Tackling climate change and improving energy security are two of the twenty-first century's greatest challenges. In this book, Marilyn Brown and Benjamin Sovacool offer detailed assessments of the most advanced commercially available technologies for strengthening global energy security, mitigating the effects of climate change, and enhancing resilience through adaptation and geo-engineering. They also evaluate the barriers to the deployment of these technologies and critically review public policy options crucial to their adoption. Arguing that society has all the technologies necessary for the task, Brown and Sovacool discuss an array of options available today, including high-efficiency transportation, renewable energy, carbon sequestration, and demand-side management. They offer eight case studies from around the world that document successful approaches to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and improving energy security. These include the Danish approach to energy policy and wind power, Brazil's ethanol program, China's improved cookstove program; and the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory. Brown and Sovacool argue that meeting the twin challenges of climate change and energy security will allow us to provide energy, maintain economic growth, and preserve the natural environment--without forcing tradeoffs among them.

Acknowledgmnents 1.Motivation and Organization of the Book 1.1 Socio-Technical Approach 1.2 Climate Change and Energy Security 1.3 Preview of Chapters 2.A Tale of Five Challenges 2.1 Electricity 2.2 Transportation 2.3 Forestry and Agriculture 2.4 Waste and Water 2.5 Climate Change 2.6 Conflicts and Complementarities 3.Technologies for Mitigating Climate Change 3.1 Energy End Use 3.2 Energy Supply 3.3 Capturing and Sequestering Carbon 3.4 Reducing Other Greenhouse Gases 3.5 Integrated Systems 3.6 Synthesis 4.Technologies for Geo-Engineering and Adaptation 4.1 Geo-Engineering 4.2 Adaptation 4.3 Synthesis 5.Barriers to Effective Climate and Energy Policies 5.1 Public Goods, Marker Failure, and Policy Failure 5.2 Barriers to Cost Effectiveness 5.3 Fiscal, Regulatory, and Statutory Barriers 5.4 Intellectual-Property Barriers 5.5 Other Cultural, Social, and Institutional Barriers 5.6 Toward Carbon Lock-In 6.Overcoming Barriers to Effective Climate and Energy Policies 6.1 The Risk Paradigm versus the Precautionary Principle 6.2 Types of Public Policies and Ways to Evaluate Them 6.3 Putting an Price on Carbon 6.4 Complementary Policies 6.5 The Need for Synergy 7.The Case for Polycentric Implementation 7.1 The Benefits of Global Action 7.2 The Benefits of Local Action 7.3 The Case for Polycentrism 7.4 Challenges to Polycentrism 7.5 Conclusion 8.Case Studies 8.1 Denmark's Electricity Policy, 1970-2001 8.2 Germany's Feed-in Tariff, 1990-2009 8.3 Brazil's Proalcool Program and Promotion of Flex-Fuel Vehicles, 1975-2009 8.4 Singapore's Urban Transport Policy, 1971-2009 8.5 Bangladesh's Grameen Shakti, 1996-2009 8.6 China's National Improved Stove Program, 1983-1998 8.7 The Oasis Project in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, 2006-Present 8.8 The Toxic Releases Inventory in the United States, 1988-2007 8.9 Conclusion 9.Conclusion 9.1 The Socio-Technical Nature of Climate and Energy Challenges 9.2 Justification of Government Intervention 9.3 Speed, Scope, and Scale 9.4 The Power of Polycentrism 9.5 Coordinated, Progressive, and Consistent Policies Appendix A. Experts Contacted and Interviewed for Case Studies Appendix B. Methodology for Case Studies Notes Bibliography Index