based on his book, "The History of Our Earth & Our Role in its Future" He recited the poem while showing the watercolors. This book brings home what the planet has done for us over hundreds of millions of years by sequestering the carbon in fossil fuels and burying them in the ground them, hence cooling the Earth. Hari Lamba - A Vision of how clean, beautiful and healthy our world will look like after the transformation (Detailed vision described in Chapter 13 of the Brighter Climate Futures book. This grand finale was a gathering with art, poetry, and dance and speakers to celebrate our commitment to reverse climate change. All weekday and weekend events were totally free Dr. Lamba's talks are based on his book, “Brighter Climate Futures – A Global, Energy, Climate & Ecosystem Transformation,“ by Dr. Hari Lamba, Regent Press, Berkeley, California, that is described herein. and a packet of tree seeds (Apologies, the mailing can only be made to US residents). Parts of this event will definitely be participatory! Two writer/poets have already signed up to speak at this event and share their work and their art. This event has been organized by Cristina Deptula, who has been spear heading our social media campaign so that our Climate Futures can be Brighter! Why is my Brighter Climate Futures Transformation Plan and Book Unique?
By Dr. Hari Lamba People keep asking me as to what is different or better about my transformation plan and new book. Why should they listen to me, when there are other proposals or plans out there? Well here is why. Because it is the only transformation plan and book that provides a complete quantitative time bound Global plan that will provide plenty of clean renewable energy, rid us of the carbon emissions of fossil fuels, minimize global average temperature rise, and leave us with rejuvenated forests, coastal ecosystems and a regenerative agriculture, for a clean and beautiful Earth with a good life for all. All other plans out there call for a significant level of fossil fuel use by 2050. This includes the scenarios by the International Energy Agency and IRENA (international renewable energy agency). “Drawdown” is a very good reference book with benefits and costs of options, as well as a good ranking of options, but it does not come close to providing a plan, and nor does it take up the issues related to replacing fossil fuels. Jacobson provides lists of quantitative renewable energy options for different US states and about 120 nations and has very good information. But what he proposes also does not amount to a plan in the sense of how we transition out of fossil fuels in all sectors of the economy. Nobody talks about how fossil fuels will be replaced in all sectors with renewable energy. For example, how will fossil fuel power plants be replaced with renewable energy power plants? For the US, the Biden plan is good, and definitely better than the destructive approach of Trump, but does not go far enough. By including fracking for natural gas production and talking about carbon capture and sequestration, he is allowing fossil fuels to be part of the plan. My global transformation plan is the ONLY one out there that provides a road map of what, how, where and when. We cannot keep global average temperature rise below 1.5 Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit unless we totally transition out of fossil fuels. Only less than 1% of the Earth’s land area worth of solar panels is needed to produce ALL the world’s energy needs. We need to replace fossil fuels with solar+battery+hydrogen (SBH) power plants plus rejuvenated ecosystems. My book introduces the revolutionary concept of Solar-Electric-Hydrogen Highways that will transform all of the world’s road transport to renewable energy – either directly (by solar charging), or by hydrogen, also produced with renewable energy. We overcome the variability of renewable (mainly solar) energy by storing it in large battery systems and making large commercial quantities of hydrogen and ammonia. We need to solve climate change now! My transformation plan and book is the only one out there which lays it out: when we do it we will have “Brighter Climate Futures” https://www.brighterclimatefutures.com/the-book.html The transformation I am proposing is quantitative and time bound in order to keep the global temperature rise at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. It describes quantitatively what is needed, and then describes in detail a strategy of what, when, how and where. It becomes even more meaningful by providing detailed quantitative transformation plans for the global level and then for all high emitter “nations” - the US (including California), China, India and the European Union. It proposes a way of having plenty of renewable energy for all our global expanding energy needs (conservation and energy efficiency are significant, but there is no talk of it being inadequate for our economic needs), makes bold proposals to expand major global ecosystems as carbon sinks (that make a first major step towards restoring biodiversity and stem the massive extinction of species that is occurring), meets carbon emission requirements by essentially replacing fossil fuels, and deals with all other aspects such as disaster management, transformation of agriculture, addresses the jobs, economy, just transition and energy democracy aspects, and the describes the global organizational and funding strategy to implement the plan. Then, it not only defines a Global Green New Deal (GND), but also shows how both the US and the Global Green New Deals can be implemented. There is no other plan or proposal that does all that. Other proposals for climate solutions are of one of the following types: they make qualitative suggestions and suggest directions, provide good quantitative reference information but do not say what will be done when, make quantitative proposals or projections but are not designed to meet the temperature rise goals or do not say what needs to be done by when and how, or are very good in a particular area but not comprehensive. Stalwarts like Bill McKibben and Al Gore have carried the banner for the last two decades and done a creditable job qualitatively proposing and championing climate change solutions. These are all good efforts in the direction of solutions and each provides some value, but they are not comprehensive and are mostly quantitatively inadequate. All of these are described in the book and compared with my proposed transformation plan. Read the endorsement by Paul Fenn, that appears on the back cover of my book to understand the importance of my transformation plan and book!! "Climate change: upping the ambition," a chapter title in Lamba's book, encapsulates his mission and peculiar criterion. Better Climate Futures compares with Hawken’s Drawdown book as a plan compares with a list of technologies, and is geographically specific, a key criterion of decarbonization, not only as to which technologies fit which places, but also as to the even more critical question of locally specific policy pathways, highlighting the advent of Community Choice Aggregation in the United States, for example - making the ideas in play actionable for readers in real world conditions, and in the increasingly short timeframe for climate mobilization.” -Paul Fenn, Local Power LLC - Creator of Green Bonds and Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) Order the book and read and see for yourself! From Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Brighter-Climate-Futures-Ecosystem-Transformation/dp/1587905280/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IF6LV2RLX93L&dchild=1&keywords=brighter+climate+futures+hari+lamba&qid=1602790839&sprefix=brighter+climate%2Caps%2C199&sr=8-1 From Barnes & Noble (Bookstore – US) https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/brighter-climate-futures-hari-lamba/1137523887?ean=9781587905285 YouTube Video - Slide Presentation (10 mins) - Brighter Climate Futures ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNF5ehUoy1k NEWS: Article published on Coastal Ecosystems
Our first article got published on the importance coastal ecosystems or “Blue Carbon” in San Francisco’s Bay area! This is in the Sierra Club’s San Francisco Bay Chapter’s Yodeler Magazine Read the article here and understand why the massive global expansion of these ecosystems that I have proposed in my book is so important. Article recently published in Yodeler, magazine of the San Francisco Bay Chapter - Sierra Club – Importance of Bay Area Coastal Ecosystems https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/sce-authors/u1054/Yodeler_Fall%202020_FINAL.pdf We need to rejuvenate our coastal ecosystems on ALL of our Earth’s non-ice coastline. This has tremendous potential for absorbing carbon in the plants, trees and soils of these ecosystems, that are like mangrove swamps, salt marshes and sea grasses. Per area, these can absorb more carbon than even tropical forests, which is why these have been called “Blue Carbon”, as compared to the “Green Carbon” of forests. At the same time this begins to reverse the tremendous extinction of species, in this case all types of ocean and shore life. We need to stop the destruction of these coastal ecosystems in the name of the wrong kinds of “development” and ecologically destructive shrimp and fish farms that pollute with chemical fertilizers and anti-biotics. We need anywhere from a few hundred meters (or yards to up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) worth of ecosystems on all our shorelines. The expansion of coastal ecosystems will do much to restore ocean life, restore collapsing fisheries and help protect shorelines in case of storms. Your Brighter Climate Futures champion – Hari Lamba www.brighterclimatefutures.com Here is both a ringing endorsement and a detailed video of the global energy, climate and ecosystem plan that I am proposing, and which I have described in my new book, “Brighter Climate Futures” that is available from Amazon. You can also go to the Book Page and click on the ordering options! The first order of business globally is to replace all coal fired power plants with renewable energy power plants. See the book for details.
"My long experience with financing solar energy tells me that to solve our climate problem requires an energy transformation of the type that Hari has proposed. He has the background to understand the technologies, as well as the economic, political and ecological aspects of the solutions, that makes his transformation plan truly credible. Let’s do it!” - Jigar Shah, Founder of SunEdison. Order the book, read it and then push for acceptance and implementation of the global transformation. Here is the ten minute YouTube video that describes my overall global transformation plan and book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNF5ehUoy1k Hari Lamba Video Conversation with Olga Bolotina of the Sierra Club August 7, 2020
We had a very interesting video conversation on Facebook with Olga Bolotina, the Chair of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, who is also a sustainability expert, where we talked about my background in terms of how I came to the US, what influenced my thinking about global and US environment and development issues, and how I got educated about and then involved in climate change. On the way we had an interesting conversation about how you judge the quality of a democracy that I had in my earlier book, Rethinking Progress. Towards the tail end, we also discussed the book that is being published by Regent Press titled, “Brighter Climate Futures – A Global Energy, Climate and Ecosystem Transformation,” by myself (Dr. Hari Lamba) that outlines a comprehensive and time bound plan to solve the climate crisis by 2050 in a way that we end up with plenty of clean renewable energy and a healthier and more beautiful planet. The video can be found in two places now:
Endorsement of the Book by Jigar Shah, Founder of Sun Edison "My long experience with financing solar energy tells me that to solve our climate problem requires an energy transformation of the type that Hari has proposed. He has the background to understand the technologies, as well as the economic, political and ecological aspects of the solutions, that makes his transformation plan truly credible. Let’s do it!” PV Magazine reported on April 22, 2020 that Belgium was the first nation in Europe to get rid of coal, and Austria is due to close down its last power plant. However, two years ahead of schedule, Sweden shut down its last operating coal fired power plant ahead of schedule. The power utility Stockholm Exergi announced that it will permanently close its coal fired cogeneration plant in eastern Stockholm. Their chief executive Anders Exelrud said that they realized they not only have to eliminate their carbon emissions from fossil fuels, but also have to reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Eleven nations of the European Union (of 28 nations) have decided to get out of coal during the next decade. However, Germany, the biggest producer and user of coal in Europe, as of yet, does not plan to get out of coal until 2038.”
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/04/22/sweden-exits-coal-two-years-early/ |
AuthorThe author Dr. Hari Lamba, has experience in engineering, business and ecology. He has a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with about 40 years of experience in industry, both in engineering product development and in advanced technology. Take ActionLink list
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